Category: Hindi

NEW DELHI: The Railways Ministry has decided to extend the concession in rail travel to technicians of regional film industry when traveling for film production related work with effect from this month.

Extension of concession in rail travel to technicians of regional film industries was announced by the Minister of Railways, Mamata Banerjee, while presenting the Railway Budget 2010-11 in the Parliament. Under this scheme, the element of concession will be 75 per cent in Sleeper Class and 50 per cent in First Class, AC Chair-Car, AC3-tier and AC 2-Tier. 

This concession will be admissible in all trains including Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdi trains. The concession will however, not be admissible in Duronto, Yuva and Garib Rath trains. In case of tickets already issued for travel on and after 1st July 2010, refund of difference of fares will not be admissible.

A total number of 31 regional film industries are entitled for this concession. These are Assamese, Avadhi, Bagada, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Bodo, Chhattisgarhi, Dimasha, Garhwali, Gujrati, Haryanvi, Kannada, Khasi, Kodava, Konkani, Lambani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Mizo, Nagamese, Nagpuri, Oriya, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Rajbanshi, Santhali, Tamil, Telugu and Tulu. The concession facility will also be applicable in case of technicians of Hindi film industry.

Only those technicians who are registered with authorised associations of film employees are eligible for this concession.

The 15 categories of film technicians who are eligible for this concession include Cinematographers, Editors, Art Directors, Costumers, Outdoor Unit Lightmen, Outdoor Unit Technicians, Carpenters, Still Photographers, Stunt Artists, Movie Still Cameramen, Music Composers, Musicians, Dancers & Dance Directors, Set Workers, Sound Recordist.

This concession is not valid in case of season tickets, circular journey tickets and tickets for local/Suburban/passenger trains. The concession will not be granted inside the train, that is. if the concerned person enters the train without proper ticket or extends journey on concession tickets or changes the ticket to higher class, no concession will be granted inside the train.

Only one concession (film technician/senior citizen, etc) shall be admissible at a time. In case of Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Jan Shatabdi trains, the concession will be granted on the all inclusive fare of the concerned class. In other trains, the concession will be calculated in the basic fare and. all other charges will be levied in full.

For issuing of concession certificate and ticket, the Producer will prepare a list of technicians indicating name, identity card numbers and name of the Employee Association in the proforma available on the website of the Ministry of Railways. The President/Secretary of the concerned Producers‘ Association will forward the application of the Producer to the DRM‘s Office alongwith the original photo identity cards issued by the Employees Association, of all technicians.

Verification of documents will be done by the DRM‘s Office, after which a letter of authorization will be issued by the Railway authorities. The producer/representative will present this letter of authorization at the booking counter for issue of tickets. The original identity cards should be carried during journey for verification by the TIE/Conductor.
 

NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said the country’s brand identity as a nation of entertaining cinema was not due to Bollywood alone and was the creative genius of cinema in all languages that also contributed immensely to the multicultural identity of the Indian film movement.

Cine Artists also contributed in positioning India’s imprint as a nation with rich cinematic history world wide by being Goodwill Ambassadors for the country, she said.

Inaugurating a three-day retrospective of the films of veteran actor Kamal Haasan, she said Retrospectives of films provided an opportunity to view the work of an artist over a span of time. It represented the spectrum of work, showcasing the sensitivity of the artist towards different characters, ideas, issues and images. A retrospective of films was a visual feast for the movie buff, as it provided an opportunity to view classics and also reflect their impact on society and human life.

She said Haasan had balanced cinema with realism. His portrayal of different characters created a pan India phenomenon, breaking the barriers of age groups, language and commercial interest. Some of the character portrayals left a deep imprint across all generations. His multilingual cinematic versatility ensured a fan following reiterating his mass appeal and acceptance of his cinema as a unique artistic expression.

The Directorate of Film Festivals has organised this retrospective to celebrate 50 years of Kamal Haasan’s contribution to Indian Cinema.

While the opening film is ‘Hey Raam’, films such as Anbe Sivam, Virumaandi, Thevar Magan, Sagara Sangamam, Dasavatharam and Nayagan would be screened during the three-day festival.
 

NEW DELHI: Film Federation of India Secretary General Supran Sen recently said that there was need to support the important role of securing access by the visually impaired and other differently enabled persons to copyright work through practically achievable methods.

Addressing the Conference of the Standing committee of WIPO on Copyright and Related Rights on behalf of the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), Sen said FIAPF shared the concerns and said the best norms should be used. He said FIAPF was entirely at the disposal of Member States, should they wish to receive evidence of actions developed by the audiovisual industries worldwide to facilitate access to audiovisual works by the visually-impaired and other people with disabilities.

He said FIAPF also supported the move towards a Treaty to protect the broadcaster. It was encouraged by the clarity of many delegations about the need to limit those rights relating to broadcasting signals and stop unauthorized signals, in order to ensure that rights in content itself remain under the control of content producers and other creative participants.

The Conference discussed among other things the need to support the blind and other disabled human beings who face social exclusion, discrimination and poverty. Equal opportunities in education, work and information should be given to such visually impaired and other disabled human beings.

The copyrighted materials should be made available to such persons in accessible formats, such as Braille, large print and audio.

The proposal was moved by Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay. Some member states pointed out that an international instrument – whatever its nature – will not in itself build capacity and guarantee access to a greater range of works on fair terms to the visually-impaired.

The conference, attended by 54 countries including India and 100 NGOs, was held from 21 to 24 June in Geneva.

MUMBAI: Dharmendra, Sunny Deol and Bobby Deol are back again in Samir Karnik‘s Yamla Pagla Deewana. The father and his two sons were last seen in Apne.

Yamla Pagla Deewana is a family drama of a man in search of his estranged family. Paramveer Singh Dhillon (Sunny), an upright and honest man working as a loan recovery agent in a bank, stays with his mother, his Canadian wife (Mary) and two sons in Vancouver, Canada. His mother is a typical Punjabi housewife who left her husband Dharam (Dharmendra) because she was fed up with his deceptive ways. But one night Dharam Singh quietly took away the younger son and vanished. 

Paramveer decides to go to India to look for his father and brother. In Varanasi, the father-son duo turn out to be the biggest conmen in the city. Dharam is a stylish man and a charmer. Women of all ages adore him and he does not believe in love.

Gajodhar (Bobby) is just like his father except for the fact that he is more rustic in appearance and gets nervous in the company of women! How this family comes together through a comedy of errors is what the film is all about.

The film, which went on floors this week, is expected to release on 24 December, the day the Akshay Kumar- Katrina Kaif starrer Tees Maar Khan will also hit the screens.
 

MUMBAI: His work with clay in the title sequence of Aamir Khan‘s Taare Zameen Par got animation designer Dhimant Vyas all-round acclaim.

He has now been approached by filmmaker Shekhar Kapoor for his upcoming film Paani. “Kapoor approached me after seeing my work and wants me to do the visualisation of the special effects they are going to employ in the film. Our talks is in an advanced stage and nothing has been confirmed yet,” says Vyas. Paani will revolve around the water crisis circa 2050.

Vyas, a veteran animation film designer, has worked with leading Academy Award-winning Animation Studio – Aardaman Animation Ltd UK. During his stint here, Vyas worked as an animator on the Creature Comforts USA TV series. He has also worked with brands like BBC, UNICEF, FCB ULKA, Zee TV, MTV, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, to name just a few.

His work for Taare Zameen Par, Happy Planet, Cute Bunny, Y-snore, MTV promos and his photography have won him several national and international awards.

MUMBAI: Noted actress Suchitra Sen has been hospitalised with a respiratory infection and chest congestion.

The actress is being treated with a combination of antibiotics and steroids in Belle Vue Clinic‘s Intensive Therapy Unit.

79-year-old Sen was admitted to the hospital on 20 June in a critical condition. When she was wheeled in, the actress was suffering from severe respiratory distress and also running a temperature. The oxygen level in her blood had gone down to 60 per cent, against the normal of 90.

Hospital sources say she has been kept on oxygen and is being put on nebulizer at regular intervals. 

“She was suffering from severe respiratory distress because of a chest infection and was put on antibiotics and steroids. She was on nebulisation and was also given inhaler to help her breathe properly,” said critical care expert Subrata Maitra.

Sen, who is considered the Greta Garbo of Bengali cinema, acted in notable Hindi films like Devdas, Champakali, Bombayu Ka Babu, Mamta and Aandhi.

She quit films in the seventies and has kept herself out of public eye ever since. In 2005, she turned down the Dadasaheb Phalke Award

MUMBAI: Sunil Punjabi has put quit Sony Entertainment Television as senior VP business development and new media. He will join Cinemax as CEO and everything related to movies from distribution, exhibition and production will come under his ambience.

While Punjabi will report to the Cinemax board, Devang Sampat, president – sales marketing and operations, will report to him. 

Said Punjabi, “With this move, I have taken a larger growth opportunity. I will be joining Cinemax as CEO on 12 July.”

Punjabi joined Sony in June last year to head business development for sports, and movie channels. Additionally, he was also responsible for the new media, telephony and syndication businesses.
 

MUMBAI: For the first time in his life, Amitabh Bachchan will be seen in a regional film. He will join Malayalam superstar Mohanlal, Neil Nitin Mukesh and Ganesh Venkatraman in Kandahar, a movie directed by Major Ravi. 

Produced by Pranavam International at a cost of Rs 420 million, the film is inspired by the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC-814 in 1999. It was hijacked while on its way from Kathmandu to New Delhi on Christmas eve by five Pakistani militants and was forced to land in three different airports – Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai – before spending a week on the tarmac in Kandahar with 186 hostages on board.

Khandahar will be simultaneously made in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi.

The film will be shot in Delhi, Kerala and Nepal. The shooting is currently on in Ooty.

MUMBAI: In its desire to pay tribute to the legendary Sikh warrior, the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) released today a one-hour film, Baba Banda Singh Bahadar.

This is for the first time that a live character has been allowed to play the role of a prominent personality from Sikh history.

“Through this one-hour film, we have taken the heroics of one of the greatest Sikh warriors to the people and showcased the glorious history of the Sikhs to the world. We are releasing this movie on TV channels in various countries like the US, Canada, the UK and Australia,” said writer director Harjit Singh Ricky.
Baba Banda Singh Bahadar was the closest general of Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.

With only 25 soldiers, he had begun his journey from Nanded in Maharashtra (west India) to Punjab (in the north) to end the misery of people under Muslim tyrant Wazir Khan, the then governor of Punjab province.

The shooting of the film was done in various villages of Mohali district.
 

MUMBAI: The anti-piracy coalition of Bollywood and Hollywood studios that was formed at this year‘s Ficci will now be known as the ‘Alliance Against Copyright Theft‘ (AACT).

Formed to create a unified voice to fight piracy, AACT has studios like Reliance Big Entertainment, Moser Baer Entertainment, UTV Motion Pictures, Eros International and the Motion Picture Dist. Association (MPDA) as its founding members.

The AACT has launched its toll-free anti-piracy hotline – 1800-103-1919 – on which one can report piracy matters in the Mumbai and Thane districts. The anti-piracy hotline will allow people in Mumbai and Thane to register their piracy complaints by calling the toll free number without revealing their identity.

Upon receiving the complaints, the team that conducts raids will be immediately notified of the unlawful conduct. This year, there has been over 100 anti-piracy raids in Mumbai alone.

Moser Baer CEO Harish Dayani says, “Piracy cannot be eradicated or reduced just by a group of people working within the film industry. The public has to be involved in the fight. With the formation of AACT, we are trying to create awareness about the damage piracy causes to us all.”

Adds MPDA managing director Rajiv Dalal, “AACT provides a platform for our industry to come together and curb piracy. The launch of this toll free number will assist our efforts as it engages consumers, retailers and other responsible citizens.”