Category: Hindi

Rocky Handsome: John’s Action Show Reel

MUMBAI: Self-aggrandizement is what John Abraham’s Rocky Handsome is all about. From the title to all that John attempts on screen reads like a screen test video of an aspiring action hero. But, then, he is the producer of this film. The story of this remake of the South Korean film,The Man From Nowhere, has a cause that has been tried and tested since the birth of the revenge formula;. And sadly, it has also been done to death over many decades. That the hero is well capable of and trained in combat is a concept that has been worn down to shreds. American vigilante films, Sylvester Stallone films and numerous others have left no novelty value in the theme. Closer home, we have had many films like Vipul Shah’s Commando: A One Man Army (2013) in which actor Vidyut Jamwal in the lead as an ex-army man taking on a local mafia somewhere in North India is so similar.

John Abraham is the man from nowhere who has landed up in Goa where he runs a pawnshop. Goa being a combination of backpacking tourists and drugs, a pawnshop is a lucrative business to run, because it is not long before these tourists go broke and feed their needs by pawning their ware.

A victim of the drug mafia is John’s neighbor, a woman who is always high, and pays scant attention to her daughter, Baby Divya. Here, the script and direction start their blundering ways. As if Goa was a one lane township, the whole of Goa, her school and neighbors shun this girl. Why? Because she is a drug addict’s daughter and indulges in small time thefts to cater to her needs. However, she gets along well with John who, despite not showing any outwardly emotions towards her, is fond of her.

John keeps visiting his past in flashbacks, after all, that is his purpose to propel this film. It seems he was once in love with Shruti Haasan. They honeymoon in Seychelles and, not surprisingly, she comes back pregnant, much to the delight of the duo. John enters a hospital to collect reports when an out of control truck rams into the car in which Shruti waits for him. The killers are, of course, the criminal mafia. But, why? John has had nothing to do with them so far. Are they inviting him to annihilate them?

John arrives in Goa but shows no indication that he is seeking revenge in this revenge saga. He carries on with his pawnshop with a deadpan expression which is rather convenient for him since his repertoire of expressions is very limited. Doing an expressionless Robert Mitchum helps in such cases.

Finally, after wasting half an hour, the villains get bored of John’s lethargy and come visiting him. They kidnap both, Divya and her mother. This is an invitation for John to become the mean killing machine that he has been trained as, trained to kill like Stallone was in First Blood! He is an ex CIA or whatever, you are never sure, because the makers are not sure either!

John the producer and the scriptwriter of this film if it has one, and the director Nishikant Kamath, borrow a scene or a sequence from all the action films ever made so far. In the process, they get grossly mixed up and mess up the final product.

John, what you are doing in this film is long passé! It can’t be sold with such a poor script and poorer direction! What is even worse is that the director, Kamath, uses this venture to launch his acting career as the villain in chief! Towards this end, he casts all musclemen around him, but looks like a pygmy himself. Now, what kind of villain would he make? John wants to re-launch his career, while Kamat wants to hike a ride.

All in all, what accounts for Rocky Handsome is poor script, poor to the hilt direction and casting. And what was the reason to make all villains into wannabe comedians, lunatics? Watched too much of Superhero film villains? This is the saddest film about everything in wrong hands. The cast is full of unknown Marathi stage TV actors. They act like zombies.

With just about every aspect of the film being poor, mindless, the film closes an avenue that was open to John, that of turning producer now that the acting film assignments are not forthcoming anymore.

Rocky Handsome has scant appeal for family and the high end multiplex audience. Today being a public holiday,it may benefit a bit at B rung plexes and single screens but is poor viewing on the whole.

Producer: John Abraham, Sunir Khetarpal.
Director: Nishikant Kamat.
Cast: John Abraham, Shruti Haasan, Nishikant Kamat, Sharad Kelkar, Nathalia Kaur, Baby Diya Chalwad.

March 25, 2016
Trade in music and movies shows decline in digital age, but India moves into top ten cultural exporters

New Delhi, 24 March: Although trade in cultural goods doubled during the period 2004-2013 despite a global recession, there was a decline in both music and movies because of the massive shift among consumers towards web-based services.

Trade in recorded music products, for example, declined by 27 percent from 2004 to 2013, and trade in movies fell by 88 percent during the same period; however, audio-visual services as a whole steadily gained ground.

Despite the downturn in the trade of print products, reflected by the decline in newspapers, books held their ground as an important cultural export in some regions, growing by 20 percent from 2004 to 2013.

A new report from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), The Globalisation of Cultural Trade: A Shift in Cultural Consumption–International flows of cultural goods and services 2004-2013, takes an in-depth look at the export and import of cultural goods and services around the world.

“Trade in cultural goods totaled $US212.8 billion in 2013, nearly double the amount in 2004,” said UIS Director Silvia Montoya. “This is further evidence of the critical role cultural industries play in today’s global economy.”

However, India and Turkey moved into the top ten countries among emerging markets and exporters of cultural goods.

From 2004 to 2013 the “dematerialisation”, or the digitisation of products, such as music, movies and newspapers, had an enormous impact on these industries, as their products moved into the realm of cultural services, often sold as web-based subscriptions.

As more and more cultural goods move from the tangible to the digital, the report notes that obtaining accurate data on the flow of these goods is becoming more challenging. Finding new sources of data and cooperation between international organizations in the promotion and improvement of cultural trade statistics, especially in the developing world, will help improve the understanding of the real contribution of the trade in cultural goodsto the global economy.

China is now the lead exporter of cultural goods, followed by the United States. In 2013, the total value of China’s cultural exports was US$60.1 billion; more than double that of the United States at US$27.9 billion.

While the US has lost its position as the top exporter of cultural goods, it remains the top importer of these goods. In general, developed countries play a smaller role in cultural exports, but still dominate imports.

Art and crafts have moved up in the ranking of the ten most traded cultural goods, fueled by gold jewelry — a safe harbour in uncertain times.Gold jewelry exports represented more than $US100 billion in 2013.

Statues, statuettes and paintings also gained ground. Their share of the trade in art and crafts was worth US$19 billion in 2013.

March 25, 2016
Trade in music and movies shows decline in digital age, but India moves into top ten cultural exporters

New Delhi, 24 March: Although trade in cultural goods doubled during the period 2004-2013 despite a global recession, there was a decline in both music and movies because of the massive shift among consumers towards web-based services.

Trade in recorded music products, for example, declined by 27 percent from 2004 to 2013, and trade in movies fell by 88 percent during the same period; however, audio-visual services as a whole steadily gained ground.

Despite the downturn in the trade of print products, reflected by the decline in newspapers, books held their ground as an important cultural export in some regions, growing by 20 percent from 2004 to 2013.

A new report from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), The Globalisation of Cultural Trade: A Shift in Cultural Consumption–International flows of cultural goods and services 2004-2013, takes an in-depth look at the export and import of cultural goods and services around the world.

“Trade in cultural goods totaled $US212.8 billion in 2013, nearly double the amount in 2004,” said UIS Director Silvia Montoya. “This is further evidence of the critical role cultural industries play in today’s global economy.”

However, India and Turkey moved into the top ten countries among emerging markets and exporters of cultural goods.

From 2004 to 2013 the “dematerialisation”, or the digitisation of products, such as music, movies and newspapers, had an enormous impact on these industries, as their products moved into the realm of cultural services, often sold as web-based subscriptions.

As more and more cultural goods move from the tangible to the digital, the report notes that obtaining accurate data on the flow of these goods is becoming more challenging. Finding new sources of data and cooperation between international organizations in the promotion and improvement of cultural trade statistics, especially in the developing world, will help improve the understanding of the real contribution of the trade in cultural goodsto the global economy.

China is now the lead exporter of cultural goods, followed by the United States. In 2013, the total value of China’s cultural exports was US$60.1 billion; more than double that of the United States at US$27.9 billion.

While the US has lost its position as the top exporter of cultural goods, it remains the top importer of these goods. In general, developed countries play a smaller role in cultural exports, but still dominate imports.

Art and crafts have moved up in the ranking of the ten most traded cultural goods, fueled by gold jewelry — a safe harbour in uncertain times.Gold jewelry exports represented more than $US100 billion in 2013.

Statues, statuettes and paintings also gained ground. Their share of the trade in art and crafts was worth US$19 billion in 2013.

March 25, 2016
Kapoor & Sons has steady opening, Neerja continues to bring in money in 4th week

MUMBAI: Kapoor & Sons, which opened to a weak response, maintained steady collections on Saturday despite the India Pakistan T20 match. Having found appreciation with a certain section of the audience, the film took a huge leap in collections on Sunday of little less than double its Friday figures.

Having collected Rs 24.3 crore for its opening weekend, the film is expected to continue to do well at select outlets as there are no other films in contention till Thursday, March 24, Holi day evening, when Rocky Handsome is slated for release.

Global Baba fared poorly, failing to even make it to the Rs 10 lakh mark in its first week

Teraa Surroor has had it tough at the box office. With a below average opening weekend, the film managed to collect just Rs 10.7 crore in its first week.

Jai Gangaajal managed to collect Rs 7.1 crore in its second week to take its two week tally to Rs 30.9 crore.
Aligarh collected a symbolic Rs 15 lakh in its third week to take its collections to Rs 2.5 crore.

Neerja continued its stronghold on the box office. The film has added Rs 5.1 crore in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 68.9 crore.

March 21, 2016
Kapoor & Sons has steady opening, Neerja continues to bring in money in 4th week

MUMBAI: Kapoor & Sons, which opened to a weak response, maintained steady collections on Saturday despite the India Pakistan T20 match. Having found appreciation with a certain section of the audience, the film took a huge leap in collections on Sunday of little less than double its Friday figures.

Having collected Rs 24.3 crore for its opening weekend, the film is expected to continue to do well at select outlets as there are no other films in contention till Thursday, March 24, Holi day evening, when Rocky Handsome is slated for release.

Global Baba fared poorly, failing to even make it to the Rs 10 lakh mark in its first week

Teraa Surroor has had it tough at the box office. With a below average opening weekend, the film managed to collect just Rs 10.7 crore in its first week.

Jai Gangaajal managed to collect Rs 7.1 crore in its second week to take its two week tally to Rs 30.9 crore.
Aligarh collected a symbolic Rs 15 lakh in its third week to take its collections to Rs 2.5 crore.

Neerja continued its stronghold on the box office. The film has added Rs 5.1 crore in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 68.9 crore.

March 21, 2016
Trinity Pictures ropes in five directors for films; to start production in FY 2017

MUMBAI: Eros International’s Trinity Pictures is now ready with its first slate of films across new and exciting genres. Also it has roped in five ace directors from the industry to produce films. In what is said to change the way films are traditionally developed, Trinity’s first slate is all about creating character-driven franchises which will be leveraged across feature films, merchandising, digital and more.

With a focus on creating fresh concepts in new spaces, Trinity is also one of the first Bollywood studio in India that has a dedicated in-house team of writers in the ‘Trinity Writers’ Room’ who have created over ten original franchises since the Division’s inception, out of which at least four films will go into production in fiscal year 2017.

Trinity’s initial lineup includes a range of character-driven franchises across budgets, genres and languages – from a live action elephant film, to a kid’s action film and an Indo-China project to name a few. These will be helmed by acclaimed directors from across the country including Kabir Khan, Siddharth Anand, Amole Gupte, Telugu director Krish and popular Tamil director Prabhu Solomon.

The first feature to roll out under Trinity Pictures will be director Amole Gupte’ s favourite genre but with a difference – a kids action film, a big scale action film with a child secret agent at the centre of the story that will go on floor in the summer vacation.

With Trinity’s launch, the studio is looking at expanding new film markets which includes opening of one of the biggest markets in the world – China. Two projects will be co-produced with a Chinese studio, based on stories organically weaving the socio-cultural worlds of India and China.

Additionally, the films will be shot in both languages. The first Indo-China co-production to roll will be directed by Kabir Khan with A-lister cast from India and China, a human drama exploring the central character’s journey from India to China. Other projects in the pipeline include a film by Siddharth Anand which will explore a fresh take on the spy genre in India. This genre is a global favourite with franchise potential.

Multiple award winning Tamil director, Prabhu Solomon’s bilingual project will be an inspiration from the quintessential super hit animal film—Haathi Mere Saathi. The shooting will take place during the monsoons across India and abroad and will be mounted on a scale with never-seen-before visual effects in this genre.

Ace director Krish’s buddy cop film will be shot in Hindi and Tamil simultaneously, featuring popular lead actors from both the South and Bollywood. This film has been co-written by Shridhar Raghavan (mentor to Trinity writers), Dheeraj Rattan and K. Subhash.

Commenting on Trinity plans, Eros International group CEO Jyoti Deshpande said, “With Trinity, we continue our endeavour to raise the bar in revolutionizing Indian cinema. As a leading film studio, we have peaked with three out of the top four and seven out of top fifteen films in Bollywood in 2015 being Eros films. Trinity strategy is all about conceiving breakthrough big content ideas and unlocking value from that intellectual property across various distribution platforms for a very long time. We are excited about the slate under development and hope we will have a few top ten films from Trinity”.

Trinity Pictures CEO Ajit Thakur added, “With Trinity, there is an effort to create something absolutely new for the Indian market, an effort in investing in creating characters that open a world of possibilities – films, digital games, comics, merchandise. We have writers for the first time creating characters first and then building scripts and projects around these characters. We are the first studio to have tied up with China for co-productions and will be creating new markets with films shot in multiple languages. There are many firsts to Trinity and only Eros could have seen the merit in a franchise set up as this and taken the risk of making Trinity Pictures happen. We are very excited that the characters and franchises we are creating will hopefully entertain Indian audiences across platforms and well beyond the first Friday”.Tamil director Prabhu Solomon.

March 21, 2016
Trinity Pictures ropes in five directors for films; to start production in FY 2017

MUMBAI: Eros International’s Trinity Pictures is now ready with its first slate of films across new and exciting genres. Also it has roped in five ace directors from the industry to produce films. In what is said to change the way films are traditionally developed, Trinity’s first slate is all about creating character-driven franchises which will be leveraged across feature films, merchandising, digital and more.

With a focus on creating fresh concepts in new spaces, Trinity is also one of the first Bollywood studio in India that has a dedicated in-house team of writers in the ‘Trinity Writers’ Room’ who have created over ten original franchises since the Division’s inception, out of which at least four films will go into production in fiscal year 2017.

Trinity’s initial lineup includes a range of character-driven franchises across budgets, genres and languages – from a live action elephant film, to a kid’s action film and an Indo-China project to name a few. These will be helmed by acclaimed directors from across the country including Kabir Khan, Siddharth Anand, Amole Gupte, Telugu director Krish and popular Tamil director Prabhu Solomon.

The first feature to roll out under Trinity Pictures will be director Amole Gupte’ s favourite genre but with a difference – a kids action film, a big scale action film with a child secret agent at the centre of the story that will go on floor in the summer vacation.

With Trinity’s launch, the studio is looking at expanding new film markets which includes opening of one of the biggest markets in the world – China. Two projects will be co-produced with a Chinese studio, based on stories organically weaving the socio-cultural worlds of India and China.

Additionally, the films will be shot in both languages. The first Indo-China co-production to roll will be directed by Kabir Khan with A-lister cast from India and China, a human drama exploring the central character’s journey from India to China. Other projects in the pipeline include a film by Siddharth Anand which will explore a fresh take on the spy genre in India. This genre is a global favourite with franchise potential.

Multiple award winning Tamil director, Prabhu Solomon’s bilingual project will be an inspiration from the quintessential super hit animal film—Haathi Mere Saathi. The shooting will take place during the monsoons across India and abroad and will be mounted on a scale with never-seen-before visual effects in this genre.

Ace director Krish’s buddy cop film will be shot in Hindi and Tamil simultaneously, featuring popular lead actors from both the South and Bollywood. This film has been co-written by Shridhar Raghavan (mentor to Trinity writers), Dheeraj Rattan and K. Subhash.

Commenting on Trinity plans, Eros International group CEO Jyoti Deshpande said, “With Trinity, we continue our endeavour to raise the bar in revolutionizing Indian cinema. As a leading film studio, we have peaked with three out of the top four and seven out of top fifteen films in Bollywood in 2015 being Eros films. Trinity strategy is all about conceiving breakthrough big content ideas and unlocking value from that intellectual property across various distribution platforms for a very long time. We are excited about the slate under development and hope we will have a few top ten films from Trinity”.

Trinity Pictures CEO Ajit Thakur added, “With Trinity, there is an effort to create something absolutely new for the Indian market, an effort in investing in creating characters that open a world of possibilities – films, digital games, comics, merchandise. We have writers for the first time creating characters first and then building scripts and projects around these characters. We are the first studio to have tied up with China for co-productions and will be creating new markets with films shot in multiple languages. There are many firsts to Trinity and only Eros could have seen the merit in a franchise set up as this and taken the risk of making Trinity Pictures happen. We are very excited that the characters and franchises we are creating will hopefully entertain Indian audiences across platforms and well beyond the first Friday”.Tamil director Prabhu Solomon.

March 21, 2016
Kapoor & Sons full of good performances, but will World T20 mar its box office?

MUMBAI: Kapoor& Sons is a family drama. One can slot it as a contemporary family drama extending to three generations. The title of the film does not quite convey the theme as it unfolds on the screen. It is about a dysfunctional family where just about everybody is at crossroads and has a reason to grudge the other, except the fun-loving patriarch, Rishi Kapoor.

Rishi Kapoor, an ex-army man, has settled in the picturesque hill station of Coonoor in the South with his elder son, Rajat Kapoor, and daughter in law, Ratna Pathak. On the verge of his 90th birthday, Rishi Kapoor wishes that his two grandsons, Fawad Khan and Sidharth Malhotra join him. While, Fawad is a successful writer based in London, Sidharth tends a bar in New Jersey while also aspiring to be a writer. This also sort of establishes that the two brothers are poles apart.

Fawad is Mr Proper and organized, Sidharth is a drifter who can’t stick to one task. He lives an uncharted life. Both plan to land in India at about the same time and head to Coonoor. Rishi Kapoor has this habit of faking his death. But, when the brothers reach, Rishi Kapoor is actually admitted into a hospital having suffered a heart attack. He is heavily made-up to look 90, and that takes some time accepting for a viewer.

As you go along, you see the difference in the way the brothers are treated, especially by Ratna and Rajat; Fawad gets most of the attention and priority in everything. Sidharth catches up with an old friend and, through him, meets Alia Bhatt. Alia is an orphan having lost both her parents in a plane crash. She is in Coonoor to deal with her family property. Fawad visits her property and meets Alia. Out on a dinner date with Fawad, Alia ends up kissing him. However, she spends most of her time with Sidharth and finds his company more comforting.

Sidharth and Alia exchange notes and he tells her about how the manuscript of his book resembled Fawad’s bestseller. He is not ready to believe this was a coincidence. The gap widens between brothers when Alia confesses to kissing Fawad.

In this family, the brothers are not the only ones at war. Rajat and Ratna are always at loggerheads too. Rajat’s business is in doldrums and he has added to the problems by getting involved with another woman. Everything comes together to spoil the 90th birthday celebrations of the patriarch. Kapoor may be 90 but his interest in women is intact and his pinup girl is Mandakini under a waterfall in film Ram Teri Ganga Maili. He relishes sweets, which he is barred from, porn films and an occasional puff of pot.

When the skeletons start coming out of the closet, it creates rifts between brothers, mother and ends up costing the life of one.

Kapoor& Sons breezes through its first half, but the attempt to cram too much into the second half makes it heavy as well as jerky, as attention shifts from one character to another. There is a sort of happy ending as the family comes together once again on Kapoor’s request but it is not all that happy a moment as Kapoor has not only lost a family member, but also his verve and humour.

The film gives the feeling of being stretched. Except for Kapoor’s earlier exploits, there is little to entertain. Besides, music too does not help. The romance is kind of there and not there. ShakunBatra’s direction is generally good as he tries to keep this a real life kind of narration. The dialogue is effective. Shot on lush Coonoor locations, visually the film is pleasing.

Actually, this film is all about performances. While all the actors playing the main characters excel, Fawad gets the best part to play, which adds to his fan following. Rishi Kapoor, being the only one providing light moments, is very good. Sidharth, Alia, Rajat and Ratna too do well.
Kapoor & Sons is a slow starter. Its appeal will be limited to a certain section of audience with single screen patrons ruled out. World T20 is bound to affect its prospects, especially during India Pakistan tie on 19th.

Producers: HirooYashJohar, Karan Johar.

Director: ShakunBatra

Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, Fawad Khan, Ratna Pathak, Rajat Kapoor.

March 18, 2016
Kapoor & Sons full of good performances, but will World T20 mar its box office?

MUMBAI: Kapoor& Sons is a family drama. One can slot it as a contemporary family drama extending to three generations. The title of the film does not quite convey the theme as it unfolds on the screen. It is about a dysfunctional family where just about everybody is at crossroads and has a reason to grudge the other, except the fun-loving patriarch, Rishi Kapoor.

Rishi Kapoor, an ex-army man, has settled in the picturesque hill station of Coonoor in the South with his elder son, Rajat Kapoor, and daughter in law, Ratna Pathak. On the verge of his 90th birthday, Rishi Kapoor wishes that his two grandsons, Fawad Khan and Sidharth Malhotra join him. While, Fawad is a successful writer based in London, Sidharth tends a bar in New Jersey while also aspiring to be a writer. This also sort of establishes that the two brothers are poles apart.

Fawad is Mr Proper and organized, Sidharth is a drifter who can’t stick to one task. He lives an uncharted life. Both plan to land in India at about the same time and head to Coonoor. Rishi Kapoor has this habit of faking his death. But, when the brothers reach, Rishi Kapoor is actually admitted into a hospital having suffered a heart attack. He is heavily made-up to look 90, and that takes some time accepting for a viewer.

As you go along, you see the difference in the way the brothers are treated, especially by Ratna and Rajat; Fawad gets most of the attention and priority in everything. Sidharth catches up with an old friend and, through him, meets Alia Bhatt. Alia is an orphan having lost both her parents in a plane crash. She is in Coonoor to deal with her family property. Fawad visits her property and meets Alia. Out on a dinner date with Fawad, Alia ends up kissing him. However, she spends most of her time with Sidharth and finds his company more comforting.

Sidharth and Alia exchange notes and he tells her about how the manuscript of his book resembled Fawad’s bestseller. He is not ready to believe this was a coincidence. The gap widens between brothers when Alia confesses to kissing Fawad.

In this family, the brothers are not the only ones at war. Rajat and Ratna are always at loggerheads too. Rajat’s business is in doldrums and he has added to the problems by getting involved with another woman. Everything comes together to spoil the 90th birthday celebrations of the patriarch. Kapoor may be 90 but his interest in women is intact and his pinup girl is Mandakini under a waterfall in film Ram Teri Ganga Maili. He relishes sweets, which he is barred from, porn films and an occasional puff of pot.

When the skeletons start coming out of the closet, it creates rifts between brothers, mother and ends up costing the life of one.

Kapoor& Sons breezes through its first half, but the attempt to cram too much into the second half makes it heavy as well as jerky, as attention shifts from one character to another. There is a sort of happy ending as the family comes together once again on Kapoor’s request but it is not all that happy a moment as Kapoor has not only lost a family member, but also his verve and humour.

The film gives the feeling of being stretched. Except for Kapoor’s earlier exploits, there is little to entertain. Besides, music too does not help. The romance is kind of there and not there. ShakunBatra’s direction is generally good as he tries to keep this a real life kind of narration. The dialogue is effective. Shot on lush Coonoor locations, visually the film is pleasing.

Actually, this film is all about performances. While all the actors playing the main characters excel, Fawad gets the best part to play, which adds to his fan following. Rishi Kapoor, being the only one providing light moments, is very good. Sidharth, Alia, Rajat and Ratna too do well.
Kapoor & Sons is a slow starter. Its appeal will be limited to a certain section of audience with single screen patrons ruled out. World T20 is bound to affect its prospects, especially during India Pakistan tie on 19th.

Producers: HirooYashJohar, Karan Johar.

Director: ShakunBatra

Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt, Fawad Khan, Ratna Pathak, Rajat Kapoor.

March 18, 2016
Five regional centres of India’s premier drama school to open in other parts of country

NEW DELHI: The Delhi-based National School of Drama, which has formed the training ground for some of the best television and film personalities, is to get five regional centres in different parts of the country, Parliament has been told.

This follows the recommendations made by the Broad Based Committee for opening up of five regional centres across the country.

The NSD Society proposes to establish one regional centre each at Kolkata, Mumbai/Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, and the North-East besides upgrading the existing Regional Resource Centre (RRC) at Bengaluru to become a full-fledged regional centre.

Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma said these regional centres are to be established in consultation with the concerned State Governments who were required to provide accommodation for the purpose.

So far, only Karnataka has allotted land for the purpose at Bengaluru. NSD has started one year teaching training programme in the Bengaluru Chapter commencing from academic session 2014-15.

In addition, under consolidation of Out-reach Programme in the North-East Region, NSD has opened its Centres in Sikkim and Tripura.

Several actors like Om Puri, Naseeruddin Shah, Shabana Azmi, Nadira Babbar, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and others and filmmakers like M S Sathyu have made major contributions to the NSD, many of them beginning their careers here.

March 17, 2016