English - PRAVASI BHARATIYA - Overseas Indian

CINEMAFILMFARE AWARDSAnd the BLACKLADY goes to...Two vastly differentfilms swept up anequal number oftrophies at the 55thIdea Filmfare Awards heldat a glittering ceremony atYash Raj Studios in Andherirecently.While Vidhu VinodChopra’s 3 Idiots snapped upmost of the popular awards— Best Film, Best Director,Best Story, Best Screenplay,Best Dialogue and Best SupportingActor, AnuragKashyap’s Dev D won six aswell. The Best Actor awardwent to Amitabh Bachchanfor his performance as aprogeria-afflicted child inPaa, while Vidya Balanwalked away with the BestActress trophy for thesame film.Led by a line-up of stalwartswho turned out instrength, the Hindi filmindustry raised a toast to itsmembers who hit paydirt atthe box-office and won criticalacclaim as well. Much tothe delight of the spectators,show hosts Shah Rukh Khanand Saif Ali Khan were backafter taking a break lastProducer Vidhu Vinod Chopraand director Rajkumar Hiraniat the Filmfare Awardsceremony where their film3 Idiots bagged six awards.ROLE OF HONOURBest Film: 3 IdiotsBest Director: Raj Kumar Hirani | 3 IdiotsBest Actor (Male): Amitabh Bachchan | PaaBest Actor (Female): Vidya Balan | PaaBest Supporting Actor (Male): Boman Irani | 3 IdiotsBest Supporting Actor (Female): Kalki Koechlin | Dev DBest Music: A.R. Rahman | Delhi 6Playback (Male): Mohit Chauhan | ‘Masakali’, Delhi 6Best Playback (Female): Kavita Seth | ‘Iktara’, WakeUp Sid, Rekha Bhardwaj | ‘Genda phool’, Delhi 6Critics’ Award for Director: Nandita Das | Firaaqyear owing to SRK’s elbowinjury. Wasting no time atall, the irrepressible duolaunched their antics on thered carpet itself, and keptpulling out the gags thickand fast through theevening. In this, they wereably supported by goodfriend Karan Johar andactors Siddharth and Shruti.Salman Khan stole theshow by dancing wildly tothe kind of songs that frontbencherslove him for. As abevy of hopeful chorusdancers begged baraat lekeaaja, the most eligible bachelorof the industry fendedthem off pleading oonchihai building, lift teri bandhai.Katrina Kaif wasanother class act with amedley of recent songsleading from yaar nazarnahin aata and haijunoon to her signaturehit Tera hone laga hoonfrom Ajab Prem KiGhazab Kahani.Shahid Kapoor’s talentat dancing is a foregoneconclusion andthis time he chose atheme that struck aninstant chord. As hedid a mean moonwalk,the audience’sthoughts went backto the colossal lossof the past year—Michael Jackson.Another warm tributewas reserved for theliving legends. Theaudience rose as onewhen actor ShashiKapoor and composerKhayyam wereawarded this year’sLifetime AchievementAwards.Critics’ Award BestActor (Male): RanbirKapoor | Wake Up Sid,Ajab Prem, Rocket SinghCritics’ Award for Best Actor(Female): Mahie Gill | Dev DBest Story: Abhijat Joshi,Rajkumar Hirani | 3 IdiotsBest Debut (Directors): Ayaan Mukherji |Wake Up Sid, Zoya Akhtar | Luck By ChanceLifetime Achievement Awards: Shashi Kapoor,KhayyamA Bollywood twist AUTUMNWith the market for graphic novels growingbig, publishing houses in India are roping inBollywood filmmakers for racy storiesGraphic novels, the illustratedavatar of the conventionalstorybook, aregradually making theirpresence felt in the country, offeringa wider bouquet of Indian andforeign titles and even ropingin Bollywood filmmakers forracy scripts.Westland Limited and TranquebarPress, an upcoming publishinghouse promoting young writersfrom across the globe, “has extremeplans to promote the segment”.“Suddenly, the film industry isinterested in the graphic novel asan extension of what it is doing —supplementing it,” Paul VinayKumar, executive editor of WestlandLimited and TranquebarPress, said.The publishing house is talking tofilmmaker Anurag Kashyap to“develop a series of graphic novels”,which will be scripted by him andillustrated by Westland, Kumarsaid. “We are also discussing agraphic novel project with adwhizkid R. Balakrishnan (Balki) ofPaa fame. It is in a nascent stage,”he said.“I think a younger and more visuallytrained generation identifieswith the text-image composite.Those who’ve grown up with comicbooks are comfortable with the ideaof reading images. Then there arethe more adventurous readers whoare constantly seeking new formsand ideas,” Karthika V.K., chief editorand publisher of HarperCollins-India, said.The graphic book, which existedas comic books in India till the1980s, evolved as picture novels inthe mid-90s when Goa-based illustratorOrijit Sen published River ofStories (1994) about a young activistcampaigning against the NarmadaDam Project.The book led to a spurt in the publicationof similar illustrated novelslike Corridor, The Barn Owl's WondrousCapers, Kari and The Hotel AtThe End of the World.A year ago, four illustrators/writers,Sarnath Banerjee, VishwajyotiGhosh, Parismita Singh and OrijitSen joined hands with AmitavaKumar to set up the Pao’s Collective— India’s first platform to promotegraphic novels.Since then, almost every contemporarypopular literature series —be it Indian or foreign — has floodedthe country.The format is trying to fill the gapbetween television and fine print tolure new and younger segments ofreaders, said publishers at therecently held World Book Fair inNew Delhi.“The genre, which had a slowstart in the 1990s, is now cominginto its own. One of the reasonswhy graphic novels were slow tocapture the market was the highcost of production,” ChandrakantBaua, publisher of the MumbaibasedShree Book Centre, said.The Shree Book Centre distributesgraphic versions of populartitles like the Hardy Boys, NancyDrew, Biggles, Agatha Christie,Iznogoud, Quick and Flupke,Doomsday and Birth of a Monsterseries. The price of graphic novelsranges between Rs. 190 and Rs. 699on an average, publishers said.OF A STARBig B shocked to seerobust Shashi Kapoorin wheelchairA mitabhBachchanwas shocked tosee ShashiKapoor, his costarof Trishul,Deewar and somany other hits,confined to awheelchair at the Filmfare Awards.Amitabh was supposed to presentthe Filmfare Lifetime AchievementAward to the 71-year-oldactor, but could not attend. However,Amitabh saw pictures of theevent later and was shocked — justlike so many of his other fans.“...the affable (Filmfare) editorJitesh Pillai had asked me if I wouldgive the Lifetime AchievementAward to Shashi Kapoor and I hadagreed with great pleasure. Imissed that more than the expectationof winning the best actoraward. Seeing him confined to awheel chair, was something I couldnever associate Shashiji with,”Amitabh posted on his blog.A unique filmfest in PuriNo juries, no awards... just sun,sand, sea and film screeningsinside makeshift tents. These weresome of the unique features of theBring Your Own Film Festival(BYOFF), recently held in Puri. Hundredsof filmmakers, artists, creativemen and women and studentsparticipated in BYOFF. It wasthe seventh edition of the festival,initiated by a group of filmmakersto provide a hassle-free platformto people to showcase their creativity.BYOFF made its debut in2004 and more than 3,500 peoplehave participated over the pastfew years.38 Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010Pravasi Bharatiya March 2010 39