'Celluloid Man' P K Nair, the legendary archivist, no more

March 4, 2016

Pune, Mar 4: P K Nair, the founder and director of Pune-based National Film Archive of India whose passion and dedication for preserving movies led to the setting up of the NFAI, passed away today after a brief illness.

P K NairNair, 83, breathed his last in a city hospital where he was admitted for old age-related ailments on February 22, hospital sources said.

He is survived by two sons and a daughter.

Fondly called the 'celluloid man' of Indian film industry, Paramesh Krishnan Nair carved a niche for himself as a pioneering archivist who founded the National Film Archives of India (NFAI) to preserve for posterity the country's cinematic heritage.

Hoping to build a film career, he came to Mumbai in 1953 after graduating from the Kerala University. He worked in association with veterans of the time like Mehboob Khan, Bimal Roy and Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

However, later he turned his focus to the academic side of cinema and became an assistant film curator of Pune's Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in 1965.

It was out of his passion for movies and deep knowledge of Indian film industry that the NFAI was set up. As part of this process, he travelled extensively abroad, including Europe, America and the then Soviet Union.

After starting his quest for films as a research assistant at the FTII, Nair founded NFAI in 1964 which he built brick-by-brick with acquisition of rare films prints and served as its director for a decade.

Like a haunted man consumed by the cause dear to his heart, Nair acquired over 12,000 films, including 8,000 Indian movies and the rest foreign, which he preserved in NFAI.

He avidly screened and watched the old films in the NFAI's mini-theatre which he could recount reel by reel with its contents.

NFAI's present director Prakash Magdum paid tributes to Nair, saying his contribution to the archives was immense.

"He took films to the common man and encouraged formation of film societies to promote appreciation of cinema", he told PTI.

The mortal remains of Nair will be kept at NFAI tomorrow morning before cremation for the people to pay their respects, Magdum said.

A notable feature of his work was the nine silent movies made in India which he acquired and archived notwithstanding the ravages of time that had taken toll on the film prints.

These included "Raja Harishchandra" and "Kalia Mardan" made by father of Indian film industry Dadasaheb Phalke.

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News Network
July 23,2020

Mumbai, Jul 23: Mumbai Police will soon issue summons to actor Kangana Ranaut to record her statement in connection with the case related to the suicide of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, officials said on Thursday.

A day after Sushant Singh Rajput's suicide, Kangana Ranaut had released a two-minute video speaking highly of the deceased actor and accusing certain sections of the film industry of not acknowledging the star's talent.

She had also said that some of the last social media posts by the actor made it evident that he was struggling to survive in the industry.

According to the police, statements of 39 people, including film critic Rajeev Masand, director-producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and filmmaker Aditya Chopra have been recorded in the investigation so far.

The Mumbai Police had recently said the statements of three psychiatrists and one psychotherapist have been recorded in connection with the suicide investigation.

Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai residence on June 14.

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News Network
March 12,2020

Chennai, Mar 12: Superstar Rajinikanth on Thursday clarified that he never aspired to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and said his plans for politics include different heads for his prospective party and a possible government headed by it.

In his first official press conference since December 31, 2017, when he announced to take the political plunge, the veteran star also said he planned to appoint as CM, an educated youth who was compassionate and had self-respect.

With a two-leadership system for party and the government, the former would act as an "opposition" to highlight issues and would not even hesitate to "remove", apparently the head of the government, if it fails to perform, he said.

His prospective party would focus on including a substantial amount of youngsters in the age group of below 45 years while the rest would comprise retired judges and IAS and IPS officials among others.

"I myself would reach out to them and invite them," to join him, the 69-year-old actor said.

Contrary to expectations, he however, did not make a concrete statement on floating his party but called for an "uprising" by youth, after which he would make his formal political entry.

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News Network
June 19,2020

New Delhi, Jun 19: After the recent sudden demise of Sushant Singh Rajput, actor Kangana Ranaut who went public slamming nepotism in the Hindi film industry, has now revealed that she faced similar struggles like that of Sushant.

In a new statement, the "Queen" actor alleged that she was asked to apologise to Hrithik Roshan's family in order to survive. Both Kangana and Hrithik had been in the public spotlight in the year 2016 over their alleged former relationship and legal battle.

The 'Queen' actor said: "Once Javed Akhtar had called me to his house and told me that Rakesh Roshan and his family are very big people. If you don't apologise to them, you will have nowhere to go. They will put you in jail, and eventually, the only path would be that of destruction...you will commit suicide. These were his words. Why did he think if I don't apologise to you will have nowhere to go. They will put you in jail, and eventually, the only path would be that of destruction...you will commit suicide. These were his words. Why did he think if I don't apologise to Hrithik Roshan, I would have to commit suicide? He shouted and yelled at me. I was shaking in his house,"

She further continued, "Were there people calling Sushant? Were there people putting such thoughts into his mind? I have no idea, but obviously, he was in a similar situation. In his interviews, he had said that nepotism cannot co-exist with talent because they don't allow the right talent to come up. I can relate to it, and hence I am raising questions. I want to know who played the catalyst in this situation?"

Kangana adds, "I know Sushant had a big fallout with Aditya Chopra also. When I refused Sultan, he had threatened he would never work with me. Ever since our industry ganged up on me. I remember so many times feeling really lonely and feeling what will happen to me..."

The 'Manikarnika' star also revealed that all this not only happened to her professionally but personally as well it hampered her relationships. "They are very insecure about things. Despite what they did to me, there was a guy who wanted to get married to me. But he distanced himself, they made sure he ran away. With no surety about my career, my love-life completely has gone awry, with six court-cases against me, they're still trying to put me in jail."

Kangana also talked about herself: "I'm a different person; I'm very expressive. I went out there, and I just vented it out. Sushant was not a person like that at all. He just bottled it up. Media too has played a considerable part in this--the kind of monster image that was given to him. Everybody who knew him closely agrees that he was a soft and emotional person. I think that after a point it really got to him. I can understand it because even I have been portrayed as a witch and as a stalker."

Sharing that the bullying and outbursts had a psychological impact on her life situations, Kangana says, "I remember initially when people used to come to my home, I felt so embarrassed to even offer them water. Forget having a relationship or going on a date post the disaster of a relationship I had. I can only imagine that even during Manikarnika what they did to me."

Talking about the 'Kai Po Che' star, she added, "But perhaps he was just not able to vent. In fact, all these constant jibes on these petty show that he should be killed and which rated him as the least efficient... his films have done more business than your Gully Boy. People like Salman Khan said who Sushant Singh Rajput? It was after M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, everybody knew who Sushant was. We need to stop these."

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