'Thithi', 'Angry Indian Goddesses' to screen at IFFM

June 21, 2016

Melbourne, Jun 21: "Thithi", "Ottaal", "Parched" and "Angry Indian Goddesses" are among the 50 movies that would be screened at the fifth Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) to be held here from August 11 till 21.

thithiThemed on 'Women Empowerment', this year's edition of the festival will screen movies in 17 different languages.

Leena Yadav-directed film "Parched" will be the opening film, while Pan Nalin's "Angry Indian Goddesses" has been announced as the closing film of the festival.

The festival will feature a special awards night, a flag hoisting event by Bollywood star Rish Kapoor and a Q&A session with festival guests like Vidya Balan and Richa Chadha.

The program was officially launched by Mind Blowing Films head Mitu Bhowmick in the presence of Melbourne based Consul General Manika Jain at a press conference held here yesterday.

Commending Bhowmick's effort to run the Bollywood festival successfully every year on a theme, Jain said that Indian government was currently working on 'Festival of India' initiative to be held this year which will further showcase Indian arts and culture Down Under.

Bhowmick said the opening night will screen Leena Yadav directed film 'Parched' followed by the awards night the next day that would present musical performance by Pakistani singer Sarah Haider, award-winning singer Shalmali Kholgade and other notable local performers.

Like last year, IFFM celebrations will coincide with the Indian Independence day and this year Rishi will hoist the tricolor at the iconic building of Federal Square in Melbourne.

A Bollywood dance competition, a charity initiative event would also be part of this year's festival.

The festival will also announce the awards in the categories of the best film, best actor, best director, best actress, and best Indie film.

The nominations for best actor include Shah Rukh Khan for "Fan", Nawazuddin Siddiqui for "Raman Raghav 2.0", Ranveer Singh for "Bajirao Mastani" and Manoj Bajapi for "Aligarh".

In the female category nominees include Sonam Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Radhika Apte and Rituparna Sengupta.

The best film nominations included "Neerja", "Kapoor & Sons", "Bajirao Mastani" and "Raman Raghav 2.0."

IFFM has been dubbed as an important Indian cultural event for Melbourne drawing over 35000 attendees last year.

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News Network
May 30,2020

California, May 30: Priyanka Chopra Jonas on Saturday shared a gorgeous sunkissed selfie sporting cherry lips and beaded dangler earrings.

The multi-talented star who owns a production house put out a morning selfie on Instagram wherein she is seen sporting a white collared top, flaunting her cherry red lips and dangler earrings as she embraces her peach glow in the sheer sunlight, while her shiny curls bounce the sunshine.

Along with the picture, the 'The Sky Is Pink' actor wrote, "A cherry lip and sunshine...maybe even a earring...I'm feeling adventurous."

On sharing the gorgeous selfie, the Chopra received heaps of praises from fans and celebrity followers, and the post reached more than 1.9 lakh likes including one for Sussanne Khan.

Model Masaba Gupta also chimed in the comment section and adored the beauty of the 'Baywatch' star writing, "Stunning" with a heart emoticon.

Currently, the actor is quarantined in her California house along with singer and husband Nick Jonas and has been quite active on social media.

Earlier, Priyanka recalled her parents' service in the Indian Army as America observed Memorial Day, and the 37-year-old actor dug out an old picture of her parents in uniform and posted it on Instagram.

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Agencies
April 25,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 25: Malayalam actor Ravi Vallathol, well-known for his acting in television serials and movies, passed away on Saturday at a hospital here, family sources said.

Vallathol, son of drama legend T N Gopinathan Nair and Soudamini, was the nephew of the famous Malayalam poet Vallathol Narayana Menon.

The veteran actor had appeared in around 50 Malayalam movies and more than 50 television serials starting from1986 with the serial 'Vaitharani' on Doordarshan.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi VIjayan expressed condolences on the passing away of the actor.

"He had an extraordinary ability to immortalise the characters with a wide range of emotions," Vijayan said, adding that, his demise was a loss to both theatre, film and TV serial industry.

Opposition Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala also condoled the demise of the Vallathol.

Chennithala remembered Vallathol as a brilliant writer and social activist. Vallathol made his film debut in 'Swathi Thirunal' directed by the late Lenin Rajendran in 1987.

He had also played versatile characters in hit movies movies including Godfather, Mathilukal, Sargam, Vidheyan, Kottayam Kunjachan, Naalu Penningal, Idukki Gold among others.

He has penned more than 25 short stories among which two were adapted into television series.

He is survived by his wife Geethalakshmi.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Mumbai, Jan 9: A day after Deepika Padukone visited the JNU campus to express solidarity with students who had been attacked, her film "Chhapaak" made another splash on Wednesday over the name of its antagonist.

While Deepika was the focus of many a discussion on social media and beyond for showing up at a public meeting in the university, the film, based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal, was also making news for quite another reason.

In what could well be a storm in a 'Twitter cup', "Nadeem Khan" and "Rajesh" began trending on the microblogging site after a magazine article claimed the name of the antagonist had been changed. By 4 pm, 'Nadeem Khan' clocked close to 60,000 tweets and 'Rajesh' close behind with 50,000.

In 2005, Laxmi was disfigured for life when a man called Nadeem Khan and three others allegedly hurled acid at her in Delhi's upscale Khan Market.

In the film based on her life, the narrative remains the same but the names have been changed. So, Laxmi is 'Malti' Agarwal and Nadeem becomes 'Babboo' aka 'Bashir Khan'.

On Wednesday, Swarajya magazine wrote an article headlined, "The Ways Of Bollywood: In Deepika Padukone-Starer Chhapaak, Acid Attacker Naeem Khan Becomes ‘Rajesh'." "As part of a backlash against Padukone's JNU 'meet and greet', social media users researched the names of the characters involved in the movie Chhapaak and conspicuously found the name of main perpetrator Naeem Khan absent," the article alleged.

But in the Meghna Gulzar directed film, there is no mention of any Nadeem or Naeem Khan. Moreover, Rajesh is the name of Malti's boyfriend.

Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Babul Supriyo jumped into the controversy, saying it was another example of "absolute hypocrisy".

"...When you say all characters are fictitious and don't have any resemblance with living beings and all of that, this is absolute hypocrisy. When you change the name which also changes the religion, it has been done very deliberately," Supriyo told a TV channel when asked to comment on the controversy.

South Delhi BJP MP Ramesh Biduri also called for a boycott of the movie.

With Deepika grabbing attention by going to JNU, many appreciated her 'silent solidarity' but others criticised her for "supporting the Leftists" and said it was a promotional stunt ahead of the release.

"#BoycottChhapaak" was trending on Twitter as was "#ISupportDeepika".

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