Women directors sweep top awards at MAMI film fest

Agencies
October 19, 2017

Oct 19: Women ruled the roost at the 19th MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Rima Das's 'Village Rockstars' won the Golden Gateway award in the India Gold Category and Carla Simon's 'Summer 1993' won the honour in the International category.

The seven-day event, which concluded on Wednesday night in Mumbai, screened over 220 films from 51 countries including features, documentaries and short films.

Das is ecstatic as her movie has also won the Oxfam Best Film -- Gender Equality Award and the Young Critics Choice Award at the festival.

The director-cinematographer-editor-producer said: "I am grateful to the MAMI jury and especially my children. Most of the people thought I was mad. But the children and my family believed in me."

"When I started making movies, the movies were earlier selected in festival but my mother used to ask whether I will win. So this is to my mom."

Simon, who was on her first visit to India, said it was an "incredible experience".

Rina Soni, Director of Oxfam India, said: "Globally, women seldom get fair credit and recognition for their work. There's no shortage of talented female filmmakers out there, they just need a platform to shine."

"The Award is to support and encourage filmmakers to make films that break gender norms or challenge the conventional portrayal of women and girls."

"'Village Rockstars' deserves the award as it brings on screen the story of hope and aspirations of a young girl fighting inequality and disasters. We are delighted that another path-breaking film 'The Hungry' received a special mention in this category."

Actors Radhika Apte and Sayani Gupta were the presenters for the ceremony, after which a closing night party saw the attendance of names like Sonam Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Rajkumar Hirani, Kabir Khan, Anurag Kashyap, Rajkummar Rao, Ashutosh Gowariker, Konkona Sen Sharma and Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Anupama Chopra, the festival director, said: "This has been a week long celebration of movies. I want to thank our enthusiastic audience and our generous partners for helping us make this edition of MAMI a roaring success."

Hansal Mehta's film 'Omerta', starring Rajkummar Rao, was the closing film of the festival.

Rajkummar gave away the Audience Choice Award to the Hungarian drama 'On Body and Soul' by Ildiko Enyedi.

In the India Gold Section, the Jury gave a special mention to 'Sexy Durga' by Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, and to 'Up, Down and Sideways' by Anushka Meenakshi and Ishwar Srikumar.

The Silver Gateway Award went to 'Machines' by Rahul Jain.

The gala ended with the announcement of the dates for the 20th Edition of MAMI Mumbai Film Festival with Star -- October 25 to November 1.

MAMI will resume its year round programme next week with the first screening in India of Disney's 'Thor: Ragnarok'.

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News Network
May 19,2020

Washington, May 19: Actors Brian Austin Green and Megan Fox are going their separate ways after 10 years of marriage.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, 46-year-old Green, on Monday announced the news during an episode of his podcast 'With Brian Austin Green' where he emotionally opened up about the breakup with Fox.

The 'Beverly Hills 90210' star revealed that they simply grew distant at the end of last year while Fox was away shooting a film.

Green recalled Fox saying during the conversation they had after she returned from filming, "She said, 'I realised when I was out of the country working alone that I feel more like myself, and I liked myself better during that experience and I think that might be something worth trying for me.'"

Though feeling "shocked" and "upset" at first, Green admitted that he couldn't be upset with her for being honest.

He said, "Neither one of us did anything to each other. She's always been honest with me. I've always been honest with her. We've had an amazing relationship. I will always love her. And I know she will always love me and I know as far as a family what we have built is really cool and really special."

The 'Impact Point' star shared that they intend to "still do family vacations and holidays as a family and really make that a focus for the kids."

Green went on to say that it's hard to adjust to the change and he doesn't want himself and Fox to "be at odds": "She's been my best friend for 15 years and I don't want to lose that."

He added: "There's this sense of loss of, 'How do I go on with this big part of my life that I've always known and loved and shared changing?' What does that landscape look like? What does that life look like?' ... Megan and I talked a lot about it, and it's a big concern for both of us." Aware of the scrutiny around their age difference, Green defended Fox, saying "she's really a responsible person. ... She really loves the kids and cares about what their life and their experience is."

The couple share three children together 7-year-old Noah, 6-year-old Bodhi, and 3-year-old Journey, and Green said that they are only concerned about controlling how the separation will truly affect their children.

After photos circulated online of Fox and Machine Gun Kelly, whose real name is Colson Baker, hanging out -- Fox and Baker are co-stars in the upcoming film, 'Midnight in the Switchgrass,' Green said Fox and Baker are "just friends at this point."

He said, "She met this guy, Colson, on set. I've never met him. Megan and I have talked about him. I trust her judgment; she's always had really good judgment."

Green emphasised that despite what tabloids can say, he didn't want the public to categorise Fox and Baker as "villains or that I was a victim in any way."

Fox and Green started dating in 2004 and married in 2010. Fox had filed for divorce from Green in 2015, but the couple later reconciled.

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News Network
January 15,2020

Chennai, Jan 15: Superstar Rajinikanth on Tuesday called for neutrality in journalism and urged media outlets to report the truth.

Addressing an event organised by Tamil magazine ''Thuglak' in Chennai, the superstar-turned-politician said that the country needs a journalist like the late Cho S Ramaswamy, who helmed the publication for decades.

"The times, politics and society are going bad. In such a scenario, the media had a huge responsibility towards the people," he said.

Some television channels are biased towards political parties, Rajinikanth said. He added that media, critics and journalists must report the truth impartially.

Comparing true news to milk and fake reportage to water, Rajinikanth said people will not be able to distinguish between the two if they are mixed.

"Only journalists need to tell which portion is milk and which is water...write the truth and don't make a lie seem like truth," he said, amid applause.

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News Network
July 26,2020

A gang has been spreading rumours about me in the Hindi film industry that is preventing him from getting work, says Academy award-winning music director A R Rahman.

Collaborations between him and the Hindi film industry have reduced as a result, he adds

The maestro had composed music for Sushant Singh Rajput's Dil Bechara said that the reason he is not doing a lot of work is that a gang has been spreading rumours about him which resulted in him getting fewer projects.

Rahman's comments come amidst a raging insider versus outsider debate in Bollywood following actor Sushant Singh Rajput's untimely demise last month.

During an interview with Radio Mirchi, the Oscar-winning music director was asked the reason for doing less Hindi films.

Rahman said there has been "misunderstanding" between him and filmmakers as some people have been spreading "false rumours" about him in the industry.

"See, I don’t say no to good movies, but I think there is a gang, which, due to misunderstandings, is spreading some false rumours. So when Mukesh Chhabra came to me, I gave him four songs in two days. He said, 'Sir, how many people said don’t go, don’t go (to him). They told me stories after stories'," he said.

"I heard that, and I said, 'yeah okay, now I understand why I am doing less (work) and why the good movies are not coming to me.' I am doing dark movies, because there is a whole gang working against me, without them knowing that they are doing harm," the composer added.

Rahman has composed the music for Rajput's last movie "Dil Bechara", which premiered on Disney+ Hotstar on Friday. The film, directed by Mukesh Chhabra, also features Sanjana Sanghi and Saif Ali Khan.

The composer further said that he is aware of people's expectations from him but the "gang" is getting in his way.

"People are expecting me to do stuff, but there is another gang of people preventing that from happening. It is fine because I believe in destiny. I believe that everything comes from God.

"So, I am taking my own movies and doing my other stuff. But all of you are welcome to come to me. You make beautiful movies, and you are welcome to come to me," Rahman added.

Dubbed ‘Mozart of Madras’, A R Rahman has composed soundtracks for movies like Swades, Dil Se, Guru, Rockstar and more recently Sushant Singh Rajput’s Dil Bechara. 

The composer won two Academy Awards in 2009 for his songs in the popular Hollywood movie, Slumdog Millionaire. The composer also received a Golden Globes Award for his work in this movie.

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