India's 'The Good Road' among 76 films vying for Oscar

October 9, 2013

India_OscarLos Angeles, Oct 9: India's 'The Good Road', a Gujarati film by first-time director Gyan Correa, is among the 76 movies that will compete in the foreign language category at the 86th Academy Awards.

'The Good Road', a lost and found story of a boy in the desert of Kutch, created some uproar in India after it was chosen over more popular and festivals winner 'The Lunchbox'.

Other notable entries this year include 'The Past', Iranian entry by Oscar-winner Asgar Farhadi, starring 'The Artist' star Berenice Bejo. Farhadi earlier won the best foreign Oscar for his divorce drama 'A Separation'.

Thomas Vinterberg's critically acclaimed 'The Hunt', about a man wrongly accused by a child of molestation, is vying for an Oscar from Denmark with another Cannes favourite --Paolo Sorrentini's 'The Great Beauty' from Italy.

Pakistan's entry is Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi's 'Zinda Bhaag' that also stars Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah. Nepal has entered Subarna Thapa's 'Soongava: Dance of the Orchids'.

This year, the category has first-time countries in Moldova and Saudi Arabia. Haifaa Al Mansour 'Wadjda', about a young girl's desire to own a bicycle, is Saudi Arabia's entry. Afghanistan has entered 'Wajma – An Afghan Love Story' by director Barmak Akram.

Argentina has submitted 'The German Doctor' by helmer Lucia Puenzo while Austria, which won the foreign film Oscar last year for Michael Haneke's 'Amour' has entered Julian Polsler's 'The Wall' this year. France's official entry this year is 'Renoir' directed by Gilles Bourdos.

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki's beautiful film 'Television', is Bangladesh's entry.

Danis Tanovic, whose 'No Man's Land' won the 2002 Oscar, is in the race again with 'An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker' from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Tanovic is directing Emraan Hashmi in his next and co-produced 'The Lunchbox'.

Egypt's entry is director Ibrahim El Batout's 'Winter of Discontent', which deals with events that led up to the Tahrir Square uprising.

Celebrated helmer Wong Kar-wai's 'The Grandmaster', about the life of martial-arts master Ip Man, is Hong Kong's entry to the Oscars while China has entered Feng Xiaogang's patriotic drama 'Back to 1942'.

Japan has overlooked favoured 'Like Father, Like Son' for 'The Great Passage' as its entry.

The 86th Academy Awards nominations will be announced on January 16, 2014 while the award ceremony will take place on March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center.

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News Network
July 27,2020

Mumbai, Jul 27: Reel life villain Sonu Sood turned real life hero once again, this time by gifting a tractor on Sunday to a farmer in a remote village in Andhra Pradesh to help him till the land. The actor came up with the gift after coming through a video clip on Twitter wherein a tomato farmer in Madanapalle in Chittoor district was seen ploughing the land with his two daughters carrying the yoke on their shoulders.

In his instant reaction, Sood promised a pair of ox to the farmer, but later said the family deserved a tractor. "So sending you one. By evening a tractor will be ploughing your fields. Stay blessed," Sood, who acted as a villain in numerous Telugu films, said in a tweet.

True to his word, a new tractor was delivered to the elated farmer Nageswara Rao at his Mahalrajupalle village by Sunday night. Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, who belongs to Chittoor district, hailed the actor's gesture.

"Spoke with @sonusood ji and applauded him for his inspiring effort to send a tractor to Nageswara Rao's family in Chittoor district. Moved by the plight of the family, I have decided to take care of the education of the two daughters and help them pursue their dreams," Naidu said in a tweet.

Rao's elder daughter completed her Intermediate while the second one passed Class 10. Rao used to run a tea stall in Madanapalle before coronavirus left him out of business. He returned to his native Mahalrajupalle village to take up agriculture once again.

Given his penury, he could not hire either a pair of bulls or a tractor to till the land, when his daughters volunteered to help him on the chores. Their plight went viral on social media following which the actor stepped in with help.

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Mumbai, Aug 3: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan says he has immense gratitude for the doctors who provided him with medical care for Covid-19 and feels overwhelmed to be free of the virus finally.

Amitabh, on Sunday, tested negative for the novel coronavirus and was discharged from hospital.

The 77-year-old actor was admitted to Nanavati hospital along with son Abhishek after testing positive for Covid-19 on July 11. Abhishek, 44, is still positive and will remain under medical care.

"It has been heartening to be back from the Hospital after the ‘mukti’ from the coronavirus but a sour taste in the mouth when Abhishek has to still be in the medical care," Amitabh wrote in his blog.

The actor said doctors are tirelessly working towards battling the virus "each hour" through consultation, sharing of information and experience with their fraternity from other parts of the world which gives "the hope of repair."

"Assuring us each minute that ‘all shall be well’ , when in fact they themselves struggle to find that confirmed patent that can be used, delivered, executed to save lives and conditions from the virus.

"When I had addressed them as 'angels in white' I had never imagined that I would be supine in their midst to savour their angelic presence, as they give us hope, inspiration and the strength to fight. They are quite quite remarkable. My gratitude shall never fail for them... feeling bad for Abhishek .. prayers he comes home soon," he added.

On Sunday, Abhishek thanked well-wishers for their continued support and said he would remain under medical care.

"I, unfortunately, due to some comorbidities remain Covid-19 positive and remain in hospital. Again, thank you all for your continued wishes and prayers for my family. Very humbled and indebted. I'll beat this and come back healthier! Promise," he wrote.

Abhishek's wife, actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, 46, and eight-year-old daughter Aaradhya were discharged from the hospital on Monday after testing negative for Covid-19.

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News Network
April 8,2020

Mumbai, Apr 8: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has started the process of transferring funds into the accounts of daily wage workers of the film industry, the Federation of Western Indian Cine Employees (FWICE) said on Wednesday.

The actor had recently pledged to financially support 25,000 daily wage workers who have been badly hit by the 21-day lockdown to contain the coronavirus spread in the country.

According to B N Tiwari, FWICE, President, Salman has made an initial payment of Rs 3,000 each to the daily wage workers of the film industry, starting Tuesday.

"We had given him the final list of 23,000 workers so far, who were in dire need of financial help. He is going to transfer money in installments as he doesn't want people to misuse it. He has transferred about Rs 3,000 to every worker yesterday and he will transfer money again after some time. We are thankful to him for helping our workers," Tiwari told PTI.

A source close to Salman said the superstar will continue to support the workers until the situation improves in the country.

"We have started the process from Tuesday. We will be giving sufficient money to workers monthly, we will also give money next month and if the situation is still the same, we will continue to financially help the workers till it doesn't return to normalcy," the source said.

FWICE said Yash Raj Films have also provided a financial help of Rs 5,000 to around 3,000 workers.

"Besides Salman, a lot of people from Bollywood have come forward to help the workers, including Ajay Devgn and Rohit Shetty, who have given Rs 51 lakh each. Boney Kapoor and Arjun Kapoor too have given money and there are few more who have offered financial assistance to the federation. We also received Rs 1.5 crore from the Producers Guild of India on Tuesday.

"The federation has received a total amount of Rs 3 crore from film industry people. We are yet to receive money from Netflix, which they had announced for daily wage earners and also from Amitabh Bachchan, who is going to provide ration to one lakh workers. He is going to provide coupons which we should receive in a day or two," Tiwari said.

He further said Bachchan's ration coupon for workers will also be given to other associations across the country, such as in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Karnataka.

Tiwari said FWICE is in the process of making another list of needy workers and then they will begin the process of transferring money.

"The Rs 3 crore that the federation has received will be distributed among our five lakh workers in Maharashtra. We will start sending money from April 14 in phases. Those who haven't received any financial aid will be helped first. We are in the process of making a list of such workers for the same," Tiwari said.

"FWICE has also begun distributing ration to workers in suburban Andheri and Jogeshwari. So far we have distributed 5,000 packets of ration and we will give more, he added.

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