Irrfan bags best actor trophy at Dubai film fest

December 15, 2013

Dubai_film_festDubai, Dec 15: Acclaimed Indian actor Irrfan Khan won the best actor award for his brilliant performance in "The Lunchbox" at the 10th edition of Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF).

Irrfan won the award Friday in the Muhr AsiaAfrica Feature category, while films writer-director Ritesh Batra got a special mention for screenplay for the film about a lunch box, which becomes a symbol of hope, in the same category. World renowned Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur headed the jury.

Sandeep Ray won the best director award for his Bengali language film "Shirno Bahu (Thin Arms)", which revolves around an octogenarian woman who undergoes treatment for a debilitating medical condition, in the Muhr Asia Africa shorts category.

DIFF chairman Abdulhamid Juma said that the sense of community this year was palpable.

"After 10 years, we are seeing recurrent visitors, both film professionals and cinema lovers, from the region and beyond. This year we celebrated the gains that have been made in Arab cinema in the past decade, the result of years of work from our team to discover, nurture and promote talent from the Arab world," he added.

"There is a feeling that Arab cinema has 'arrived,' with increasing numbers of Arab films on the world stage, winning awards at the most prestigious festivals, and gaining currency even with audiences who have never visited the region."

The 2013 winners are:

Emirates NBD People's Choice Award:

Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee for American film "Frozen" and Amal Al-Agroobi for "The Brain That Sings" (UAE)

FIPRESCI:

Short: Ahmed Yassin - "Children Of God" (Iraq, UK, Hungary)

Documentary: Zeina Daccache - "Scheherazade's Diary" (Lebanon)

Feature: Mohammed Khan - "Factory Girl" (Egypt, UAE)

Emirates NBD People's Choice Award:

Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee - "Frozen" (US)

Amal Al-Agroobi - "The Brain That Sings" (UAE)

Muhr Emirati:

Special Mention: Mohammad Fikree - "Girl & It" (UAE)

Best Director: Muna Al Ali - "Concealment" (UAE)

Special Jury Prize: Claudia Corbelli and Greg White - "The Neighbour" (UAE)

Best Film: Abdullah Hasan Ahmed and Khalid Al Mahmood - "Don't Leave Me" (UAE)

Muhr AsiaAfrica:

Muhr AsiaAfrica Short:

Special Mention: Cédric Ido "Twaaga" (Burkina Faso, France)

Best Director: Sandeep Ray - "Thin Arms" (India)

Special Jury Prize: Halla Kim - "The Way Back" (South Korea)

Best Film: Askhat Kuchinchirekov "Gas Is Over" (Kazakhstan)

Muhr AsiaAfrica Documentary:

Special Mention: Lynn Lee and James Leong - "Wukan: The Flame Of Democracy" (Singapore)

Best Director: Pin Pin Tan - "To Singapore With Love" (Singapore)

Special Jury Prize: Sara Rastegar - "My Red Shoes" (France)

Best Film: Yoshiko Hashimoto and Shigeki Kinoshita - "The Horses Of Fukushima" (Japan)

Muhr AsiaAfrica Feature:

Special Mention: Souleymane Démé for his role in "Grigris" (France, Chad)

Special Mention: Ritesh Batra for the screenplay of "The Lunchbox" (India)

Best Actress: Yeo Yann Yann - "Ilo Ilo" (Singapore)

Best Actor: Irrfan Khan - "The Lunchbox" (France, Germany, India)

Best Director: Tsai Ming Liang - "Stray Dogs" (Taiwan, France)

Muhr Arab Documentary:

Special Mention: Zeina Daccache - "Scheherazade's Diary" (Lebanon)

Best Director: Salma El Tarzi - "Underground On The Surface" (Egypt)

Special Jury Prize: Diala Kachmar and Carole Abboud,Guardians - "Of Lost Time" (Lebanon, UAE)

Best Film: Karim Amer - "The Square" (US, Egypt)

Special Jury Prize: Sepehr Seifi - "Fish & Cat" (Iran)

Best Film: Ang Hwee Sim, Anthony Chen, Wahyuni A. Hadi,- "Ilo Ilo" (Singapore)

Muhr Arab Short:

Special Mention: Camille Salameh for his role in "Troubled Waters" (Lebanon)

Special Mention: Ahmed Yassin - "Children Of God" (Iraq, UK, Hungary)

Best Director: Ali Cherri - "The Disquiet" (Lebanon, France)

Special Jury Prize: Haider Rashid - "The Deep" (Iraq, Italy)

Best Film: Bavi Yassin, Nore Maatala - "The Lost Voice" (Belgium, Iraq)

Muhr Arab Feature:

Special Mention: Mohammed Amin Benamraoui - "Adios Carmen" (Morocco, Belgium, UAE)

Special Mention: Raouia for her roles in "Rock The Casbah" (Morocco, France) and "Pillow Secrets" (Morocco)

Best Actress: Yasmine Raees - "Factory Girl" (Egypt, UAE)

Best Actor: Hassan Badida - "They Are The Dogs" (Morocco)

Best Director: Hany Abu Assad - "Omar" (Palestine, UAE)

Special Jury Prize: Nabil Ayouch - "They Are The Dogs" (Morocco)

Best Film: Waleed Zuaiter - "Omar" (Palestine, UAE)

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Agencies
June 17,2020

Mumbai, Jun 17: A lawyer on Wednesday moved a criminal complaint against 8 persons, including Bollywood superstar Salman Khan and producer-director Karan Johar, in a local court regarding the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

The court had fixed July 3 as the next date of hearing.

In his complaint filed in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha alleged that these eight persons forced Sushant to commit suicide under a conspiracy which, he pleaded, amounted to murder.

Others named in the complaint are Aditya Chopra, Sajid Nadiadwala, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Bhushan Kumar, Ekta Kapoor, and director Dinesh.

The complainant claimed that these persons did not let Sushant's movies get released under a conspiracy and the late actor was not even invited to film functions because of these people.

Ojha said that Sushant Singh Rajput's death had not only hurt the people of Bihar but the entire country.

He said the complaint had been filed under Sections 306, 109, 504 and 506 and Bollywood actor Kangana Ranawat had been listed as a witness in the case.

Sushant Singh Rajput had allegedly committed suicide at his Bandra flat in Mumbai on Sunday.

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News Network
June 15,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 15: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has condoled the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and recalled his support to the state during the floods in 2018.

The 34-year old Bollywood actor was found hanging at his apartment in Mumbai on Sunday.

"We are deeply saddened to hear of the death of Sushant Singh Rajput. His early demise is a great loss to the Indian Film industry. Our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and supporters," Vijayan said in a tweet.

"We take a moment to remember his support during the time of Kerala floods

During the deluge in August, 2018, a fan had tagged him in a comment on his Instagram post and said, he don't have the money, but wanted to donate some food.

The actor, who spotted the comment, replied that he will donate Rs one crore in his fan's name.

Rajput donated Rs one crore to CMDRF in the name of his fan and uploaded the screenshot saying, My Kerala.

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Agencies
June 15,2020

Mumbai, Jun 15: Actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death has reignited the discussions around the struggle of survival in Bollywood, with many insiders highlighting "cruel and unforgiving" nature of the industry, particularly tough on outsiders.

Rajput was found hanging in his Bandra apartment on Sunday.

According to a police official, Mumbai Police found out during the probe that the 34-year-old actor was under medication for depression.

An engineering student, Rajput left his course at the Delhi Technological University in the early 2000s and rose from a background dancer to a TV star with soap opera Pavitra Rishta, which gave the "outsider" his breakout show in 2009.

In 2013, he made his Bollywood debut with Kai Po Che! and went on to star in films such as Shuddh Desi Romance, Raabta, Kedarnath, Sonchiriya and Chhichhore.

But his most prominent role came as cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni's in the 2007 biopic, MS Dhoni: The Untold Story.

In a telling tweet, veteran actor Dharmendra wrote despite not knowing Rajput personally, his death served as a reminder that the industry could be "cruel".

"Pyaare Sushant, naa film dekhi na kabhi mila tum se... par tere achaanak chale jaane se bada sadma laga. This beautiful beloved 'show business" is very cruel. I can imagine your unbearable pain. I share the pain of your loving family and friends," Dharmendra wrote.

Actor Meera Chopra penned a powerful, poignant note about the loneliness one feels working in an industry, which is "cold and ruthless".

"We all knew well that Sushant was going through depression since long, but what did we do? Where was his close circle, the directors and producers he's worked with, his close friends? Why nobody came out and helped, gave him the kind of love, the work that he wanted - because nobody cares," she wrote on Twitter.

The Section 375 actor, who has been vocal about feeling suffocated by the constant judgement from the industry colleagues, said nobody in Bollywood cares about what one's going through and artistes are just a flop away from being alienated.

Chopra said the industry has "failed" Rajput and Bollywood will now never be the same.

"True, Bollywood is a small family, but a kind of family which is never there when you need them. He had to take his life for that family to realise the kind of pain and need he was in. An outsider will always feel like an outsider here.

"I just want to say to my industry that help people when they need it, and you know when they need it. There is no point tweeting when they are no more. Don't pretend to be sad when you guys didn't do anything when he was sad. Stop being such a hypocritical society," she added.

Gulshan Devaiah said, as an actor, one could understand why Rajput would've taken the step to end his life.

"As actors, somewhere deep down inside, we think we know why he did it and that’s why it so disturbing even if you didn’t know him at all. It’s a hard game to play and he played it very well but the game won in the end," Devaiah wrote.

Quoting Chopra's tweet, the Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota star dismissed the idea of Bollywood being a family.

"If one thinks it’s a family, there is the problem. Bollywood is an imaginary name for a place of work, that’s it. I am really not trying to put anybody down here and sorry if it seems," he wrote.

On Sunday, actor-producer Nikhil Dwivedi posted a strongly-worded tweet calling out the "hypocrisy" of the industry after people from the film fraternity wrote they regretted not staying in touch with the "Chhichhore" star.

"High and mighty announcing they should have kept in touch with Sushant. Come on, you didn't! And that's because his career dipped. So STFU! Are you in touch with Imran Khan, Abhay Deol and others? No! But you were, when they were doing well," Dwivedi said.

Similar sentiment was echoed by filmmaker Anubhav Sinha, who, without taking names, said the "Bollywood Privilege Club" must sit down and think hard.

"Now don't ask me to elaborate any further," he tweeted.

Addressing outsiders, filmmaker Hansal Mehta wrote a long thread about the two ends of an artiste's time in the industry - the glorious successes and the crushing lows.

"There are many young 'outsiders' in this industry. Remember this - there is an establishment that will make you feel like the next big thing until they need you. They will drop you and mock you as soon as you falter. Do not fall for the trap. The ones that celebrate you will celebrate your downfall some time later," he tweeted.

Mehta said it's important for those who don't come from a film family to not force themselves to fit in.

"Just be authentic, follow your heart and stop seeking acceptance from anybody. Your connection should be with your art, your craft and with your audience. Nothing else matters. Over the years you will succeed, you will stumble.

"But remember that nothing is more important than you. Look after yourself. And know that you matter. The world is much bigger and wiser than what you perceive. So are opportunities. If you stay they will be yours. Lots of love. Never lose heart," the filmmaker wrote.

Celebrity hairstylist-turned-director Sapna Bhavnani claimed that Rajput's battle with mental health was out in the open and yet the industry chose to look the other way.

"It’s no secret Sushant was going through very tough times for the last few years. No one in the industry stood up for him nor did they lend a helping hand. To tweet today is the biggest display of how shallow the industry really is. No one here is your friend," she wrote on Twitter.

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