The award is for her “outstanding contribution to Cinema spanning over three decades”, which will be presented by “Tongues on Fire” film festival in a gala dinner at Sheraton Hotel in Piccadilly area of London (United Kingdom), hosted by British television and film actor Rizwan Ahmed (Shifty).

Her son Filmfare winner Abhishek Bachchan (Dostana) will also be present. Tickets are 150 Pounds (about 10,700 Indian Rupees) plus Value Added Tax.

“Tongues on Fire”, being held in United Kingdom from March 5th  to 14th, 2010, is a film festival dedicated to expressing the drive and spirit of Asian independent media and cinema cultures of South Asia. It provides a unique international platform for Asians working in film and media around the world.

 Jaya Bachchan (Kal Ho Naa Ho), 61, started her career at 15 in legendary Satyajit Ray’s Bengali film “Mahanagar” (1963), acted in about 44 movies and has been producer, writer and Rajya Sabha member. She has received Padma Shri, Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award and has won six Filmfare awards. She is the wife of Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan (Black) and mother-in-law of superstar Aishwarya Rai (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam). She is an alumnus of Film and Television Institute of India in Pune.

~RJZ

Oscar winner A.R. Rahman is providing music for this futuristic film about water wars between rich and poor, which includes a love story also. Spirituality author Deepak Chopra (Secrets of the Seven Sounds) is another producer while Oscar nominated Jill Bilcock (Moulin Rouge!) is the editor. Cast of “Paani”, slated to be released in 2011, includes Filmfare winner Vivek Oberoi (Company).

They include: Today’s Special (David Kaplan), Love Aaj Kal (Imtiaz Ali), Cooking With Stella (Dilip Mehta), Diana (Aleem Khan), Scene 32 (Shambhavi Kaul), Talentime (Yasmin Ahmad), and Flying (Kirthi Nath). In addition, the following Indian or India related shorts will participate: Narmeen (Dipti Gogna), Clap Clap (Tanuj Chopra), Anjali (Maya Anand), Kavi (Gregg Helvey), and A Day’s Work (Rajeev Dassani).

The SFIAAFF, presented by Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) every March, is claimed to be the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films, annually presenting approximately 120 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose in California (USA) since 1982. Chi-hui Yang is Festival Director while Stephen Gong is CAAM Executive Director.

Photocredit: SFIAAFF

Sharpe has previously composed music for Oscar nominated “Firedancer”, John Shea directed “Southie”, and internationally acclaimed documentary “Peace One Day”.

This Warner Bros distributed film, which has won Special Jury Award at WorldFest Houston, was shot in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Genting Highlands, Putrajaya), Pakistan (Lahore), and India (Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu-Kashmir, Maharashtra). This sports-action film; directed by Sanjay Puransingh Chauhan and produced by Vivek Khatkar; stars Aanaahad, Shraddha Das, Farouque Shaikh, and Nafisa Ali.

Lisbeth Scott, whose credits include “Avatar”, “The Passion of the Christ”, “The Chronicles of Narnia”, “and Munich”, is one of the playback singers. Other playback singers include Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Shankar Mahadevan, and Daler Mehndi.

Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, who was nominated in the best traditional world music album category for his album ‘Ancient Sounds’, lost out to ‘Douga Mansa’ by African Kora player Mamadou Diabate.

Tabla player Ustad Zakir Hussain, who was nominated in the best classical crossover album category for his album ‘The Melody of Rhythm’ that features works by Leonard Slatkin, Bela Fleck, Hussain and Edgar Meyer (Detroit Symphony Orchestra), also did not win. He had won a Grammy last year for his collaborative album ‘Global Drum Project’.

The best classical crossover album award went to ‘Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs Of Joy And Peace’.

Rahman was honoured for his compositions in Danny Boyle’s rags-to-riches film ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, getting the awards for best compilation soundtrack for a motion picture and ‘Jai ho’ being the best motion picture song. Rahman shares the Grammy with lyricist Gulzar who penned ‘Jai ho’.

-IANS
-Photo: Amjad Ali Khan

Filmfare winner Shahrukh (Chak De India!), 44, is the first Bollywood star to be inducted into this Museum, which boasts of wax figures of celebrities like Audrey Hepburn, Clark Gable, Jennifer Lopez, Nicole Kidman, Johnny Depp, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Beyonce, David Beckham, etc.

Museum calls Shahrukh’s induction as “historic addition” and adds that it “symbolizes a coming together of the world’s two great film centers, Hollywood and Bollywood”.

Shahrukh, who is said to have starred in over 70 movies and is also a producer and television presenter, was named by Newsweek magazine as one of the 50 most powerful people in the world. His “My Name is Khan”(Karan Johar) is set for release on February 12.

Welcoming coming closer of Hollywood-Bollywood with this induction, Indo-American statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that the collaboration of world’s two major film industries on various aspects was a step in the right direction. Cinema was a powerful medium and Hollywood-Bollywood engagement, if utilized positively, could bring East and West closer, Zed, who is chairperson of Indo-American Leadership Confederation, added.

The unveiling today was reportedly accompanied by a performance of America’s Bollywood dance troupe “Ishaara”, a recent America’s Got Talent contender.

Headquartered in London, Madame Tussauds have wax museums in New York, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Shanghai, Amsterdam, Washington DC, Berlin, and Hollywood. This Hollywood Boulevard located museum was opened in 2009, which marked 200th anniversary of Madame Tussauds. Shahrukh’s wax figure reportedly cost about $300, 000.

When asked about the speculations, she says, “I’ve heard rumours about me doing three TV series, two in the US and one here. The ones in the US are not true because I haven’t taken on anything there. It was news to me when I was told about TV shows in the US, after I returned from there.” When prodded, she admits that she will start shooting for the cricket-based talk show, Beyond The Seam, soon after the IPL gets over “I’ve had film offers last year but I couldn’t take them on because of the matches. Even Beyond The Seam has been on hold for one year because there was no space in my engagement diary. We will start the show as soon as I’m done with IPL. It’s a cricket-based show and I’m excited. The format has been chalked out,” she asserts. Reportedly, the show is expected to be produced by Synergy Adlabs under the supervision of Siddharth Basu. Neither Basu nor Zinta confirmed this, but sources have it that Basu is going the whole hog on this show, which is going to have a homegrown format. Colors is expected to take the show on air. Sources have it that the officials from the channel and the production house had met her in Los Angeles last summer to finalise the deal. Zinta refuses to comment. She says, “I don’t know all the details at this stage. So, it’s too early to discuss anything now.” Apparently, the dimpled actress has negotiated a fee of Rs 10 crore to host 20 episodes. An industry source says, “She had negotiated a big fee when she agreed to do the show. The fee is actually between Rs 10 crore and Rs 12 crore for the 20-episode series in season one. If it succeeds, it will be extended to the next season.” Earlier on, Synergy Adlabs had also approached Zinta to judge India’s Got Talent and were offering her Rs 5 crore for the three-month-long season. She had refused owing to her commitment to the IPL last year.

She says, ” I had chunky film offers also, which I refused because I had to focus on my team which I hold so closely. This year, I’ll be relaxed and I can focus on new projects. I have a few tempting offers in my kitty but it’s too early announce anything now.”

~IANS
~Photocredit: Getty Images

While Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Fashion’, a dark tale about the Indian fashion industry, won its heroine Priyanka Chopra the best actress award and got Kangana Ranaut the best supporting actress honour, Farhan Akhtar’s cult music-based film ‘Rock On!!’ got the best Hindi film award. Actor Arjun Rampal won the best supporting actor for the film too.

Ashutosh Gowariker’s epic ‘Jodha Akbar’ won Chinni Prakash and his wife Rekha Prakash the best choreography award for the song ‘Azeem-o-shaan shehenshah’, a number that depicts dance forms of different Indian states. Fashion designer Neeta Lulla, who styled actress Aishwarya Rai in the film, has won the best costume designer award.

Nandita Das’ directorial debut ‘Firaaq’, which was based on the 2002 Gujarat riots, has won the awards for best editing (A. Sreekar Prasad) and best art direction (Gautam Sen).

Even films like ‘A Wednesday’, ‘Roadside Romeo’, ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’, ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’ and ‘Thanks Maa’ took one award each.

While Neeraj Pandey’s ‘A Wednesday’ has bagged the Indira Gandhi award for Best First Film of a director, Yash Raj Films’ ‘Roadside Romeo’ bagged the best animation film.

Dibakar Banerjee’s satirical ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’ has been adjudged the best popular film providing wholesome entertainment, ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’ directed by Nishikant Kamat has got the award for best special effects (Govardhan), and ‘Thanks Maa’ has got Shams Patel the best child artist award.

The award for best direction has gone to Bala for Tamil film ‘Naan Kadauul’, while the best actor is Upendra Limaye for Marathi film ‘Jogva’.

Bengali film ‘Antaheen’, directed by Annirudh Roy-Chowdhary, has won four awards including for best feature film.

~IANS

“It is expected to draw hundreds of India’s leading actors, actresses and filmmakers”, according to South Korea’s leading daily JoongAng Ilbo’s English edition JoongAng Daily.

Starting with London (United Kingdom) in 2000, these annual Awards events have been held in South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, People’s Republic of China and are announced to be held in Canada (Toronto) in June 2011 . IIFA Awards are said to recognize, honor and celebrate the achievements of India’s film industry. It claims to attract a worldwide television audience of over 350 million.

Welcoming Seoul’s move to host Awards events, acclaimed Indo-American statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that it was time now for American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize India’s contribution to world cinema and introduce a new award category of “Best Bollywood Film” in Oscars for films made in India. This gesture would bring more credibility to Oscars also in the international arena, as it was long overdue, Rajan Zed, who is chairperson of Indo-American Leadership Confederation, added.

Seoul has been described by Lonely Planet as a “fashion-filled” city that “vibrates with energy night and day” and South Korea as “a country of endless possibilities”. Bollywood is said to be producing about double the number of movies than Hollywood and about four billion cinema tickets are sold annually in India.

Mumbai based IIFA endeavors to promote Indian cinema and showcase its talent globally. Its founder-directors are Andre Timmins, Viraf Sarkari, and Sabbas Joseph. Its Advisory Board boasts of big Bollywood names: Amitabh Bachchan (Brand Ambassador), David Dhawan, J.P. Dutta, Jaya Bachchan, Karan Johar, Manmohan Shetty, Pahlaj Nihalani, Ramesh Sippy, Shyam Shroff, and Vinod Khanna.
~ANI

Created in 1988 by Lok Seva Sanchar Parishad and promoted by Doordarshan,mile sur mera tumhara video was intended to instill a sense of pride and promote unity amongst Indians.

~ANI