Indian cinema’s best works for the year 2006 are finally being hounoured. The 54th National Film Award winners have finally been announced. What’s interesting is that mainstream commercial Bollywood cinema is now getting a larger share of the awards pie.
However, given the controversy surrounding the National Film Awards of 2006, many were skeptical whether the awards would even see the light of the day.
Trouble started when documentary filmmaker, Anand Patwardhan filed a petition in 2006 with the Bombay High Court challenging the pre-condition that only films with a censor certificate were eligible to compete for the National Awards.
Though the High Court ordered a stay on the National Awards, the Supreme Court set aside the stay order after ruling that the Government had the full right to fix the eligibility criteria for the Awards.
At the same time, one of the jury members of the 53rd National Awards, Shyamali Bannerji, alleged that the entire process of selecting winners was rigged.
In her petition filed in the Delhi High Court, Bannerji also alleged that Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Black did not qualify for any award as it is an adaptation of an English film titled The Miracle Worker.
However the petition was dismissed and Bollywood superstar, Amitabh Bachchan, went on to win the National Award for Best Actor for Black. Due to these legal hurdles, the National Awards for 2005 could be announced only in August 2007, and the backlog with a year’s delay continues.
Hundreds of Indian stars prepared to dazzle their fans Sunday at the ‘Bollywood Oscars,’ a glitzy awards ceremony expected to attract 600 million television viewers.
The gala event launched by the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) just eight years ago has become one of the film industry’s most-watched events. Celebrations began Friday with the premiere of ‘Sarkar Raj’ featuring newly-wed superstars Abhishek Bachchan and former Miss World Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, performing with his father Amitabh Bachchan.
The celebrity couple are up for Best Male and Best Female awards for their roles in ‘Guru’ — a rags-to-riches story of an Indian businessman.
Vying for the coveted Best Picture award are ‘Guru,’ ‘Chak De India,’ ‘Jab We Met,’ ‘Om Shanti Om,’ ‘Life in a Metro’ and ‘Partner.’
At least 500 of Bollywood’s biggest names including Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Katrina Kaif and Govinda — have arrived in Bangkok to promote their unique brand of film-making outside India. But the ceremony at a lavish Bangkok theatre, decorated in traditional Thai style, will highlight films that go beyond India’s traditional song-and-dance fare.
A new Bollywood film on a shrewd businesswoman’s plan to build a power plant caught up in development politics is drawing comparisons with the controversy behind the failed Indian project of U.S. utilities giant Enron.
“Sarkar Raj,” starring Bollywood’s first family the Bachchans, has an uncanny resemblance to the real-life drama involving powerful politician Balasaheb Thackeray, whose party opposed a $2.8 billion power plant built by Enron in the 1990s.
The controversy surrounding the private power plant, India’s largest then, highlighted the politics of development and the difficulties of doing business in a country replete with corruption, political intimidation and red tape.
Bachchan, his son Abhishek, daughter-in-law Aishwarya started walking in the very early hours of Tuesday from their residence ‘Jalsa’ at around 2:00 am.
The street leading to the temple witnessed serpentine queues of fans who wanted to have a glimpse of their favourite stars.
Amitabh’s wife Jaya Bachchan joined them at the temple.
According to reports, the actor along with the team of ‘Sarkar Raj’ went to seek the blessings of the deity for the success of the film.
With India’s entertainment billionaires seemingly blessed with limitless pockets, Bollywood is flexing its movie muscle, taking on Hollywood in unexpected corners of the globe and buying up theatres worldwide.
“Bollywood now has the muscle and (Indian) corporates have big money,” prominent Indian filmmaker Jagmohan Mundra told AFP.
Mundra said Bollywood companies began the bid to buy into Hollywood cinemas and distribution networks after Indian films failed to get a wide showing in the West.
The slew of major entertainment deals announced this week at Cannes, the world’s biggest film market, underlined Indian cinema expansionism.
Reliance BIG Entertainment, for example, the entertainment branch of India’s mighty Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) Group, unveiled plans to spend one billion US dollars by the end of 2009.
ADA plans to use the cash to produce a slate of films in nine languages while ensuring the movies make it onto cinema screens outside India as well as on home video, online digital platforms, and television through the Internet (IPTV).
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