Hello! Gandhe Sir at Goa Fest
The premiere of Hello! Gandhe Sir, a Marathi film made under the banner of Prabhakar Films was held at the Goa Film Festival under the category of Goa Salilude on November 29.
Being produced by Nyaneshwar Govekar and directed by Sandeep and Sameer, the film has story, screenplay and dialogues by Anil Pawar, cinematography by Sameer Aathle, lyrics by Samruddhi Pawar, music by Pravin Kuvar, editing by Dharmesh Patel and Manoj Mishra, sound by Satish Poojari and art direction by Satish Bidkar.
Based on the battle between two generations, the film stars Bharat Jadhav, Girish Oak, Suhas Palshikar, Vijay Chavan, Ravindra Berde, Kishore Nandalaskar, Siya Patil, Vijay Kenkre, Dipali Paansare, Manoj Takne, Ganesh Diwekar and Padmashree Prasad Savkar.
Hello! Gandhe Sir is slated to release soon all over Maharashtra and Goa.
Assamese cinema looks for co-productions to expand reach
Assamese cinema, which is celebrating 75 years at the 40th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), is aiming to expand its reach by co-productions.
The Assam State Film Finance and Development Corporation (ASFFDC) is looking at the neighbouring Bengali and Oriya film industries to join hands with Assamese filmmakers and make films.
“The three languages, when spoken, sound so similar. So it would be great if filmmakers from these three states come together to make films,” said ASFFDC Chairperson Bobbeeta Sharma.
Bobbeeta, also a noted Assamese actress, said that unlike the vibrancy of Bengali cinema, Assamese film industry has not had a smooth sailing in its journey of 75 years.
“The market is small and hence there are less investors. The regional industry has seen several ups and downs since the first movie Joymoti in 1935, made by Jyotiprasad Agarwalla with lot of hardships,” she said.
“There are many Assamese NRIs settled in UK and USA. But, we have never tapped that market,” she added.
Quoting an example of German and French co-productions, Bobbeeta said, “When we watch those co-productions, the language is immaterial. We just look for a well told story with good sub-titles. Why can’t we do it for our own cinema.”
“We have submitted a proposal for public-private partnership to the state government. If accepted it will enable an increase in the number of films made every year,” Bobbeeta said.
Sapnanil Barua, Secretary of Culture, Assam Government said the government plans to provide a corpus of Rs 5-6 crore to the ASFFDC from this year. He said the public-private partnership proposal is under consideration and added that the state government would provide all co-operations for co-productions.
Barua also called for the need to dispel the perception that Assam is a disturbed territory and filmmakers from all over India should explore locations for shooting purpose.
As part of the celebration of Assamese cinema, a documentary by Dr Bhupen Hazarika on Jyotiprasad Agarwalla was screened at IFFI incorporating eight reels of Joymoti and also rushes of his second film Indramalati.
National-Award-winning filmmaker Jahnu Barua said that Assamese cinema started a couple of years after the first Hindi talkie Alam Ara with a lot of struggle, however, “That pain and struggle is still continuing after 75 years and we cherish that struggle,” he said.
He lamented the lack of a mechanism where the best of cinema from different languages and culture could be viewed by all Indians. “If exhibitors renovate their cinemas with push-back chairs, air-conditioning and Dolby sound system, they are allowed to increase service charges on tickets,” Bobbeeta said as a measure for attracting local audience.
Asian Film Festival from December 4
Movies from several Asian countries along with those in Indian regional languages will be screened at the Third Eye Asian Film Festival beginning in Kolhapur from December 4.
District administration, Kolhapur Municipal Corporation, Asian Film Foundation and Baburao Painter Film Society are jointly organising the week-long event, Collector Laxminant Deshmukh said at a press conference on November 24.
One of the highlights of the festival will be a section on Japanese director Naruse Mikio, whose five works will be screened, he said. Also, three films of Iranian director Jafar Panahi will be shown. Countries such as China, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Singapore are sending their entries, he said.
The regional flavour will be provided by movies in Kannada, Bengali, Malayalam, Assamese among others. A film each of Marathi director Raja Paranjape and actor Jayashankar Danave will be shown to celebrate their birth centenary.
Films on the late actor Nilu Phule and some recent Marathi releases would also form part of the festival.
Singer dead
Young singer T. T. Sainoj, who was under treatment at a private hospital in Kochi for blood cancer, died on November 22. He was 32 years and was a bachelor. He was admitted to the Medical Trust Hospital on November 20. Sainoj shot to fame through reality shows. He had sung for few films including Evar Vivahitharayi. Chemistry was the last film in which he had rendered a song. He had also sung for a Telugu movie.
