Grant to Marathi Films: Review Board saw 27 films in a day!
The Film Review Board, whose job is to see Marathi films and categorise them for the purpose of giving government grant to the filmmakers, saw 27 films in one particular day, a petition before the Bombay High Court contends.
Raj Laxmi Chitra, the petitioner company, contends that the Board could not have assessed so many films in a single day.
To give boost to the Marathi flimmakers, State government gives grant of upto Rs 20 lakh per film. Film Review Board categorises the films into three categories: A, B, and C. For A category, the grant is Rs 20 lakh, for B it is Rs 15 lakh, while for C it is Rs 5 lakh.
Raj Laxmi Chitra produced Baba Lagin, a film starring Ashok Saraf among others, in 2007 and applied for the grant. For sometime, it got no reply. In June this year, to a query under Right To Information Act, it received a reply that the flim had been categorised as C grade, and would get Rs 5 lakh in grant.
When it sought information as to what were the norms for categorisation, it was told that there were no norms, but film review board consists of experts in the films.
To their shock, the petitioner company found out that on the day their film was reviewed, the board members had seen a total of 27 films.
The petition demands that the government frame norms for categorisation of films, and the film produced by Raj Laxmi Chitra be categorised as A. As per the current scheme, a filmmaker must have made at least one film in the past, to be eligible for the grant for the new film.
High Court has adjourned the hearing for four weeks, seeking reply from state.

Restore Suchitra Sen’s ancestral home as a heritage site: fans
It was an unprecedented outpour of affection and respect for reclusive Indian screen legend Suchitra Sen in her home town in Dhaka with the screening of her films and demand for restoration of her ancestral house from illegal occupation and its preservation as a heritage site.
For a week starting from October 25, the whole town Pabna in eastern Bangladesh was agog with a retrospective of films featuring Sen in lead roles held there for the first time.
Ahead of the inauguration of the festival by veteran Bangladeshi actress Kobori, who features in Ritwak Ghatak directed film Titas Ekti Nadir Naam, a procession was taken out from Pabna town hall to the district headquarters with the participation of thousands of people, including cultural activists and students.
Old timers in Pabna said this was the first time a procession was taken out in the town for the 78-year-old Bengali screen legend and do not recall a cultural event had generated so much excitement before.
The retro of Sen’s films had the official backing as it was jointly organised by Pabna district administration and Suchitra Sen Smriti Parishad.

Natarang wins heart at MAMI festival
Natarang, the maiden production by Zee Talkies, was recently screened at the 11th international MAMI festival. It was screened in the ‘Above the cut’ category of feature films of extraordinary cinematic merit. There were 14 international feature films in this category, and Natarang was the only Indian film.
Natarang revolves around the life and times of Guna, a ‘tamasha’ artist from Maharashtra and the challenges he faces while pursuing this passion. The film is based on a novel by the same name by acclaimed Marathi author Dr. Anand Yadav and is set in 1970’s rural village of Maharashtra. Atul Kulkarni plays a pivotal role in this film directed by Ravi Jadhav.

Kavya in Christian Brothers
Popular Malalayam actress Kavya Madhavan will soon don the grease paint for the film Christian Brothers in which she will pair with top actor Mohanlal. Two other lead actors in the film are Suresh Gopi and Dileep.
Kavya’s much-awaited re-entry into Malayalam films after a reportedly failed marriage, has brought in lot of cheer to the Malayalam film industry, which has lost many popular actresses, including Nayantara, Meera Jasmine and Bhavana to Tamil films.
After her marriage in February this year to Nishal Chandran, a bank officer in Kuwait, Kavya had stopped acting. However, she returned to Kerala a couple of months ago after differences cropped up with her husband and is reportedly contemplating separation, industry sources said.
The pooja of Christian Brothers was held in Kochi with much fanfare on October 28 in the presence of Mohanlal, director Joshi and Kavya.