By Ali Peter John

Subhash Ghai has denied all reports about his institute, Whistling Woods, merging with the Film and Television Institute of India or any other institute now or in the future. Making the position of his institute clear after rumours and misleading reports appeared in a section of the press, Ghai said, “Whistling Woods International will maintain its individual identity but we will positively welcome any kind of affiliation with various world film institutes and universities to modernize this new model, the very first of this kind in South Asia, which you will hopefully see in operation by the end of 2003.”

Earlier, Bhishma Agnihotri, Ambassador-at-large who represents 20 million NRIs living worldwide, visited film city and had a look at the model of Whistling Woods International. “There is a tremendous need for trained talent industries in order to compete with mainstream cinema and television globally. I am optimistic about the success of Whistling Woods and am sure that we Indians living abroad would look to back up strongly a project like Whistling Woods since it has a realistic plan for the future, as planned by Subhash Ghai and his team,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mukta Arts has become the first production house ever in the history of the Indian film industry to release an interactive film music CD ROM of its latest musical entertainer, Badhaai Ho Badhaai. It was released all over the world on March 25 through Universal Music. This CD ROM will give the consumer complete insight into the details of the film, such as its music, choreography and key people involved, along with visuals of the songs, wallpapers, calendars, screensavers and even some interactive games. The music will thus cater to consumer segments, music lovers and computer whizkids. The project is seen as a way to fight CD piracy and to give value addition in technology.

N Chandra convicted

Producer-director N Chandra has been convicted and sentenced to a six month imprisonment and a fine of Rs 2 lakh in default, and a further imprisonment of three months by the Additional Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court in Mumbai, for an offense under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. The case was filed by producer Milan C Jhaveri.

According to the case, Jhaveri of MG Films had engaged the services of Chandra to direct his film back in 1995 and paid him a total of Rs 15 lakh. Jhaveri alleged that though two years had past, Chandra did not shoot a single frame of the film. Chandra agreed to return the amount in installment but none of his cheques were encashed.

Academy toasts Ashutosh

No Man’s Land may have beaten our own Lagaan in the race for the Oscar in the Best Foreign Film Category. But there were consolations aplenty for the film’s delegation on Friday, March 22, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held a cocktail and dinner reception at the Academy premises. All the five nominated directors were given citations for the nominations on the occasion.

Michael Mann (director of Last of the Mohicans, Heat and the recent Ali) did the honours of presenting the citation to Ashutosh. He described Lagaan as “audacious and exuberant... take Dr Zhivago, add Sound of Music to it and have a four hour long party.”

This is what Ashutosh had to say when he received the citation, “It feels great to be sharing this stage with Michael Mann. The citation is a great honour... On behalf of my producer Aamir Khan, the entire cast and crew of Lagaan and my country, I would like to thank the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the Members of the Jury for honouring our film with a nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Since the Academy comprises the American film fraternity, I consider the nomination to be an acknowledgement and appreciation of my craft by my American counterparts. Thank you very much.” The Indian delegation comprised Ashutosh Gowariker, his wife Sunita and sister Ashlesha, Aamir Khan and his wife Reena, Bhanu Athaiya, Rachel Shelley, Ben Nealon, BS Rao, Avaan Contractor and Madhu Kapoor.

ITA Seminar for TV industry

Having staged the first ever totally TV-centric Awards, the Indian Television Academy is organising a seminar for the movers and shakers of the television industry. The seminar is designed to build bridges amongst the three core sections of the medium — hardware, software and broadcaster.
The seminar will be a no-holds-barred interface, embracing channel heads, producers, technicians, marketing forces, legal and financial experts, talent and so on. To be called On Television, the two-day event to be held on April 12 and 13 will have the following six segments:

The First Word, in which various channel heads, besides other personalities representing the very apex of their respective organisations would participate; Production, in which producers, directors and technicians, participate; Marketing, for those who comprise the spinal support of the medium; Channel-Producer Relations for top-notch representatives of both sections; Legal & Financing Matters where experts in high commerce and law discuss issues; and Talent, where artistes talk about their problems.

GRAFTII announces fresh initiative

GRAFTII, the alumni association of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, whose members include luminaries like Subhash Ghai, Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Shatrughan Sinha, Jaya Bachchan, Shabana Azmi and Danny Denzongpa, is being revived. GRAFTII, which has been dormant for some time, is coming together again in an effort to solve the problems at their alma mater, the FTII.

The FTII has been the very matrix of cinema in India. However, this dream has had a lot of glitches in its road towards fulfilment. The once friendly precincts became a haven for rancour and resentment. This is the reason why GRAFTII’s members have decided to take up the task of pulling the FTII back on the road of re covery.

On a war footing, they set about trying to put the FTII house in order. Much has been achieved in this direction to this day, thanks to the efforts of Shashi Ranjan, Aruna Raje, Rajen Kothari and others.

A number of schemes have been framed for the welfare of the members. There is a plan for building a hostel that would provide accommodation to the fresh graduates from the Institute. There is also a plan for building a GRAFTII Centre, which will have its own auditorium and library.