Bollywood & Entertainment Pomp and splendour of Bollywood shines on Melbourne
• Amitabh Bachchan will be honoured as the IFFM International Screen icon for 2014 during the festival in Melbourne. He is the “undisputed patriarch” of Indian cinema. • Kangana Ranaut won the Best Actress award for her performance in Queen at the IIFM.
By Rama Gaind POMP, splendour and the shimmering spectacle of Bollywood – along with the presence of the ‘godfather of Indian cinema’, Amitabh Bachchan – hit a crescendo at the end of the inaugural awards ceremony of the third Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) on May 2. The red carpet gala event saw the historic Princess Theatre being besieged by international guests, high profile and local dignitaries and countless fans for the awards ceremony that was also resplendent with infectious music and dance. The two-time National Film Award-winning director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra`s hit film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag won three awards: for best film, director and actor. Farhan Akhtar, who played the title role in the biopic on legendary athlete Milkha Singh, shared the Best Actor award with Irrfan Khan for The Lunchbox. Kangana Ranaut received the best actress award for her hit film Queen. The sophomore directorial outing by Vijay Krishna Acharya, Dhoom 3, received the People’s Choice award for being the highest grossing film at the Australian box office. Ritesh Batra took the award for The
Lunchbox in the best Indie film award category. This year’s IFFM Awards, the first of its kind in Australia, was judged by a panel of Australian and Indian film legends including Phillip Noyce, Jill Bilcock, Raju Hirani, Simi Garewal, Rajeev Masand and Suhasini Maniratnam. Bachchan’s star On his first-ever visit to Australia, megastar Amitabh Bachchan, 71, felt priviledged: he was honoured with a special International Screen Icon award and La Trobe University created the ‘Shri Amitabh Bachchan’ scholarship. The university also conferred an honorary doctorate. The accolades were ample: the director of IFFM, Mitu Bhowmick-Lange, said he was the “undisputed patriarch of Indian cinema”, while the Victorian Minister for the Arts, Heidi Victoria, called him “a true legend of Bollywood”. ‘Big B’ thanked the Victorian Government for conferring him with the Screen Icon award and felt he was “least accomplished to receive such a recognition, but this is your kindness, affection and grace”. He elaborated on cinema being a great medium, which transcended colour, caste or religion.
• Vijay Krishna Acharya never dreamt that his sophomore directorial outing with Dhoom 3 would end up breaking many box office records.
The Bollywood icon said cinema was a builder of bridges between cultures. One enjoyed the same film, “when we sit inside a hall, we don’t know what the caste, creed, religion or colour of the person sitting next to you is”. “We enjoy the same product, laugh at the same jokes and sing the same songs. We enjoy the same emotions,” he said, adding there were very few institutions left in the world that are able to bring such integration. “It is wonderful to see that the Australian Government has decided to use this medium in bringing the two cultures, communities together and building strong bonds of friendship. Not just in the field of commerce but in our culture, in our exchange of students and personalities.” This “true legend of Bollywood” is making four films this year and will again be host of TV’s Kaun Banega Crorepati. Festival highlights Regarded as one of the biggest events of its kind in the southern hemisphere, the 11-day festival kicked off on 1 May 2014 with the Australian premiere of the newly-restored Sholay 3D (starring Bachchan), which since its release in 1975, has seen the spaghetti western-style action adventure film estab-
lishing itself as a beloved classic of Indian cinema. Other festival guests included national award-winning arthouse star Konkona Sen Sharma; Simi Garewal; iconic filmmakers Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Raj Kumar Hirani; Bollywood siren Malaika Arora Khan; popular actress, director, producer and writer, Suhasini Maniratnam; celebrated writer and director of the record-breaking Dhoom 3, Vijay Krishna Acharya; and from Lollywood, Pakistani producer Hassan Wagas Rana (Waar) and acclaimed Pakistani actor, writer and director Shaan Shahid. The festival saw a world-class program that overflowed with gala events, master classes with India’s leading film celebrities and more than 45 screenings from five countries in 17 languages. Indian cinema is all about romance, drama, action, comedy, songs and - definitely dance. At Federation Square, on May 4, Sanjana was declared the ‘classical’ winner of the Telstra Bollywood Dance Competition by the gorgeous Malaika Arora Khan (a judge on India’s Got Talent). The colour and rhythm of Bollywood was expressed most joyously through its dancing!
After receiving raved reviews in Melbourne and Sydney, Brisbane gets ready to walk the Red Carpet Premiere for Director Vimal Reddy’s next “Highway To Suva”! Director: Vimal Reddy Melbourne based movie maker who has previously directed “Adhura Sapna” in 2007 and “Ghar Pardes” in 2009 Cast for Highway to Suva: Rishi Deepak - NZ based Bollywood actor who acted in the recently released movie “Urban Turban” which received good response in Fiji. Tarishma Goundar - Local girl from Lautoka Fiji makes her debut. She was in the top ten of the Miss Fiji pageant in 2012. Ratu Rakuita Tawake - Native Fijian actor who has acted in all three movies made by Vimal Reddy. Famously known as “Jona” in “Adhura Sapna”. Vijay Kumaran - Star of “Ghar Pardes” who also sings two songs in the movie alongside famous Bollywood singer Javed Ali from the Ghajni fame. Adwin Awadh - Gold Coast based actor who previously acted in a supporting role in “Ghar Pardes’. In this movie he has a very prominent role which received rave reviews in Melbourne and Sydney. Director Of Photography: Sabu James- Highly acclaimed cinematographer from the South Indian Film industry who has trained and taught at the Pune Film Insititute of India. 40 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, May, 2014
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Singers: Famous singer from Bollywood has sung one song and Fiji born singer Vijay Kumaran sang two songs including the title sing which has become very popular in Fiji.
Release date in for the Red Carpet Premiere in Brisbane: Sunday 15th June at 6pm Event Cinemas Garden City, Upper Mt Gravatt Call Trudi on 07 3865 6533