‘Nakshatranche Dene’ – a real tribute to Panditji
After passing away of the Music legend Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, it’s now time to pay tributes to him. It may be recalled that in the past Zee Marathi through their porgramme ‘Nakshatranche Dene’ had complimented Panditji, when his disciples and associates together presented a wonderful show.
The same programme will be telecast once again in the form of tributes to the legendary singer on 30th January 2011, at 9.30 pm on Zee Marathi channel.
Marathi short film festival ends with happy note
The first Marathi short film festival concluded with a happy note at Ravindra Natya Mandir, Mumbai. Young film makers had a good opportunity to display their creative work through various subjects to invite the attention of the world.
The best short film’s award went to Vikrant Pawar’s sensible film ‘Ghadyalancha Davakhana’. Suresh Joshi (Fresh Suicide) was adjudged the best actor, while little Sharvi Kulkarni bagged the best actress award for her performance in ‘Aaji’. Young director Piyush Thakkar was declared the best director for his film ‘Khara karodpati’.
Some of the award winning short films like Kedar jape’s ‘Bangadya’ and Reema amrapurkar’s ‘Janani’ were also shown during the festival. Wellknown personalities from Marathi industry like Atul Kukarni, Sandeep Kulkarni, Sanjay Pawar, Vidyadhar Pathare and Prabhakar Nikalankar were present on the occasion to encourage young film makers.
Manyaa: The Wonder Boy’ to appear on 28th January
Manyaa-The Wonder Boy’- the first ever complete sports film in Marathi is all set to be released on 28th January 2011. Directed by Sangramsinh Gaikwad, the film presents an emotional saga of a boy from rural Maharashtra, who dreams to represent India in the Olympics. The movie stars Amitriyaan, Rajesh Shringarpure, Madhavi Juvekar and Mayuri Wagh.
Amitriyaan, is the lead actor of the movie, while Rajesh Shringarpure plays coach to Amitriyaan in the movie. As an actor, Amitriyaan has worked with big names like Sangeeth Sivan, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Naseeruddin Shah, Mira Nair and Dibankar Banerjee.
Manyaa’s director, Sangramsinh Gaikwad has assisted Sangeeth Sivan in the past and made a movie named ‘Jagor’. Says Sangramsinh Gaikwad, “Amitriyaan, Rajesh and Rishi have given excellent performances in the movie. We are planning to dub the movie in Hindi for a wider audience and based on initial response, a Hindi remake is also on the cards.”
The film is produced by Artha Motion Pictures and written by Harish Nayar. Manyaa was extensively shot in Kankauli, Sindudurg district of Konkan and at Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune. The film has been shot on Red Digital Film camera.
Marathi Paaul Padte Pudhe…’- new reality show
Zee Marathi is all set to showcase the exclusive talents from the roots of Maharashtra through its new show ‘Marathi Paaul Padte Pudhe’. After completing auditions in 6 different cities across Maharashtra, final 56 artists have finally made their way to the platform of ‘Marathi Paaul Padte Pudhe’. In selection process, some extraordinary, breath taking performances were witnessed by the selectors.
Known for its art & culture, Maharashtra has many original talents hidden in every corner of the state. After bringing different forms of talents in singing, dancing & stand-up comedy through its popular shows Idea Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Ekapeksha Ek, Hasya Samrat etc. now ‘Marathi Paaul Padte Pudhe’ is one more gift coming from Zee Marathi.
Nitin Desai, the highly acclaimed art director from Bollywood, is the producer of this reality show, show is conceptualised by Zee Marathi. Jitendra Joshi will be the anchor for this show and for the first time, while glamorous model & actress Mugdha Godse along with versatile actor Makarand Deshpande will play the role of judges.
Bharat Ratna Pt. Bhimsen Joshi passes away
Legendary vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, who mesmerized music lovers with his extraordinary presentation of Hindustani classical music, passed away at Sahyadri hospital in Pune today morning after a prolonged illness.
He was 89. A recipient of Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award, Joshi had been put on life support system since past one month. The most-celebrated exponent of ‘Kirana gharana’ his guru was Sawai Gandharva, in whose memory he had started the popular gandharva festival. Born on February 4, 1922 at Gadag in Dharwad district of Karnataka, Joshi got his first break for a live performance at the age of 19, during the 60th birthday celebrations of his guru Sawai Gandharva. His first album was released by HMW, when he was 22 years old.
Besides classical music, Panditji lent is voice as a “dhrupad” singer for a Bengali film based on the life of Tansen and later was a playback singer for Marathi film “Gulacha Ganapati”, produced and directed by celebrated Marathi humorist “Pu La” Deshpande. He had also rendered his voice in Hindi movies like “Basant Bahar” and “Bhairavi”.
But it was his ‘Abhang Vani’ and ‘Bhakti Sangeet’ that gained him popularity more. How can we forget his ‘Majhe Maher Pandhari’ and Ramya hi Swargahun Lanka’ ? Besides Bharat ratna in 2008, he was also honoured with Padmashri, Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan in addition to Sangeet Natak academy award and Tansen Puraskar. He leaves behind three sons and a daughter. He will be cremated at Vaikunth, Pune around 3 pm today.
Yashwant International Film Festival to begin today.
The Yashwant International Film festival begins today in Mumbai. The Festival which will be held at Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan’s main auditorium and the Rangswar theatre at Nariman Point, will be jointly organized by the Yashwantrao Chavan Pratishthan, Mumbai and the Pune Film Foundation with the support of Government of Maharashtra.
Zhang Lu’s ‘Dooman River’ which recently won the Best International Film at the Pune International Film Festival, will open the first edition of this festival on January 20. ‘Babu Band Baaja’, which won the Best Marathi Film Award in 9th Pune International Film Festival will be the closing film of the festival on 26th January 2011.
The festival will showcase competition films from the recently concluded Pune International Film Festival in the following sections: The World Cinema competition, Marathi Cinema competition, Student Film competition and Short films competition done jointly by Pune and Goa International Film Festival Fest.
A workshop on topic “Choose Your Format: Film or Digital” by Ujjwal Nirgudkar will be conducted during the festival.
‘Shahanpan Dega Deva’ ready for release
Known for his sensational films, film maker Mahesh Manjrekar now comes with a comedy genre for a change. His latest film ‘Shahanpan Dega Deva’ is all set to release on 21st January 2011. The film is directed by Atul kale and Sudesh Manjrekar jointly.
Besides acting in this film, Mahesh has also written the screenplay along with Abhijeet Deshpande. He has also contributed his dialogues in the company of Sanjay Pawar. The story of the film revolves around 5 mentally disturbed people, who are being treated by a doctor. The film presents the humour arising out during the course of their treatment.
‘Shahanpan Dega deva’ has a multi star cast comprising of Bharat Jadhav, Ankush Choudhary, Sanjay Narvekar, Vaibhav Mangale, Siddharth Jadhav, Kishore Kadam, Santosh Juvekar, Kamlakar Satpute, Manva Naik, Kranti Redkar and Mahesh Manjrekar.
Sangeet Natak Academy award for Dilip Prabhavalkar
Well known Marathi actor Dilip Prabhavalkar has been selected among others for the Sangeet Natak Academy award this year. There are total 38 recipients from all over India for this prestigious award. Two other prominent personalities also to receive this award are Dr. Ashok Ranade for his contribution to music and Chandabai Tiwadi from Pandharpur, for keeping alive the folk art.
Some of the other great personalities who have received this award in the past include names like- Narayan Rao Rajhans ‘Bal Gandharva’ Dr. Shreeram Lagoo, Prabhakar Panshikar, Sulabha Deshpande, Bhakti Barve Inamdar, Neelu Phule and Dr. Mohan Agashe.
‘Mandala Don Ghadicha Daaw’ On Star Pravah
STAR Pravah, which has brought to you some interesting shows like ‘Mann Udhan Varyanche’, ‘Swapnanchya Palikadle’, ‘Olakh’ & ‘Tujha Vin Sakhya Re’, are now all set to present their latest offering ‘Mandala Don Ghadicha Daaw’- an interesting story of two sisters. The show reflects the relationship between two sisters and how the elder one sacrifices for the younger one’s deeds. Premiering on January 24 at 9.30pm from Monday to Saturday ‘Mandala Don Ghadicha Daaw’ will take viewers through the journey of innocent Anagha Patankar (Smita Shevale), a simple and responsible Maharashtrian girl who falls prey to the callous attitude of her younger sister Antara Patankar (Anuja Sathe), a beautiful and lively girl, who cares for nothing in this world beyond herself.
‘Mandala Don Ghadicha Daaw’ will replace another popular show ‘Tujhe Ni Majhe Ghar Shrimantanche’ and being a successor, it promises to provide even more exciting entertainment for the entire family. Anagha is a post-graduate in Sanskrit and finds happiness in her younger sister’s antics and her grandmother’s tales. She has left the decision of choosing her life partner with her parents while Antara, a brat and pampered by her elder sister Anagha, starts liking the most handsome Maharashtrian middle class boy in her college Viren Vagh (Saurabh Gokhale). Viren is a highly ambitious boy with a zest to pursue his dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur and sees an ideal partner in Antara. The story revolves around these three individuals, their complex relationships, the ups and downs in their lives, and extent to which the elder sister sacrifices her life and surrenders herself to the unpredictable fate.
Directed by the popular and talented Mangesh Kanthale and produced by Namita Vartak’s Farm Film Productions, ‘Mandala Don Ghadicha Daaw’ stars Smita Shevale, Saurabh Gokhale and Anuja Sathe in lead roles.
We Care film festival’ inaugurated.
The 8th edition of ‘We Care Film festival’ was launched at Y. B. Chavan Centre, Mumbai, with the lighting of traditional lamp by chief guest -Film maker Govind Nihlani. ‘We Care Film Festival’ is a tribute to all those disabled people who have overcome this handicap with sheer hard work supported by encouragement from others to come into mainstream. “There is lot to be done, but unfortunately, we have yet to find a permanent sponsor for this unique film fest, which has been going on for the past eight years,” said Mr. Satish Kapoor, Director of ‘We Care Film festival’ in his inaugural speech. With great hope, this year he planned this year’s fest to begin from Mumbai.
Speaking about the uniqueness about this fest, he said that we begin from one city and later travel for the next 3 months to different venues in India and other foreign countries, so that different judges evaluate the selected films. This year ‘We care’ have selected 28 such short films with duration from one minute to 30 minutes. This year they had eminent personalities from social fields to select the films. ‘Tale of Little Half Chick’ a 19 min film, which is a true success story of a young boy – Prathamesh Date from Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra, who born with down syndrome, is also part of this year’s fest entries. This film is made by Ms. Sandhya Deorukhkar from Pune.
Ms. Neenu Kewlani, who played the show anchor, did a good job to create awareness about the idea behind hosting such a kind of film festival. Her swift movement on the stage while seated in a wheelchair was itself a big inspiration for others. Also present on the occasion were Mr. Rajeev Chandran, Information Officer, UN Information Centre, Mr. B.B. Nagpal, Film Critic, Mr. R. Rangasayee, Director of Ali Yavar Jung Institutute for Hearing Handicapped, Mumbai and Mr. Pralhad kakkar, Advertising Film director.