May 20, 2011

58th National Film Awards

Members of the jury for the 58th National Film Awards, 2010, present their report to Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni in New Delhi on Thursday. (From left) Ad-film director Prahlad Kakkar, director and Chairman of Feature Films J. P. Dutta, cinematographer G.S Bhaskar and director Bharat Bala. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty
Members of the jury for the 58th National Film Awards, 2010, present their report to Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni in New Delhi on Thursday. (From left) Ad-film director Prahlad Kakkar, director and Chairman of Feature Films J. P. Dutta, cinematographer G.S Bhaskar and director Bharat Bala. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty 
Dhanush and Salim Kumar bag 'Best Actor' awards, Adaminte Makan Abu wins Best Film. The jury has requested the I&B Ministry to treat all the awardees who have shared the awards in different categories as individual winners.
It was a southern sweep at the 58th National Film Awards, with Malayalam film Adaminte Makan Abu chosen as the best feature film, and Vetrimaran selected as best director for Tamil film Aadukulam. In fact, the two best actors — Salim Kumar and Dhanush — were selected from these two films as well.
In a surprise move, the Awards jury urged the government to shell out an additional Rs.2.5 lakh to ensure that both actors, as well as the two women selected for the Best Actress Award — Tamil actor Saranya Ponvannan for Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru and Marathi actor Mitalee Jagtap Paradhar for her performance in Baboo Band Baaja — and the four children chosen for the Best Child Artist Award, did not have to split the prize money as was usually the case.
“We felt that they were all outstanding and could not be ignored…It was a unanimous decision,” said Bollywood filmmaker J.P. Dutta, who chaired the Awards jury. “We have recommended it to the [Information and Broadcasting] Minister Ambika Soni, and she seemed positive.”
While Tamil films stole the spotlight, bagging 12 Awards, films from the other southern States too did well. Adaminte Makan Abu, which shows “humanist values freeing matters of faith from the constrictions of narrow parochialism”, bagged four awards, while Kannada films won in the categories for children's films and films on environment.
Set in the world of cockfighting, Aadukulam, “a gritty tale of love, jealousy and betrayal in the midst of blood-sport and violence, in the manner of realistic cinema”, bagged five awards. Apart from being selected as Best Director, Vetrimaran was also deemed Best Original Screenplay Writer. The film won top honours in the editing and choreography categories too.
Other Tamil films on the winner's podium include Endhiran (Special Effects and Production Design), Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru (Best Actress for Saranya Ponvannan and Lyrics), Namma Gramam (Best Supporting Actress for Sukumari and Costume Design) and Mynaa (Best Supporting Actor for J. Thambi Ramaiah).
Ten Awards went to Marathi films, including Baboo Band Baaja by debuntant director Rajesh Pinjani, which tells of a child caught in the crossfire of his parents' arguments over his education. It bagged three awards, including one for child actor Vivek Chabukswar, who shared his award with Shantanu Ranganekar and Machindra Gadkar, who portrayed brothers in the Marathi film Champions and Harsh Mayar from the Hindi film I am Kalam. In fact, the jury has reportedly asked the Ministry to expand this section next year by presenting separate awards to male and female child artists.
In the sweep of southern and Marathi films, Bollywood was pushed to the background this year with Dabangg (Best Popular Film) and Ishqiya being the only winners.
“There were some truly great films from the south this year. They bridge the crassness of commercial cinema and the artistry of parallel cinema in a way that is reminiscent of Hollywood,” said jury-member and advertising filmmaker Prahlad Kakkar.
Kolkata Staff Reporter writes:
For ‘greater tolerance'
Eminent filmmaker Gautam Ghose's Moner Manush won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration.
“What is important to me is that Moner Manush reaches an international audience, as does its message for greater tolerance with the emphasis on secular and liberal values, as embodied in the character Lalan in the film,” he told

Minissha in big trouble

Minissha Lamba detained at airport for carrying jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh
Minissha Lamba was detained at the airport yesterday. The actress was kept back for bringing jewellery worth approximately Rs 50 lakh while returning from Cannes, France.

She arrived by an Emirates flight yesterday morning from Nice via Dubai.


Minissha Lamba at Sahar airport on way to Cannes last week

The actress walked the red carpet at the Cannes film festival last week. But the same red carpet treatment was not meted out to her here at the international airport.

She has been charged with carrying R 50 lakh worth of jewellery above the permitted limit and was detained by custom officials.

She spent the afternoon being questioned about the bling. She was arrested for this. A statement will be recorded and a case will be registered against her, too.

At the time of going to press no one her lawyer, her spokesperson, her family or the media was allowed to meet the actress.

What the customs say....
Minissha Lamba was stopped while walking through the green channel at Mumbai airport yesterday. Sameer Wankhede, deputy commissioner, Customs, and his team intercepted the actress.

According to a senior customs officer, "We got a tip-off about her carrying jewellery above the permissible limit. We intercepted her at the green channel.

We have been interrogating the actress. In case of jewllery worth up to R 5 lakh we give bail on the grounds of being personal jewellery but as she was carrying jewels worth Rs 50 lakh, she had to be detained. She will be produced in court today."

Minissha's missing bag at Nice airport
On her way back to Mumbai, Minissha Lamba found one of her bags missing at Nice airport. The actress had been tweeting about her loss on the micro-blogging site...

"Disaster has struck. A baggage of mine has been stolen at Nice airport. I can't believe something like this has happened.

The reason they won't go over the CCTV footage is that there is nothing recorded on it. Sadly, something like this has happened during the festival.

If it was 'stolen' or 'misplaced'. For some reason, they are just refusing to confirm via their CCTV. Standing at the Emirates counter for one hour.

Even with two CCTV camera's right over the baggage, police or airline still won't confirm."