Kishore Kumar, The Ultimate Biography: The Penultimate Review Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Parthiv Dhar have been both adventurous and courageous in calling their Biography of that eccentric genius, Kishore Kumar, ‘The Ultimate’. Some biographies about one of India’s greatest ever playback singers-actors, also a music director and film producer, have already been written, and others will be written. And so, Ultimate is an indulgent word. Not given to such extravagance, I shall...

MIFF 2020: “There is no wishing the digital revolution away” IDPA held its sixth and final Open Forum, a regular fixture at every MIFF, on the lawns of the FD Complex, on Sunday, 02 February. An eminent panel of speakers put forth their thoughts and ideas on the subject, ‘Digital Revolution: Is it helping film-makers?’ They comprised Amit Tyagi, Associate Director, MIT-ADT University, Pune, and former Dean of FTII, Balkrishna Diwakar, Former Professor, Jamia Millia, Cy...

MIFF 2020: Meet V. Shantaram Lifetime awardee Dr. S. Krishnaswamy Honoured with the Dr. V. Shantaram Award for Lifetime Achievement, during the inaugural ceremony of MIFF 2020, at Nehru Centre, on January 28, S. Krishnaswamy spoke to filmfestivals.com, shortly afterwards, at the Films Division Complex. It was a nostalgic moment for Dr. S. Krishnaswamy. Had fate willed otherwise, he would have joined Films Division (FD) during the tenure of Chief Producer K.L. Khandpur (1962-68) and served in...

Farouque Shaikh: Memories and musings on his 70th birth anniversary My earliest memories of the fresh and confident Farouque date back to the time when he was a senior at the elitist St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and I was a junior at the then humble National College, circa 1970-72. Among his contemporaries were Shabana Azmi, Satish Shah (Farouque was rather close to Satish), Pankaj Udhas, Anuradha (Paudwal) and Sharada (Kavita) Krishnamurthy, all celebrities in waiting. The college had...

IFFI Goa 2017, VIII: Message of Sunit Tandon, Festival Director In the run-up to the International Film Festival of India, Panaji, Goa, November 20-28, I continue to monitor the news and developments. Here’s one link I found: http://iffigoa.org/indian-cinema-catalogue-2017/ At the bottom is a button called Download. When you click on it, you get: Sorry! Page not Found Back To Home However, on the second link, found right next to the above link, http://iffigoa.org/international-cin...

IFFI Goa 2017, II: The Countdown has begun, but who is counting? Hitherto, the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), Central Government of India (all in New Delhi), in collaboration with various other Ministry units. The media relations were handled solely by the Press Information Bureau (PIB). When the annual event moved to Goa and set base there, a special body was created by the ...