Bollywood News Bytes
Compiled by Ekta R. Garg
May 4, 2012
Vidya Balan, star of The Dirty Picture, received her National Award certificate on May 3 in New Delhi. Balan’s depiction of the South Indian item girl, Silk Smitha, gained critical and popular acclaim and fortified Balan’s position as one of India’s strongest actresses. In addition to Balan’s accolade, Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee received the Dadasaheb Phalke Award at the ceremony.
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After winning awards and acclaim at prestigious film festivals across the globe, including its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival and North American premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, the motion picture Patang will have its theatrical release on June 15 at Cinema Village in New York City. Openings in additional U.S. cities will be announced soon. Starring Seema Biswas (Water, Bandit Queen) and Nawazuddin Siddiqui (Peepli Live, Dev D), the film tells of a family that must confront its own fractured past during Uttarayan, India’s largest kite festival in Ahmedabad.
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Making her long-awaited return to the big screen, Bollywood superstar Karisma Kapoor headlines the mystery thriller Dangerous Ishhq, which releases in theaters worldwide on May 11. Directed by Vikram Bhatt, the film also stars Jimmy Shergill, Rajniesh Duggall, and Divya Dutta with music from Himesh Reshammiya. Dangerous Ishhq finds Kapoor playing a woman whose visions of the past reveal clues that could help her save the love of her life and follows the recent hit Kahaani in the emerging genre of female-led crime thrillers in India.
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To commemorate the Hindi film’s centenary, plans have begun for a museum of Indian cinema in Mumbai. Projected included items will be film equipment, old costumes and set pieces, and media-related items such as magazines. The first Indian movie to release was Raja Harishchandra by film innovator Dadasaheb Phalke on May 3, 1913.
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Yesteryear actress Achala Sachdev died in Pune Hospital on April 30 at the age of 91. In late 2011 Sachdev slipped in her kitchen at home and fractured her leg, which led to other complications. Among some of her more memorable Bollywood films are Haqeeqat, Waqt, Mera Naam Joker, and Julie. Her last film was the 2002 Hrithik Roshan movie Na Tum Jaano Na Hum.
