'Unfortunately, we live in a 'Mainstream Bollywood' bubble, where we cannot look beyond films that we ourselves find entertaining.'
Bandyopadhyay, eminent playwright and director, said in a statement that he is returning the award conferred on him earlier this year by the Paschimbanga Natya Akademi and the Rs 30,000 monetary grant.
'Till late on the night before the National Awards ceremony, Smriti was in talks with the President's office, hoping to make the President change his mind.'
Here's a look at the winners of the 60th National Awards.
Which of the 28 films in contention gets your vote?
'On the set, he was this big personality, the great Om Puri. But at home, he was like a fluffy teddy bear.'
Shaji N Karun on helming the Malayalam film Kutti Srank which won a National Film Award for Best Film.
Veteran actor B Saroja Devi passed into the ages on Monday, July 14, in Bengaluru.
'One is not allowed to smoke on the sets of a Hollywood film even during a break.' 'When I asked an assistant to suggest some place where I could light a cigarette, he recommended the bad boys' corner -- where Jack Nicholson smoked.' 'However, I hesitated.' 'But when I was heading back to my chair after the shot, Jack Nicholson asked me if I wanted to join him for a smoke. We had a long conversation over cups of cappuccino.'
The latest updates from the Malayalam film industry.
The trailer of Jolly LLB 3 shows the two Jollys pitted against each other, which is a very clever idea, because both stars are terrific with comedy, notes Deepa Gahlot.
'The audience has an expectation that the climax will be similar to the last 20 minutes of the previous film.' 'All I can say is you will get what you're expecting and you will also get what you're not expecting.'
'Naseer does not have the sense of humour that Om Puri has. 'Also Om has a great deal of compassion as a human being. Naseer was too focused on his own self.' A fascinating excerpt from Sangeeta Datta's book, Shyam Benegal.
This is the magic of Sircar's filmmaking -- National Award winners, many of them -- that makes every new work of his an eagerly-awaited affair.
By today's standards, when the cynicism about the corrupt system is rampant, New Delhi Times seems mild. But it was upsetting enough to have problems with film distributors. Even television refused to run it. Deepa Gahlot re-introduces you to this 1986 classic.
Though Zanjeer is credited as Amitabh's breakthrough film, it didn't immediately enthrone him. Rajesh Khanna countered with a huge hit in Daag that year. But Deewar upended audience's cinematic taste and filmland hierarchies at the very start of 1975. Bachchan emerged as a one man industry, the angry young man who could regulate the thermostat of the entire film industry, recalls Dinesh Raheja.
While the sympathy vote for Sushant Singh Rajput's tragic demise must have played an important part in tilting the scales in Chhichhore's favour, the qualitative difference between the two films is so high that it could not have been a close shave, argues Subhash K Jha.
Check out the winners of the 63rd National Film Awards.
'It is daunting, for sure, because you're rowing upstream.'
Lal speaks candidly about the National Awards and his approach to acting.
Karan Johar had an extra special Friendship Day. His friends Shah Rukh Khan and Rani Mukerji won their first ever National Awards (Jawan and Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway respectively).
Though Vash Level 2 doesn't deliver an absolute knock-out experience we would expect from a horror sequel, it has got enough zing to keep the franchise hurtling forward, raves Mayur Sanap.
'Editor M S Shinde deserves full credit because, I'm told, Ramesh Sippy had shot 300,000 feet of footage, which was brought down to 18,000. 'He died in 2012, in a 126 square foot flat in Dharavi, penniless, a forgotten hero.'
'It's a tremendous accomplishment to have a father like Amitabh Bachchan and still be so sorted, to not taste the kind of success that he should have and yet be so balanced.'
Shweta Basu Prasad, the 11-year-old lead actor in Vishal Bhardwaj's 2002 film Makdee --- a performance that won her the National Film Award for Best Child Artist -- was arrested on Sunday after the police caught her in a prostitution racket at a Hyderabad hotel.
The actress stood out in an off-shoulder shimmery dust blue gown. She teamed her gown with a classic bob, which is similar to the look that she will be seen sporting in her upcoming film Rangoon.
Her research legacy laid the foundation for modern primatology: in Gombe Stream National Park, she discovered that chimpanzees can form lasting social bonds and use basic tools. Goodall also found that, like humans, primates experience emotions such as joy, fear, empathy, and grief.
'I promise you, you've never seen her do anything like this.' 'It is a complete reinvention of Janhvi Kapoor.'
'It's also the media and the audience.' 'The audiences want to watch what the media is putting about certain star kids.'The industry feels since the audience is interested, let's make a movie with them.' 'So I think it's a circle.
Director Priyadarshan's Malayalam film Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham was declared the Best Feature Film.
The Pushpa actor waved to a large crowd from a balcony with the YSRCP candidate and also posted a message on 'X' in his favour.
The young star kid is all set to make his big fat debut in the OTT series, The Ba***ds of Bollywood.
'Some time back, music was just noise.' 'Producers wrongly think item songs sell better.' 'Audiences are intelligent, they accept whatever you give, but that doesn't mean you can fool them.'
The deadly attack on the Uri garrison on September 18 nine years ago marked the end of India's policy against crossing the Line of Control to target Pakistan-based terrorists. It paved the way for the Balakot Air Strikes in 2019 and Operation Sindoor.
After comedies like Bhool Chuk Maaf and Stree, National Award-winning actor Rajkummar Rao tries hard core action in the gangster film, Maalik.
'We are thinking on something like the 'Irrfan Memorial Award' given to the most promising new actor.'
'Fauji jo hain, woh desh sambhalta hain, border sambhalta hain, hum shehar sambhalte hain (Soldiers protect the country, the border, we protect the city).'
Debutant director K P Suveeran made a beautiful film despite budget restrictions.
Amitabh Bachchan was presented with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, Indian cinema's highest honour, in a special ceremony in Delhi on December 29.
Dinesh Raheja celebrates Lata's 96th birth anniversary on September 28 by picking some choice examples of her non-typical songs that are tinged with a rare eroticism.
