News Corner:
Laxmikant Shetgaonkar’s Film Wins Award at TIFF

Debutante filmmaker Laxmiktant Shetgaonkar’s Konkani film “The Man Beyond the Bridge” (Paltadacho Munis) has won the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize for the Discovery section at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

The film, about the touching relationship between a widowed forest ranger and a mentally ill woman, is a loose adaptation of a story by Mahabaleshwar Sail. Other Indian films screened at TIFF include “What’s Your Raashee?,” “Dil Bole Hadippa!,” “Janala” (Window), “Road,Movie,” and “Cooking With Stella.”

Julia Roberts Back in India
Julia Roberts is back in India for the shooting of her upcoming film “Eat, Pray Love,” based on the best-seller memoir. Robert’s production company Red Om has signed a production deal with Reliance Big Entertainment. Shooting for the film is taking place at
an ashram near Gurgaon and some scenes will be filmed at Pataudi Palace. The film, directed by Ryan Murphy, also stars Javier Bardem, Billy Crudup and Richard Jenkins, and will release in 2011.

Big B on Big Boss
Amitabh Bachchan will replace Shilpa Shetty as the host for Big Boss 3, India’s version of Big Brother. Bachchan will receive 126 crore rupees for the show—that’s 1.5 crore per episode! This is twice as much as he received for Kaun Banega Crorepati. Shilpa
Shetty received about 1/3 this amount for hosting the show last year. Well, well, looks like Big B’s wide appeal is quite costly!

Bollywood Sisters

Ayesha Takia’s 21 year old sister Natasha and Vidya Balan’s sister Priyamani will soon be seen in Hindi cinema. Priyamani will be seen in Raavana in which she plays Abhishek Bachchan’s sister Shorrpankha. Priyamani has previously starred in South Indian films and has won awards for her performances. Ayesha Takia recently told the media
she hopes her little sister Natasha is received warmly the way Karishma Kapoor’ sister Kareena Kapoor was received.

Opportunities For Aspiring Filmmakers
Aspire to be a filmmaker? Well, guess what? PassionForCinema.com is accepting 60 second entries for the PFCOne 2010 contest. The jury consists of Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Hansal Mehta, Nishikant Kamat, Rohan Sippy, Sridhar Raghavan, Sriram Raghavan, Christina Marouda, and Suparan Verma.
Winners will have the opportunity to select a 4-6 week internship opportunity with Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee, Hansal Mehta, Nishikant Kamat, Rohan Sippy, Siriram Raghavan and Suparan Verma. Visit http://passionforcinema.com/ for more details. Happy filmmaking!

Katrina Has A Twitter Imposter
Last month I wrote about Bollywood celebrities embracing social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook. Well, interestingly enough, Twitter is back in the Bollywood news world after someone recently impersonated Katrina Kaif on Twitter.

Kaif says, “I am not on Twitter or any other social networking Web site. I plan to start my own Web site by the end of the year.” Being designed by Kaif’s sister’s boyfriend and two professional designers from Great Britain, the most Googled Bollwood girl’s Web site will launch by the end of the year.