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NEW
DELHI: The classic series 'Budshah’, made by Mushtaq
A Bala for Doordarshan about the famous 15th century emperor
of Kashmir who championed the cause of environment and worked
for cleanliness of rivers, received the first ‘Ozone
Green Award’ here over the weekend.
The
series, which also been turned into a short feature film,
was awarded a trophy and a cash component, in a glittering
ceremony at Hotel Grand International. The Award was received
on behalf of Doordarshan by Dr. KC Dubey, Doordarshan Kendra
director in Srinagar. The series was selected because it carried
forward the message of cleaning the environment, particularly
in a song about the Jhelum River.
The
awards have been instituted by the Ozone Group, a premier
healthcare company in India. “The awards have been set
up to honour the personalities who play an important role
in creating environmental awareness among masses. Media plays
an important role in educating the masses about different
environmental issues,” according to Ozone Chairman S
C Sehgal. “Global warming, pollution and other environmental
issues are the gravest problems which the mankind faces today.
As part of our corporate social responsibility we want to
strive for a cleaner, greener and safer environment,”
he said.
The
awards will be given to local media persons from print, electronic
and various other media in English, Urdu and Kashmiri languages.
Other
awardees included Aaj Tak correspondent Ashraf Wani, Greater
Kashmir correspondent Arif Shah Wani, columnist Mudasir Ali
and Gurudev of Dainik Jagran, Gurudev of Danik Jagran and
Special Correspondent Athar parvez of Kashmir Times, and journalists
Mubashir Jeelani, Syed Fayaz, and Shafqat Habib for articles
on the environment.
The
awards were given away by the Vice Chancellor of Kashmir University
Dr Riyaz Punjabi. Ozone Chairman S C Sehgal, former Tourism
Commissioner Najam-u-Saqib, former Director General Tourism
Salim Beigh, and eminent media personality Rama Panday were
also present on the occasion.
‘Budshah’,
which was screened at the recent Mumbai International film
Festival, documents the historical events and the life of
Budshah, who ruled Kashmir for five decades from 1420 AD and
gave to himself the name of Sultan Zain-ul-Abideen.
Sultan
Zain-ul-Abideen, whose earlier name was Shah Rukh, promoted
art, handicraft and culture of Kashmir and took major steps
to develop irrigation for which the people gave him the title
of Budshah (The Great King).
The
film, produced and directed by Bala under the banner of Debonair
Film and Video Communications, was commissioned by Doordarshan
in ‘Katha Sarita’, the Indian classics category.
''It
was challenge to make a film like Budshah. I and my entire
team faced many problems during its making. But, professionalism,
creativity and dedication kept us going,'' said Bala in an
interview to indiantelevision.com. It was Budshah who had
been responsible for getting the Dal Lake in Srinagar cleaned.
He
also revealed that the programme had initially been made as
a three-part serial, which was later condensed to two separate
one-hour and twenty-minute versions. In view of the popularity
of the subject and the response he had received from viewers,
he was now planning a full-length feature film on the subject,
he revealed.
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