Hollywood
Global short film festival for protection of Hindu temples
NEW DELHI: Texas based Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF) has called for short films on preservation of old temples in India as part of its ‘Save Temples Organisation.’
The Board of Directors of GHHF and its brand ambassador and well-known Ghazal singer Ghazal Srinivas told a press meet in Texas earlier this week that the aim of the ‘Save Temples International Short Film Festival’ is to protect, preserve and promote the great temples located all over the world.
The first ‘Save Temple International Short and Documentary Film Festival’ will be conducted at Prasad Labs in Hyderabad from 22 to 24 August. The 40 short films and documentaries short-listed in this festival would be screened in film festivals to be conducted all over the world.
The best film will win a prize money of Rs 100,000, while the second and third best film will receive Rs 75,000 and Rs 50,000 respectively. 10 other films will also be selected to receive Jury Awards.
The festival is part of the movement initiated to protect the ancient Hindu dharma in all over the world, for revival of all the dilapidated temples, to protect the holy cow, vedas and vedangas, and also to encourage those who are learning the vedas.
The short films should reveal the facets of some ancient truths, the traditional heritage to the knowledge of future generations. They should not criticise other religions and life styles. They can tell the richness of ancient dharma, present the moral and dharmic values of Hindu religion and should be intended to explain the great practices of Hindu dharma to all the mankind through this short films and documentaries. The viewers of these movies should be motivated to work for the protection of temples.
The short films and documentaries can be made for duration of 10 to 12 minutes. They can be made in any Indian language, but should have English sub-titles. Only films prepared after 2010 are eligible for this event. Films which already got awards in any earlier film festival should not be sent as entries for this film festival. Only films made in HD format (1920X1080) and properly edited can be a part of this film festival.
The entries sent for the competition would be examined by the Jury members and film festival committees and 40 best entries would be short-listed out of them. They would be screened before the renowned personalities at film festivals to be conducted in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, etc.
The films can be on protection of Hindu temples; the ancient Hindu religion; Vedas and its glory; Protection of cows; Mass feeding (Annadanam); Propagation of Hindu Bhakti; The epics, Puranas and other holy scriptures of Hindu religion; The protection of temple lands, ornaments and other assets; The duties of Priests (Archakas); The Aarti of holy rivers; and The Sevadal of temples, etc.
The Save Temples organisation holds all the rights over the short film or documentary selected in this competition. The short films and documentaries not selected in this event would be uploaded into Save Temples – YouTube channel.
Hollywood
Remembering Chuck Norris: the man, the myth, the legend at 86
From martial arts legend to internet folklore, fans honour his final level up
KAUAI: The world lost a legend on 19 March 2026, when Chuck Norris died aged 86. For a man long treated as immortal in internet folklore, the news felt almost unreal. Yet in true Norris fashion, the farewell has been less about mourning and more about myth-making.
Just days before his passing, on his 86th birthday, Norris shared a video from Kauaʻi, Hawaii, showing him sparring under the sun. His caption was characteristically wry: “I don’t age. I level up.” It now reads like a final wink to fans who had spent years elevating him to near-superhuman status.
His death followed a sudden medical emergency while on holiday. He passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, who described him not just as a global symbol of strength, but as a devoted husband, father and grandfather.
Online, grief quickly gave way to tribute in the language Norris helped popularise. Social media filled with one last wave of “Chuck Norris Facts”, the tongue-in-cheek myths that turned him into a digital demigod. The jokes wrote themselves, as always. Death did not take Norris, it finally dared to meet him.
Behind the humour, however, lies a formidable real-world legacy.
Long before the memes, Norris was Carlos Ray Norris, a decorated martial artist. After serving in the US Air Force, he rose to become a six-time world professional middleweight karate champion. His on-screen duel with Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon remains one of cinema’s most iconic fight sequences.
Through the 1980s, he became the face of action cinema with films such as Missing in Action and The Delta Force, embodying a stoic, no-nonsense hero. In the 1990s, he reached living rooms worldwide as Cordell Walker in Walker, Texas Ranger, blending Western grit with martial arts flair.
Off-screen, his work carried equal weight. His foundation, Kickstart Kids, continues to teach martial arts to at-risk youth, focusing on discipline and self-worth. He also founded Chun Kuk Do, a martial arts system that trained thousands.
What made Norris unique was not just his strength, but his willingness to laugh at it. When the internet transformed him into an exaggerated symbol of invincibility, he embraced the joke. In doing so, he bridged generations, from cinema-goers to meme-makers.
His passing marks more than the loss of an action star. It signals the fading of a rare cultural crossover, where genuine athletic prowess met Hollywood heroism and early internet humour.
For many, remembering Chuck Norris means recalling a time when heroes were simple, punches were decisive and the internet still felt like a playground of shared jokes.
And if the myths are to be believed, this is not quite the end. It is simply Chuck Norris moving on to his next level.
