Hindi
National film awards for 2008 presentation later this week
NEW DELHI: President Pratibha Devisingh Patil will present the Dadasaheb Phalke Award to legendary Cinematographer V K Murthy and the National Film Awards for 2008 in a ceremony at the Vigyan Bhavan here on 19 March.
The Bengali film ‘Antaheen’ by Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury got the best feature film while ‘AFSPA 1958’ by Haabam Paban Kumar was named as the best non-feature film award for the 2008.
Information and Broadcasting Ministry sources said that the process for selection of the best awards for 2009 will begin shortly thereafter and the awards will be presented by September this year, thus bringing up-to-date the process delayed by a Court case.
Bala who directed the Tamil film ‘Naam Kadauul’ was named best director, while Upendra Limaye and Priyanka Chopra got the best actor and actress awards respectively for the films ‘Jogva’ in Marathi and ‘Fashion’ in Hindi in the 56th National Film Awards announced here this afternoon. Shams Patel won the best child artiste award for the film ‘Thanks Maa’ in Hindi.
The award for the film providing popular and wholesome entertainment went to the Hindi ‘Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!’ by Dibakar Banerjee. The Malayalam film ‘Bioscope’ by K M Madhusudhanam won a special jury award.
Hindi films continued to dominate the feature films, with as many as 13 awards while Marathi films got six (five for one film ‘Jogva’ by Rajeev Patil) and Bengali films got five (four for ‘Antaheen’ which had also featured in the Indian Panorama at the last International Film Festival of India at Goa). Tamil films got three awards, followed by Assamese, Malayalam, and Kannada films with two each, while English, Kokoborok, Tulu, and Oriya got one award each. One award (best film on family values) went to a bilingual English-Gujarati film ‘Little Jijou’ by Sooni Tarporevala.
‘Bollywood Melodies’ by Ganesh Anantharaman got the award for the best book on cinema while the book “The Director’s Mind” by Ujjal Chakraborty got a special mention. The Assamese critic Altaf Mazid and Manipuri critic R K Bidur Singh shared the best film critic award.
The Indira Gandhi award for the first film of a director went to Neeraj Pandey for his gripping Hindi thriller ‘A Wednesday’ while the Nargis Dutt Award for the best feature on national integration was taken by Assamese film ‘Aai Kot Nai’ by Manju Borah.
Interestingly, a film directed by the Indian subsidiary of a foreign production house – Walt Disney- got an award (‘Roadside Romeo’ by Jugal Hansraj as best Animation film) while the film ‘Land Gold Women’ on honour killings in the United Kingdom made by a British-based Indian, Avantika Hari, got the award for best English film.
The Marathi film ‘Jogva’ by Rajeevi Patil got five awards: best film on social values (age old social customs), actor Upendra Limaye, male playback singer Hariharan, and music direction by Ajay and Atul. Playback singer Shreya Ghoshal won the award for both ‘Jogva’ as well as ‘Antaheen’.
‘Antaheen’ also received awards for cinematography by Avik Mukhopadhyay, and lyrics by Anindya Bannerjee and Chandranil Bhattacharya.
‘Fashion’ also received the award for supporting actress Kangana Ranaut. ‘Firaq’ by the Nandita Das who is now chairperson of the Children’s Film Society, India, won two awards: editing by A Sreekar Prasad who had until now won the largest number of national awards for any single film editor, and art direction by Gautam Sen.
The monumental ‘Jodha Akbar’ by Ashutosh Gowarikar won awards for costume design by Neena Lulla and choreography by Chinni Prakash and Rekha Prakash. ‘Rock On’ by Abhishek Kapoor won the Best Hindi film award as well as the supporting actor award for Arjun Rampal.
Hindi
Hansa Entertainment launched to produce across OTT, TV and film
New venture from R K Swamy Hansa Group eyes multi-language stories for digital-first audiences.
MUMBAI: Hansa Entertainment has just stepped into the spotlight because when a legacy media house decides to script its next act, even the credits get excited. Hansa Entertainment Private Limited has been incorporated to develop and produce original programming across digital, television, OTT platforms and theatrical features. The company will create short-running series, long-running series and original films for OTT, alongside standout theatrical ventures. It will also launch a podcast platform called Hansa Spotlight and produce content for the fast-growing vertical drama format. Stories are initially planned in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali and Kannada.
The venture is founded by Sruti Swamy and Siddharth Swamy, drawing on the rich legacy of Hansa Vision and the broader R K Swamy Hansa Group. Sruti brings creative expertise with a master’s in architecture, interiors and design from Milan and a postgraduate degree in business management from the Indian School of Business. Siddharth contributes a data-driven perspective, having studied data science at Imperial College London.
Sujatha Narayanan has been appointed CEO of Hansa Entertainment. With over two decades of experience in creative content curation and production across film and OTT, she is also a well-known film columnist and media entrepreneur.
R K Swamy Hansa Group executive chairman Srinivasan Swamy said, “The launch of Hansa Entertainment marks an exciting new chapter. The new entity is the brainchild of the next generation and will be independently managed by Sruti Swamy, who is the Director and the newly appointed CEO.”
Hansa Entertainment director Sruti Swamy added, “I am very optimistic about the future of Hansa Entertainment, given the content explosion and the opportunities offered by new technologies for production.”
Hansa Entertainment director Siddharth Swamy noted, “The idea is to grow a contemporary production house that creates compelling stories for today’s multi-platform audiences while drawing inspiration from the rich storytelling traditions that audiences have appreciated over the years.”
Hansa Entertainment CEO Sujatha Narayanan said, “Hansa Entertainment will evolve as a story-first, IP-driven entity. We have already put together a smart team of interesting and dynamic creators who will helm our vertical dramas, shows and films.”
In the ever-evolving world of Indian entertainment, where stories now travel faster than the scripts that birth them, Hansa Entertainment is stepping onto the stage with fresh ink and big ambitions proving that even the best legacies know when it’s time for a compelling sequel.
