Hindi
I Am Kalam bags three Silent River film fest awards
MUMBAI: Nila Madhab Panda‘s I AM Kalam has bagged three prestigious awards – for best feature film, best director and best child actor (Harsh Mayar) at the Silent River Film Festival (SRFF).
Said director Nila Madhab Panda, “I only got to know about our film‘s hat-trick of triumphs at the Silent River festival when the Festival‘s director Kalpana Singh-Chitnis called up to tell me about it. It‘s sad I couldn‘t be there. But the film has already been to 50 festivals and won 14 international awards.”
The plot revolves around Chhotu, a poor Rajasthani boy, who is inspired by the life of former President of India, A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, and his strong desire to learn to read.
The film that premiered at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival on 12 May has been showcased in various film festivals and has bagged various awards.
Panda sees the film‘s latest triumph at the Silent Film festival as a victory for independent cinema. “No one thought it was possible for me to complete I Am Kalam. I had to sell our home to make the film. It was traumatic for my family. But finally it was worth it.”
The Silent Film Festival at Irvine, California celebrates and honours independent cinema.
Hindi
Rashmika Mandanna, Shanaya Kapoor and Naila Grrewal climb IMDb’s Indian celebrity rankings
Upcoming films and returning shows are driving fan interest across Bollywood and streaming
MUMBAI: Bollywood’s popularity contest has a new weekly scorecard, and the numbers are telling. IMDb’s Popular Indian Celebrities list for this week places Shanaya Kapoor at number six, buoyed by buzz around her film Tu Yaa Main. Naila Grrewal slots in at seven on the back of the returning comedy series Maamla Legal Hai, while Rashmika Mandanna climbs to eighth, riding mounting anticipation for Cocktail 2.
The list, available exclusively on the IMDb app for Android and iOS, tracks trending Indian entertainers and filmmakers each week, drawing on data from more than 200m monthly visits to the platform worldwide.
Further down the rankings, Raaka is keeping two of its biggest names in the spotlight. Deepika Padukone holds 11th position, with Allu Arjun close behind at 13th, as the film continues to find traction with audiences.
The list offers fans a weekly pulse on who is breaking through, who is holding steady, and who is fading. It is a barometer as unsparing as the box office itself.
