Posts tagged prayer

Hirani’s airmail bonding

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3 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

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It was a parcel without an address posted from New South Wales in Australia. Raju Hirani is still figuring out just how it found its way to his home in Bandra East By Kunal M Shah (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 12, 2010)

It was a sentimental plea posted with a prayer from halfway across the world, but it miraculously landed up at Rajkumar Hirani’s home in Mumbai. Kanti Hirani, a resident of New South Wales, Australia, had a strong hunch that Rajkumar Hirani was connected in some way to his family.

So he decided to post pictures and a CD containing images of his extended family in the hope that he would recognise some of them. Unfortunately, Kanti didn’t have Rajkumar’s address.

So when the parcel (see below) addressed to ‘Rajkumar Hirani, director of 3 Idiots and Munnabhai, Santa Cruz’ was actually delivered to his residence in Bandra East, Hirani was as astonished as he was pleasantly surprised.

Our source said, “Raju kept wondering just how much effort the postal department must have taken to make sure he got the parcel, considering that there was no address and he lived in Bandra East and not Santa Cruz. They could have easily returned it to the sender.

Although the gentleman in question thought that Rajkumar was distantly related to him, that was not the case, and he has been informed accordingly.

While Hirani’s films have generated a big fan following for him and he receives hundreds of letters from all over the world, this letter More >

Penniless Indian film makes it to the Oscars

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3 years ago
by Fenil Seta in
Producers of Kavi, India’s lone connection to the Oscars, Guneet Monga and Harish Alim, talk about how the film was made on hope and a prayer By Namrata Bhawnani (MUMBAI MIRROR; February 06, 2010)

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Kavi

While no Indian film made it to the Oscar this year, a student film, Kavi, has made the bold leap to the Academy Award shortlist. Nominated in the Short Film (Live Action) Category, it’s a miracle that the film got made at all, let alone find itself in the top five at the Oscars.

A film that had no funding, a lead actor from the slums and an American director who coasted solely on his passion for the subject: there were too many problems at the outset. So director Greg Helvey, from the University of Southern California, did the smart thing. He got himself Indian producers.

Guneet Monga and Harish Amin, who have worked with the likes of Anurag Kashyap and Mira Nair, stepped in as they liked the script. Well, they had to; after all, it wasn’t exactly a moneymaking proposition. Quite the contrary, really, as Greg confessed that he had none.

Harish says, “Greg had visited India twice before and really likes the colour and the people. It is his diploma film and he didn’t know how to go about it. We asked him if he has a decent budget and he said, ‘I don’t have the money.’ He raised it independently as funding started pouring in on his website. He also held photo exhibitions to raise funds. We shot it and then it stopped there as he had to raise More >

Kareena is more than a wife: Saif

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3 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

Sarita Tanwar (MID-DAY; July 31, 2009)

Saif Ali Khan walks in 10 minutes late. He’s looking fresh and surprisingly fit. He gives me a typical filmy hug and announces, “I haven’t had a bath yet.” I tell him that information would’ve been appreciated a few seconds earlier. Even though he is in his gym clothes, he’s not carrying his workout on him.

Must be the blue blood. He settles down on the other end of the couch and dons his serious glasses, “This is the Bengali in me finally coming out. Very Basu Bhattacharya.” Point noted and it’s time for some serious business. He orders coffee and me conversation. And then, we talk about his love, aaj and kal. Excerpts….

The last time you did a light romantic film (Hum Tum), you won a National Award. What are you expecting with Love Aaj Kal (LAK)? I am not in the least interested in awards. It is a kind of celebration that comes much later. I am hoping for a decent opening and a successful run. That’s it.

That’s it? I am hoping and expecting that people will like the movie and enough of them will watch it so that the people who have invested in us are not disappointed. I think it is a good movie and it has a good story. I think stories are really important parts of our lives, whether it is reading or watching them or listening to them from an old tailor in Bhopal, sitting at the foot of my bed, when I was a baby. My parents would be on the balcony, talking with adults and this old man would tell me tales of shikar and tigers and More >

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