Posts tagged tourism

Richard Gere looking to return to India

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2 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

Hollywood superstar continues helping Dalai Lama and Tibetans from outside the country

Prithwish Ganguly (BOMBAY TIMES; December 30, 2010)

Hollywood superstar Richard Gere, who is set to start shooting for Goutam Ghose’s Lala, might be disliked by radical political outfits in India post his kissing row with Shilpa Shetty — but that does not mean that he is persona non grata in the country. BT has learned that Gere, through his philanthropic organisation — The Gere Foundation, is providing free medical aid and other healthcare assistance to the people of Dharamshala. Gere is keeping the operations hush-hush given the flak he got during a 2007 AIDS promotion outside New Delhi when he kissed Shilpa on her cheek.

The Hollywood actor is one of the most high-profile disciples of Tibet’s spirital leader in exile — the Dalai Lama. And even though Gere hasn’t been travelling to India as religiously as he was doing some years back (fearing arrest), he is making quite a statement by being a close friend of our country. He has also been very vocal about Tibet’s freedom struggle with China. His foundation site confirms this as a statement reads that the body “aims to alleviate suffering and help to restore autonomy to the people of Tibet”.

A top source from Dharamshala informs, “Gere does not need to be here to help the people of the land and especially the Tibetan refugees. He has been actively working every single day for the rights of More >

Don 2 gets bill waiver from German government

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2 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

By Bollywood Hungama News Network, October 15, 2010 – 16:37 IST

After the immensely successful remake of the blockbuster Don, Shah Rukh’s all set to star again in the sequel which is being shot in Berlin. The German government is to provide an astounding rebate of 3 million euros to the producers. Our sources reveal that this is the first time that such a heavy concession is being offered to any film shot in the country.

The action sequences and stunts are already being filmed in the commercial districts of the city. The production schedule is to last for over two months in and around various locations in Berlin. The source also reveals that the German government has announced on their website that they will co-operation and support to the filming of the movie. A local film promotion company named Medienboard has provided local support with 550,000 euros in the form of funds. This is the first time an India film has received such a big investment from a local media company.

Tourism in Berlin is expected to get a boost with Don 2; a source adds that after Shah Rukh attended the Berlinale Film Festival last year for his film My Name Is Khan, the decision was made to shoot Don 2 in the German Capital.

Producer Ritesh Sidhwani said they had to finish filming first and depending on them getting through the minimum points required to meet the country’s culture test, a certain portion of the budget spent in Germany will be given as subsidy. He however, refused to More >

Zero Bridge-the first Kashmiri film in 39 years!

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3 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

VALLEY OF HOPE: A still from Zero Bridge, in which Tariq Tapa cast ordinary Kashmiris Does Zero Bridge, the first Kashmiri film to be made in 39 years, hold out hope for a revival of the arts in the troubled valley?

Bharati Dubey | TNN (THE TIMES OF INDIA; November 15, 2009)

Kashmir, the breathtaking beauty of which has served as a backdrop for innumerable Bollywood romances, never really spawned a thriving film industry of its own: the last Kashmiri film, made in 1969, was Mehanzraat, starring Kashmiri actor Omar Ama. But now, after the long silence, comes Zero Bridge, a film by a Kashmiri NRI from New York, Tariq Tapa. Twenty-four-year-old Tariq, born to a Kashmiri father and Jewish mother, landed in Srinagar with zero finance and a shooting kit packed into just one suitcase. “I decided to make a film in Kashmir because I found that no outside voice accurately captured the daily life of the average Kashmiri,’’ he says when asked what compelled him to come so far away to make a film. “I thought a movie introducing the lives of a few Kashmiri citizens and their daily hopes and fears would reveal them more intimately than the usual western documentaries on the Kashmir situation or Bollywood films which only use it as an exotic backdrop. I want my film to make a statement and hope it starts a debate on Kashmir.’’ Tariq was a one-man unit and had to use a news channel’s permission to shoot his film in Srinagar. He mobilised ordinary Kashmiris to be part of Zero More >

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