The Golden Elephant’ awards

International Children’s Film Festival of India known as ‘The Golden Elephant -16’ was held in Hyderabad from Children’s Day i.e. November 14th to 20th, 2009. For the ‘The Golden Elephant’ awards around 60 films including that of 6 UNESCO-certified films competed this year.

The awards were in categories like Children’s World, Asian Panorama and International Competition. The festival has been jointly organized by Children’s Film Society, India and the Central & State Governments.

Chief Guest in the opening ceremony of festival was Chief Minister K Rosaiah. Also many foreign delegates attended the festival. Chairperson of this event was noted bollywood actress Nandita Das.

Nominations for APSA

Four Indian films have been nominated in different categories for Asia Pacific Screen Awards to be held on 26 November at Australia's Gold Coast. The four films are Dev D, A Wednesday, Tahaan and Mumbai Meri Jaan.



Director of movie Dev D, Anurag Kashyap has been nominated in the best director category for his take on Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel Devdas. For the screenplay of Mumbai Meri Jaan, Yogesh Vinayak Joshi and Upendra Sidhaye have been nominated. Tahaan is nominated in the Best Children's Film: Shripal Morakhia and Mubina Rattonsey category. The actor Naseeruddin Shah is nominated for the best actor award for his film A Wednesday.

APSA is collaboration between CNN International, UNESCO and FIAPF International Federation of Film Producers Associations. It has announced nominees in nine award categories with 37 films from 16 countries - Australia, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Palestine, China, South Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Turkey.

A.R. Rahman wins at World Soundtrack Awards of 2009

With the bag full of Oscar, Padma Shri, four national film awards, four IIFA awards, 12 screen awards, 21 Filmfare awards, and six Zee awards, music director A.R. Rahman has brought to India this time an international award. He has been chosen for World Soundtrack Awards of 2009. He has won the award in the ‘Best Original Song Written for a Film’ category for the song ‘Jai Ho’ from the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire'.

He was also nominated for the ‘Best Original Film Score’ but the award was won by Alexandre Desplat. Alexandre Desplat has also won the ‘Film Composer of the Year’ award for his work in ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’.

The ceremony was held on October 17, the last day of the Ghent Film Festival, in the Belgian port town of Ghent. ‘Lifetime Achievement award’ was won by Three time Oscar winner Marvin Hamslich.

'The Fun, Fearless, Female' awards

One of the most famous magazine known as Cosmopolitan celebrated the success of some of known celebrities in the country. The awards known as 'The Fun, Fearless, and Female’ were given to some of the renowned names on 20 November, 2009.

Actresses Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor were rewarded for their contribution towards Indian cinema. They have set an example for upcoming stars of Bollywood.

Actors Sonam Kapoor and Abhay Deol were awarded as the upcoming talents of the year. Also Badshah Shah Rukh Khan won the Fun Fearless female all time favourite star of the year.

The magazine covers a range of subjects such as fashion and style, beauty, life, men, love and sex etc.

Lifetime achievement honour for Gulzar

Noted lyricist Gulzar was bestowed with the lifetime achievement honour at a function in Mumbai. Also actress Priyanka Chopra and actor Shahid Kapoor won the Teacher's Achievement Awards.




Priyanka Chopra bagged the award in the entertainment category. She said, “I am thankful to the jury. Whenever I get a prize, I think this would not have been possible without the constant support of my parents.” She dedicated her award to her mother.

Shahid bagged the Teacher's People Magazine Achiever award. He told IANS, “I feel special. It's really a big achievement when such an eminent set of jury has decided to give me the award.”

Said the award presenter, “We are hopeful that each edition of the Teacher's Achievement Awards shall inspire and encourage people from all walks of life to strive for accomplishment that not just add to individual glory but also propel societal growth and well-being.”

Suniel Shetty wins

Away from the mainstream, recently bollywood actor Suniel Shetty won the prestigious award of ‘Best Actor’ for his upcoming ‘Red Alert’ at South Asian International Film Festival. The festival which was held in New York started on 28 Oct and closed on 3 November.

It was memorable event for the actor as he has won only one award in 17 years of his career in the world of Bollywood. Even the filmmaker Ananth Mahadevan was very happy with the news of actor winning the award. Says Ananth: “When I approached Suniel Shetty for ‘Red Alert’, he requested me not to make a film with him alone in the lead role as it wouldn’t yield positive results. But I was keen on casting him in my film’s lead role and we have finally achieved it.”

Says Suniel, “Winning an award at such a big film festival is a big high for me as an actor. Now I really want to do good films and work harder and better.” His upcoming film is ‘De Dana Dan’, which is set to release on Nov 27.

National Film Awards for 2007

55th National Film Awards for 2007 were held on October 21, 2009 and the awards were presented by President Pratibha Patil. Biggest names from the Indian cinema presented the trophies for their renowned works.




This year Dada Saheb Phalke Award was conferred upon eminent play back singer Manna Dey. Also veteran director Adoor Gopalakrishnan and actress Uma Shree collected their trophies as National Award winners for 2007.

According to an official release Best Feature Film award was presented to Tamil film 'Kanchivaram' and 'Chak De India' received the award in Wholesome Entertainment Category.

These awards aimed to appreciate excellence and promote unity of the nation. The awards were given in feature film as well as non feature film section. In the feature film section, the awards were given in 31 categories, which included Award for Best Feature Film, Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a director, Award For Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment, Award For Best Direction, Actor, Actress, Editing, Lyrics and Choreography. In the non-feature film section, awards were given in 22 categories like Best Non-Feature Film, Best Biographical/Historical Reconstruction/Compilation Film, Special Jury Award and Best Audiography.

International Film Festival of India 2009

The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2009 will take off from 23 November and will screen around 200 films from India and abroad.

The IFFI will have a best director and best film award this year, as announced by the Festival director S.M.Khan. The director and the producer of the film both will share the best film award. The winner gets the Golden Peacock award and Rs.40 lakh cash prize. And the best director and winner of the Special Jury Award gets silver peacock and cash prizes of Rs.15 lakh each. So as to promote short films IFFI has initiated awards 'Vasundhara' which is the award for best green documentary and the documentary competition.




It is the most sponsored film festival in the country and it is expected that its 40th edition will bring participation of around 50 countries. Academy award winner Ben Kingsley will be the guest of honour this year.

11th Mumbai Film Festival ended with a bang

Amitabh Bachchan was honoured with a lifetime achievement at MAMI closing ceremony. The festival closed on the 11th edition of Mumbai Film Festival organized by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI) at Mumbai.

MAMI committee led by Chairman Mr. Shyam Benegal and trustees Mr. Yash Chopra, Mrs. Jaya Bachchan, Mr. Amit Khanna, Mr. Amol Palekar along with the festival jury Members who graced the event were Hollywood screenwriter and director Mr. Paul Schrader, Sri Lankan filmmaker Mr. Vimukthi Jayasundara, Philippine filmmaker Mr. Brillante Mendoza, Indian filmmaker Mr. Shaji N. Karun and former Director of Locarno Film Festival Ms. Irene Bignardi.

Anil and Tina Ambani, Mr Amitabh Bachchan, Mr and Mrs Theo Angelopoulos were also present at the ceremony. Shyam Benegal, chairperson of MAMI said, "We watched some very well-crafted films covering a range of thematics and issues. This Festival brought together some of the best cinematic talent from across the globe."

Theo Angelopoulos, the maestro from Greece received the International Lifetime Achievement award. Mr. Dev Anand's production house Navketan Films was honoured for completing 60 golden years in the film industry.

Filmfare Best Director Award Filmfare Best Director Award

Cover of Ghayal

The reins of a movie is in hands of director, therefore for their recognition in the Hindi film industry every Filmfare Best Director Award is presented. It was first presented in the year 1954.

Bimal Roy who has directed films such as ‘Do Bigha Zameen’, ‘Parineeta’, ‘Biraj Bahu’ has won the maximum number of Best Director Filmfare awards. He has won in total seven awards which resulted from exactly seven nominations. Following him were directors Raj Kapoor and Yash Chopra who have won 4 awards. Director Mahesh Bhatt has been nominated six times but could not win the award.

Among the female directors, Sai Paranjpye is the only women who have won the Best Director award for her movie 'Sparsh'. Other women directors who have been nominated for the awards are Mira Nair and Farah Khan.

Let’s have a look at Filmfare Best directors Award from 1990s-

1990 Vidhu Vinod Chopra - Parinda

1991 Rajkumar Santoshi - Ghayal

1992 Subhash Ghai - Saudagar

1993 Mukul S. Anand - Khuda Gawah

1994 Rajkumar Santoshi - Damini

1995 Sooraj Barjatya - Hum Aapke Hain Koun...!

1996 Aditya Chopra - Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

1997 Shekhar Kapur - Bandit Queen

1998 J.P. Dutta - Border

1999 Karan Johar - Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

2000 Sanjay Leela Bhansali - Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam

2001 Rakesh Roshan - Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai

2002 Ashutosh Gowariker - Lagaan

2003 Sanjay Leela Bhansali - Devdas

2004 Rakesh Roshan - Koi... Mil Gaya

2005 Kunal Kohli - Hum Tum

2006 Sanjay Leela Bhansali - Black

2007 Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra - Rang De Basanti

2008 Aamir Khan - Taare Zameen Par

2009 Ashutosh Gowariker - Jodhaa Akbar

11th Osian Cinefan Film Fest

Indian movie 'Khargosh' won three awards at the grande finale of 11th Osian Cinefan Film Fest held in the capital of New Delhi. The movie directed by Paresh Kamdar won awards in category of Special Mention, Audience Award and for combining the real and the imaginary world and its lyrical beauty of images.




The Best Film Award was won by Syrian movie 'The Long Night', which also won the award for combining the real and the imaginary world and its lyrical beauty of images. In the short film category, the Iranian movie, 'The First Film', directed by Panah Panahi, won the best award. Indian movie, 'Vitthal', directed by Vinoo Choliparambil also won the Special Mention award in the short film category.

Behnam Behzadi's 'Before the Burial' won the best actor and actress awards for Alireza Aqakhani and Negar Javaherian respectively.

This year the festival screened about 100 feature-length and short from Asian and Arab countries.