The Ganga Sharan Singh Award for Bhandarkar, Benegal!

President Pratibha Patil honored filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar with Ganga Sharan Singh award along with Shyam Benegal and Girish Karnad for their contribution to Hindi cinema.

The filmmakers were presented with the award at Rashtrapati Bhavan here. The award comprises of a certificate and a cheque of Rs.1 lakh.

"Over the years not just the audience or the industry but also the government of our country has supported and acknowledged my work. I am honoured and thankful to the HRD ministry for finding me befitting for this award," Bhandarkar, who is known for making hard-hitting and gripping films like "Chandni Bar" and "Page 3", told in a statement.

As many as 28 people from various walks of life were also honored by the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), as part of the Hindi Service Awards Scheme.

The Ganga Sharan Singh Award is a literary honour that the Kendriya Hindi Sansthan (Central Hindi Organisation) annually confers on writers of outstanding works in Hindi literature. It is also given to those who play an important role in promoting the Hindi language through their area of expertise.

A book author Seema seeks compensation of Rs.2.5 crore from Bhandarkar due to copyright infringement!

A Delhi court has reserved its order for June 27 on an author's plea for lodging a first information report (FIR) against Bollywood filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar for copying the plot of his 2008 movie "Fashion" from her book.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Sharma told that the court would June 27 decide on the plea filed by book author Seema Seth seeking compensation of Rs.2.5 crore.

"To come up June 27 for orders," told the court, in an order made available.

The court was hearing a plea by actress-turned-author Seth alleging that Bhandarkar stole the plot and idea for "Fashion" from her book "El Dorado" which was published three months before the release of the movie Oct 29, 2008.

She demanded the court to book Bhandarkar for violation of the Copyright Act, as the idea of the story had been taken from the book without permission.

Seth also made Ronnie Screwvala of UTV Motion Pictures a party in the case.

The idea has been stolen from the "book wherein the story begins in Kolkata, where an aspiring model wishes to go to Mumbai but her father opposes and mother supports" the idea.

"Careful reading of the said book vis-a-vis the story of the said movie would conclude that the story/script has been taken from the said book without my permission", she challenged.

Priyanka’s bonding with Kareena on sets of Heroine!

Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor, Madhur Bhandarkar

Looks like, Priyanka Chopra is on a patch up mood. Letting bygones be bygones, the actress only just attended KJO’s birthday party and the newest is that she bonded with Kareena kapoor on the sets of Heroine.

Priyanka was shooting for Teri Meri Kahaani special promotional episode for a TV show in Filmistan Studios. The actress unexpectedly remembered that Madhur Bhandarkar too was next door shooting for Heroine. In that way, she visited the sets and met Madhur and Kareena as well.

Priyanka Chopra posted, “Hopped in on @mbhandarkar268 s set of heroine and hung out with Bebo and my entire fashion team..such fond memories..”

Madhur Bhandarkar takes one step ahead for patch up with Big B!

Big B, Madhur Bhandarkar

Aishwarya Rai’s pregnancy news caused rifts between Madhur Bhandarkar and the Bachchan family. On the other hand, if reports are to be believed, all’s well now between the two.

It all happened last week at a suburban five-star.

An eye-witness disclosed, “The cold war is a thing of the past. Bhandarkar actually walked up to Bachchan while he was shooting for a commercial at the hotel. Bachchan looked at him, smiled and met him very warmly. After that, the two were seen chatting quite animatedly. Both appeared very gracious toward each other.”

The witness further told, “It was difficult to overhear what the two of them were saying but it was clear that they had put the past behind them. While onlookers were surprised, it was quite a heartwarming sight.”

Kareena walks the red carpet at the 12th New York Indian Film Festival!

Kareena Kapoor

Kareena Kapoor

Kareena Kapoor and Madhur Bhandarkar

Kareena Kapoor and Madhur Bhandarkar

At the 12th New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF), Kareena Kapoor is will walk the red carpet. The event will be held in Lower Manhattan from May 23 to May 27.

Along with Kareena Kapoor, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar will walk too. Other celebrities to join them are Anurag Kashyap, Rituparno Ghosh, Salman Rushdie and Mira Nair.

The screening of Dev Anand’s movie “Hum Dono Rangeen”, a colored version of his black-and-white classic “Hum Dono”, will also be a part of the event as a tribute to him.

The world premiere of Ghosh’s “Chitrangada” as well as the USpremiere of both parts of Kashyap’s “Gangs of Wasseypur”, will be hosted by NYIFF. These movies are also lined up to be screened at the 65th Cannes International Film Festival.

Other movies like Shyam Benegal’s “Zubeida”, “Mammo” and “Sardari Begum”, Pakistani-Canadian journalist and filmmaker Obaid Chinoy’s Oscar-winning documentary “Saving Face” etc will also be screened at the event.