Mrinal Sen was an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and a few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Indian filmmakers, along with his contemporaries Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, and Tapan Sinha, Sen played a major role in the New Wave cinema of eastern India.
Bimal Roy was an Indian film director. He is particularly noted for his realistic and socialistic films such as Do Bigha Zamin, Parineeta, Biraj Bahu, Devdas, Madhumati, Sujata, Parakh and Bandini, making him an important director of Hindi cinema. Inspired by Italian neo-realistic cinema, he made Do Bigha Zamin after watching Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (1948). His work is particularly known for his mise en scène which he employed to portray realism. He won a number of awards throughout his career, including eleven Filmfare Awards, two National Film Awards, and the International Prize of the Cannes Film Festival. Madhumati won 9 Filmfare Awards in 1958, a record held for 37 years.
Shaji Neelakantan Karun is an Indian film director and cinematographer. His debut film Piravi (1988) won the Caméra d'Or – Mention d'honneur at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. He was the premiere chairman of the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, the first academy for film and TV in India and was also the executive chairman of the International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) from 1998 to 2001. He is best known for his award-winning films Piravi (1988), Swaham (1994), Vanaprastham (1999) and Kutty Srank (2009). He won the National Award for Best Director for his debut film Piravi. He also won two Kerala State Film Awards for Best Director for his films Swaham and Vanaprastham. Currently, he is the Chairman of Kerala State Film Development Corporation.
Nazia and Zoheb were a Pakistani pop duo from Karachi, Sindh formed in 1980. The group consisted of two siblings, Nazia Hassan and Zoheb Hassan, who were singing sensations and pop icons across South Asia. They are regarded as pioneers of the Pakistani pop scene, and were one of the most successful Asian pop duos of all time, selling more than 105 million albums worldwide.
Vanaprastham: The Last Dance is a 1999 Indo-French psychological drama period film in Malayalam-language that was directed by Shaji N. Karun. It was produced by Pierre Assouline and co-produced by Mohanlal. The screenplay was written by Karun and Raghunath Paleri based on a story by Assouline. It features Mohanlal in the lead role, with Suhasini Maniratnam, Mattannur Sankarankutty Marar, Kalamandalam Gopi, Venmani Haridas, and Kukku Parameshwaram in supporting roles. The film's music was composed by Zakir Hussain.
Young Tarang is the third studio album by the Pakistani pop duo Nazia and Zoheb, consisting of Nazia Hassan and Zoheb Hassan. The music was composed by Zoheb and British-Indian producer Biddu, with lyrics written by Nazia and Zoheb.
In 2017, he produced An Insignificant Man – a nonfiction thriller directed by Khushboo Ranka and Vinay Shukla on the rise distribution.
Niharika Singh is an actress, filmmaker and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Earth India and represented India at Miss Earth 2005. She made her acting debut with the critically acclaimed drama Miss Lovely which competed in Un Certain Regard at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. Niharika was selected for Berlinale Talents in 2016.
Nawazuddin Siddiqui is an Indian actor known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a National Film Award, an IIFA Award, and two Filmfare Awards, as well as a nomination for an International Emmy. After studying acting at the National School of Drama, Siddiqui had minor roles in films such as Sarfarosh (1999), Shool (1999), and Munna Bhai M.B.B.S (2003).
Bongu Narsing Rao is an Indian film director, screenwriter, littérateur, composer, poet, producer, actor and painter known for his works in Telugu cinema, and Telugu theatre. Rao has garnered five National Film Awards, three Nandi Awards, various international honors, and has served as a jury in various Asian film festivals. He directed, Daasi "(Bonded Woman)" and Matti Manushulu "(Mud People)" which won the Diploma of Merit awards at the 16th and 17th Moscow International Film Festivals in 1989 and 1991 respectively.
Miss Lovely is a 2012 Indian drama film directed by Ashim Ahluwalia and set in the criminal depths of Mumbai's C-grade industry. Ahluwalia's debut feature follows the story of the Duggal brothers who produce sleazy sex-horror films in the mid-1980s. The plot explores the intense and mutually destructive relationship between younger sibling Sonu Duggal, played by Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and his elder brother, Vicky. Sonu finds himself drawn to a mysterious young woman named Pinky eventually leading to his downfall. Miss Lovely had its cinematic release on 17 January 2014. The film has received the National Film Award – Special Jury Award and Best Production Design at the 61st National Film Awards.
Gurvinder Singh is an Indian film director. He is best known for his Punjabi language films Anhe Ghore Da Daan, and Chauthi Koot which premiered at Venice and Cannes Film Festival respectively. Gurvinder is an alumnus of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune from where he studied film-making and graduated in 2001. He travelled extensively through Punjab between 2002 and 2006, living and traveling with folk itinerants, documenting folk ballads and oral narratives. It led to his first documentary 'Pala'. He continued to make short experimental works and documenting arts/artists for the next few years. In 2005 he was invited by avant-garde Indian filmmaker Mani Kaul to be his teaching assistant for a master-class at FTII, which led to a close association with the filmmaker who became his mentor. He translated and published a book of conversations of Udayan Vajpeyi with Mani Kaul, titled 'Uncloven Space'. His latest film is 'Infiltrator' starring Veer Rajwant Singh which is a 15-minute short story in an international omnibus called 'In the same garden'
The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place in Cannes, France, from 15 to 26 May 2013. Steven Spielberg was the Jury President for the main competition. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the Cinéfondation and Short Film sections. French actress Audrey Tautou hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. Actress Kim Novak was named guest of honour and introduced a new restored version of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. The festival poster featured the real-life couple and Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward kissing during the shooting of A New Kind of Love.
The 61st National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals of India presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2013 in the Indian cinema. The ceremony was held on 3 May 2014.
Ritesh Batra is an Indian film director and screenwriter. Batra's Hindi-language debut feature film The Lunchbox premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and won the Rail d’Or. Batra also won the Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best First Feature Film in 2014. The Lunchbox was the highest-grossing foreign film in North America, Europe and Australia for 2014 grossing over US$25 Million. The film was also nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language in 2015.
Geetanjali Thapa is an Indian actress who primarily appears in Hindi films. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress (2013) for her performance in Liar's Dice.
Utpal Borpujari is a double National Film Award winner; one, as a film critic, and the other, as a filmmaker. In 2003, he won the Swarna Kamal for Best Film Critic at the 50th National Film Awards of India. In 2018, he won the National Film Award, and 5 Assam State Film Awards for his debut feature film Ishu
Shrihari Sathe is an Indian filmmaker and producer. Sathe is a 2013 Sundance Institute Creative Producing Fellow. His feature directorial debut, EkHazarachiNote(1000 Rupee Note), won the Special Jury Award and Centenary Award for Best Film at the 2014 International Film Festival of India and has received over 35 awards. He was a member of the jury at the 2017 Miami International Film Festival. Shrihari Sathe received the Producers Award 2019 as part of 34th Independent Spirit Awards.
Sheetal Iqbal Sharma is an Indian fashion and costume designer, who works in Hindi and Telugu films. He is known for his works in films like Miss Lovely, Airlift, Manto, Judgementall Hai Kya, Gangubai Kathiawadi and Sita Ramam. He was awarded the Filmfare Award for Best Costume Design in 2019 for the film Manto (2018), and was nominated for the same award for Judgementall Hai Kya (2019).
