Meera Syal FRSL is an English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and by portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No. 42. She became one of the UK's best-known Asian personalities.
Jasmine Mary Joseph, known professionally as Meera Jasmine, is an Indian actress who appears primarily in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada language films. Meera made her debut in 2001 with the Lohithadas film Soothradharan. She went on to star in various commercial and critically successful films in south Indian languages making her one of the successful actresses of the 2000s.
The Vayalar Award is given for the best literary work in Malayalam. The award was instituted in 1977 by the Vayalar Ramavarma Memorial Trust in memory of the poet and lyricist Vayalar Ramavarma (1928-1975). A sum of ₹25,000, a silver plate and certificate constituted the award originally. Now it is raised to a sum of ₹1,00,000. It is presented each year on 27 October, the death anniversary of Vayalar Ramavarma.
Anita Nair is an Indian novelist who writes her books in English. She is best known for her novels A Better Man, Mistress, and Lessons in Forgetting. She has also written poetry, essays, short stories, crime fiction, historical fiction, romance, and children's literature, including Muezza and Baby Jaan: Stories from the Quran.
Sreekumaran Thampi is an Indian lyricist, music director, director, producer and screenwriter in Malayalam cinema. He also writes poetry and is a recipient of the Vallathol Award. In 2017, he was awarded the J. C. Daniel Award, Kerala government's highest honour for contributions to Malayalam cinema.
Zerifa Wahid is an Indian actress known for her works in Assamese films. Her prominent features include Baandhon, which won the 60th National Film Awards for Best Feature Film in Assamese directed by Jahnu Baruah. and the best film in the Indian Films Competition held at the Bengaluru International Film Festival for the year 2012.
V. Madhusoodanan Nair is an Indian poet and critic of Malayalam literature, who is credited with contributions in popularizing poetry through recitation. He is best known for Naranathu Bhranthan, the poem with the most editions in Malayalam literature as well as his music albums featuring recitations of his own poems and poems of other major poets. Kerala Sahitya Akademi honoured him with their annual award for poetry in 1993. He is also a recipient many other honours including Sahitya Akademi Award, Asan Smaraka Kavitha Puraskaram, Padmaprabha Literary Award, Kunju Pillai Award, R. G. Mangalom Award, Souparnikatheeram Prathibhapuraskaram and Janmashtami Puraskaram.
Lena Mohan Kumar, known by stage name Lenaa, is an Indian actress, author, and scriptwriter who appears predominantly in Malayalam cinema. In a career that spans over 25 years, Lenaa has worked in over 175 films in 5 languages, including blockbusters as well as critically acclaimed films in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam.
K. R. Meera is an Indian author and journalist, who writes in Malayalam. She was born in Sasthamkotta, Kollam district in Kerala. She worked as a journalist in Malayala Manorama but later resigned to concentrate more on writing. She started writing fiction in 2001 and her first short story collection Ormayude Njarambu was published in 2002. Since then she has published five collections of short stories, two novellas, five novels and two children's books. She won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 2009 for her short-story, Ave Maria. Her novel Aarachaar (2012) is widely regarded as one of the best literary works produced in Malayalam language. It received several awards including the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award (2013), Odakkuzhal Award (2013), Vayalar Award (2014) and Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award (2015). It was also shortlisted for the 2016 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature.
Unfreedom: Blemished light is a 2014 Indian drama film by Raj Amit Kumar, which was released in North America on 29 May 2015. Faiz Ahmad Faiz's poem, "Ye Dagh Dagh Ujala", is the inspiration behind the film. The film stars Victor Banerjee, Adil Hussain. and Preeti Gupta.
1920: The Evil Returns is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language supernatural horror film written by Vikram Bhatt and directed by Bhushan Patel. A quasi-sequel to the 2008 film 1920, and the second of the 1920 film series, it stars Aftab Shivdasani, Tia Bajpai, Vidya Malvade and Sharad Kelkar. The film is third in a series of quasi-sequels released under the Bhatt Banner including Raaz – The Mystery Continues, Murder 2, Jism 2, Jannat 2 and Raaz 3D each of which had nothing to do with their respective prequels, but somehow fell in the same genre following a similar story. The trailer was released on 28 September 2012.
Iti Srikanta is a 2004 Bengali period drama film directed by Anjan Das. This film is based on novelist Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel, Srikanta (1917) In an interview in 2005, Das, director of the film, told about his depiction of the character Srikanta– "Several films have been made on Srikanta but all these had mainly dealt with specific chapters from Srikanta, the novel. I wanted to present the complete man — his inner conflict and turmoil over the two women in his life, torn between a baiji and a vaishnavi". He also felt, the crisis felt by Srikanta as shown in Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's novel are still relevant.
Khandkar Mohammad Adil Hussain is an Indian actor who is known for his work in several Indian independent and mainstream film productions, as well as international cinema, in films such as The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Life of Pi . He received National Film Awards at the 2017 National Film Awards for Hotel Salvation and Maj Rati Keteki.
Omanathinkal Kidavo is a lullaby in Malayalam that was composed by Irayimman Thampi on the birth of Maharajah Swathi Thirunal of Travancore. To date, it remains one of the most popular lullabies in the Malayalam language.
Filmsaaz is an international short film festival that began in 2008 by the University Film Club, Aligarh Muslim University. Until the fifth edition of the festival in 2012, it was a national-level competition, but beginning with the sixth edition in 2013, the festival was opened to international entries. Since its inception, the University's Kennedy Auditorium has been used as the festival's screening venue.
Maj Rati Keteki is a 2017 Indian Assamese drama film written and directed by Santwana Bardoloi. The film stars Adil Hussain in the lead role. Hussain wins National Film Award – Special Mention at 64th National Film Awards for acting in this film.
Nimisha Sajayan is an Indian actress who has been appearing in Malayalam and Tamil language movies in addition to a Marathi and an English language film. Nimisha made her acting debut with the film Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum..She is a recipient of one Kerala State films Award and one Filmfare Award South.
Naval Enna Jewel, titled Naval the Jewel in English, is a 2017 Indian drama film co-written, co-produced and directed by Renjilal Damodaran. It was simultaneously shot in Malayalam and English languages. The film revolves around the lives of a mother and daughter who are victims of arabi kalyanam. The film stars Shweta Menon and Reem Kadem, alongside Adil Hussain, Anu Sithara, Alen Matters Cyriac Alencheril, Anjali Nair, Sudheer Karamana, and Paris Laxmi.
The 43rd International Film Festival of India was held on 20 to 30 November 2012 in Goa. The Guest of Honour was Australian Director Paul Cox. Veteran actor Nandamuri Balakrishna was the chief guest for the edition, and Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar inaugurated the festival. Shankar Mohan served as the festival director.
