Zee Cine Awards 2016 to have jury awards
Mumbai–The Zee Cine Awards 2016, India’s “first Integrated National Award” for cinema will introduce ‘jury awards’, a company official said. With the jury awards being instituted this year to ensure a high degree of fairness and transparency in the selection process, it is Zee’s goal to ensure that the awards competition is conducted in a fair and ethical manner, said Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd MD & CEO Punit Goenka.
“Reaching out to various cultures this year, Zee Cine Awards 2016 is India’s first ‘Integrated National Awards’ with a special feed of exclusive regional content in Bengali, Telugu and Marathi that will air on Zee Bangla, Zee Telugu and Zee Marathi respectively.
The awards will be telecast simultaneously on Zee Cinema, Zee Cinema HD, Zee Anmol and Zee Tamizh on March 5 to reach out to 959 million viewers across 169 countries. Also present on the occasion were ZEEL chief business officer Sunil Buch, actors Anil Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Kriti Sanon and jury members Leena Yadav, Ravi K. Chandran, Resul Pookutty and Shantanu Moitra.
Shahid Kapoor, Karan Johar to host ‘Zee Cine Awards 2016’
MUMBAI–Actor Shahid Kapoor, who is all set to host ‘Zee Cine Awards 2016’ with film maker Karan Johar, assures that they will not use any vulgar language on the dais.
“I am hosting this show with Karan Johar who is not here.. he is in New York. I am very excited to host this award show. As far as the language is concerned, I am personally not very comfortable using vulgar words. We will not use vulgar words and I understand one should be sensitive towards others and few things should be filtered,” Shahid told reporters at the Zee Cine Awards press conference here on Thursday. “Few people likes to be humorous openly, some people don’t find it comfortable so it is difficult to draw the line. I think we have the right censor board and they will not telecast any wrong things. At Zee Cine Awards, we will be using nice and sweet words.”
Zee Cine Awards 2016 will be telecast simultaneously on Zee Cinema, Zee Cinema HD, Zee Anmol and Zee Tamizh on 5th March. It will reach out to an expansive universe of ZEE’s channels that entertains over 959 million viewers across 169 countries. The awards will have some high-voltage performances by Sonakshi Sinha, Sushant Singh Rajput and Kriti Sanon amongst many others.
Oscars have bigger controversies: Anil Kapoor
Mumbai– Actor Anil Kapoor has defended the controversies that surround award shows in Bollywood, saying even the Oscars have its share of controversies, which are sometimes even bigger. “As they say, the grass is always greener (on the other side). Because you are here (Indian film industry), you don’t know what’s happening there (internationally). So the kind of controversies that happen here, sometimes the controversies there are more than that,” Kapoor said on Thursday at a press conference to announce the Zee Cine Awards, where he will be performing.
“And this year too, at the Oscars, there have been big controversies, certain sections feel that they have not been fair, that it’s not been that diverse in their choice of nominations. These things keep happening, lobbying also takes place,” the “24” actor said. There has been a controversy with the all-white nominations at the Oscars this year with numerous artistes voicing their opinions on the issue.
Kapoor, who was a part of Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire”, recently won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor for his performance in “Dil Dhadakne Do”. The Zee Cine Awards ceremony, to be held on February 20, will be hosted by Shahid Kapoor and Karan Johar.
Salman is favourite co-star, he’s ‘bloody hot’: Sonam
Mumbai–Actress Sonam Kapoor says that her “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo” co-star Salman Khan is her favourite, and terms him “bloody hot”. Present at a college here on Thursday to promote a song of her film “Neerja”, she was asked who her favourite co-star was. And when the crowd chanted Salman’s name, she replied: “Well, you guys got it right. It’s Salman Khan, he’s so bloody hot.”
Despite a nearly 20 year age difference between them, the pair’s chemistry was appreciated. Not only in the film, it was also palpable during the promotions of the film, where they featured together at numerous media events and even photo shoots. The film also did well at the box-office. The song “Ankhian Milaayenge Darr Se’ from aNeerja’ was launched at the college with the students singing along, when the video of the song was played. The video featured a similar visual of numerous students singing in a college. Sonam termed the song as the “first rock anthem”.
“This film is made for the youth and this song is going to explain why, because it’s about facing your fears, understanding what we’re all about, discovering who we are. I hope this becomes your anthem in life because we shouldn’t be afraid of anybody and we should always be ourselves. It’s about embracing who we are and doing the right thing,” she said. Neerja Bhanot, on whom the film is based on, had also done her schooling and college education from Mumbai. About Neerja, Sonam said: “She was an amazing girl, but she was an ordinary girl, like you and me. She was bloody scared but she did not bother about herself and took care of other people, and that’s most amazing about her.
“Neerja”, directed by Ram Madhvani, is releasing on February 19.
People’s right to dissent must be respected: Amol Palekar
Kolkata–Asserting that everybody has the right to express his dissent, veteran actor-director Amol Palekar on Thursday wondered why there was so much fuss over people returning their awards as a mark to protest against intolerance. “If an artiste feels he can convey his protest by returning his award, why are we getting so hyper and so upset about it? If I feel that I can convey my protest this way or some other way, then that must be respected,” Palekar said here.
“I have always condemned any such attempt to shut one’s voice. If a play is banned, if a film is stopped, I have always condemned that. Whether I like that film or not is not the issue. Whether I agree with that point of view is not the issue. So far as freedom of expression goes, everybody must have the freedom,” he said. Palekar was in the city to inaugurate the Kolkata Literature Festival along with eminent poet Ashok Vajpeyi.
“Just because I don’t agree with you, I have no right to shut you up. I have no right to say you are wrong or you are this or that,” said Palekar about those protesting against intolerance being labelled as anti-national. “If I express my dissent, do I become anti-national immediately? If I have done this with the previous government, I have the right to express myself on the present government as well.”
“On censorship issue, I have fought with all the governments in Maharashtra, whether it is Congress or the Shiv Sena or whichever party. So, I think people have the right to protest, right to express dissent and that must be respected,” he added.
Bajirao Mastani’ gets five nominations at 10th Asian Film Awards
Mumbai– Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Bajirao Mastani” has landed five nominations, including in the Best Film category, at the 10th Asian Film Awards, where “The Assassin” is the front-runner with nine nominations.
“Bajirao Mastani” will compete with Chinese director Jia Zhangke’s “Mountains May Depart”, Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s “The Assassin”, Japanese director Ryosuke Hashiguchi’s “Three Stories of Love”, Chinese film director Guan Hu’s “Mr. Six” and South Korean director’s Ryoo Seung-wan “Veteran” for the Best Film trophy.
Besides getting nominated for the Best Film category, “Bajirao Mastani” has also earned nominations for Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Music and Best Editing.
However, “Bajirao Mastani” isn’t the only Indian film to be nominated at the AFA. “Masaan”, “Talvar”, “Bombay Velvet” and “Baahubali: The Beginning” also received nominations in different categories.
“Masaan” actor Vicky Kaushal is nominated for Best Newcomer, Vishal Bhardwaj for Best Screenplay (“Talvar”), Amit Trivedi for Best Original Music (“Bombay Velvet”) and Srinivas Mohan (“Baahubali: The Beginning”) for Best Visual Effects.
For this edition, 77 nominations have been made for 15 awards. The nominations represent 36 films from nine countries, read a statement on the Asian Film Awards’ official website.
Organised by the Asian Film Awards Academy, the awards gala will be held on March 17 at the Venetian Theater in Macau.
