Mumbai welcomes 6th Jagran Film Festival

Festival opens with a gala opening ceremony and 2015 French film ‘Standing Tall’

The opening day saw presence of personalities like R Madhavan, Ranveer Shorey, Kunal Kapoor, Dibakar Banerjee and many more

Iranian Filmstar Mozhgan Taraneh at the 6th Jagran Film Festival 2015

Mumbai, September 28, 2015: It is Mumbai’s turn to roll out a red carpet welcome to the country’s biggest travelling film extravaganza, the Jagran Film Festival in its sixth edition. On Day 1, the buzz at Fun Cinema auditorium was infectious as the film lovers from in and around Mumbai gathered to witness a star-studded opening ceremony. With a stellar film line-up from all corners of the world, the Mumbai edition is shaping up to be a grand affair not to be missed.

Emmanuelle Bercot’s film ‘Standing Tall’ drew celebrities and cinephiles alike to witness a magnanimous screening. This low-key French drama which has also been the opening film at Cannes chronicles the life of an at-risk adolescent dabbling with violence, punishment and the idea of rehabilitation. The screening turned into a star-studded evening in the presence of film luminaries such as R Madhavan, Ranveer Shorey, Kunal Kapoor, Dibakar Banerjee, among others from the entertainment industry.

On the very first day, JFF also showcased some offbeat shades of Arabic cinema with films such as an Israeli-Palestinian Joint Venture‘Sport’ and a series of recent short films including Matan Gur’s ‘Jisr Boys’, Lily SheffyRize’s ‘Just a Man’, Tal Oved’s ‘Ziva and Amal’and Ahmad Barghouthi’s ‘Blue Eagles’ and ‘WOUROD’.

Hindi film lovers grabbed the opportunity to walk down the cinema lane with Hiren Nag’s 1984 romantic classic ‘Abodh’, Phani Majumdar’s 1962 romantic drama ‘Aarti’, Govind Mooni’s 1982 family love triangle ‘Nadiya Ke Paar’, K Balachander’s epic love story of the 1980s ‘Ek Duje Ke Liye’ and Mahesh Bhatt’s 1991 romantic thriller ‘Sadak’, that paid a homage to the late actor Sadashiv Amrapurkar.

Film enthusiasts were seen juggling between the big screens and auditoriums to catch the cinema of their choice. In days to come, the much anticipated Mumbai edition is studded with a noteworthy collection of Jagran Shorts, Hindi classics, World premieres as well as a handpicked selection of International cinema. And since its Jagran keeping up the promise of making the 6^th edition bigger in every possible way, there are master classes and workshops on Screen Writing, Reviewing Cinema and Animation along with panel discussions on Casting, Film Direction, Making Advertising Films, Editing adding to the charm.

Talking forward the theme of the year, ‘Happiness’, the Mumbai editions is set to showcase iconic films such as the Hindi cinematic delight ‘Mera Naam Joker’, much loved 1942 American classics ‘Gone With the Wind’ and ‘Casablanca’, 2006 American biographical drama ‘The Pursuit of Happiness’, 1997 Italian tragic-comedy drama ‘Life is Beautiful’ and the rare and ravishing 1965 Hindi drama ‘Guide’ among others.

Promising to present some of the finest works of cinematic geniuses, India’s only travelling film festival, ‘Jagran’, features a delectable mix of movies, master-classes and memorable experiences for avid cinema lovers based in and around Mumbai. Showcasing a good number of feature and short films this year, Jagran Film Festival in its 6^th edition is slated to be an eyeful treat for one and all.

The 2015 edition of Jagran Film Festival after traversing rom Delhi to the Indian hinterlands of Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Dehradun, Hisar, Ludhiana, Patna, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Raipur, Indore, and Bhopal is culminating in Mumbai.  In close collaboration with festival partners such as Whistling Woods International (WWI), Film Federation of India (FFI) and Motion Picture Dist Association (India) Pvt Ltd, Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), the 2015 edition is all set to surpass its own last benchmarks of presenting over 16 cinema appreciation workshops, 400 screenings in 17 cities, that were witnessed by a direct audience of more than 50000 film aficionados and a media reach-out to nearly 50 million people in India in 2014.

The 6th edition of the Jagran Film Festival, Mumbai 2015 is scheduled from 28th September – 4h October, 2015 at the Fun Cinemas, Mumbai.

• For more details and festival registration, please visit: http://www.jff.co.in/

CALENDAR GIRLS - Movie review

An outdated Calendar - Rating: **

In these fast paced times, with the virtual world and the Television Channels continuously evolving, and new opportunities are cropping up every day, there is always a new face waiting to be discovered now and then.

A decade ago there was a phase when models featured on the Calendar of a brewery were treated as something out of this world. They became celebrities overnight.

The film features 5 girls who hail from different towns & cities of India, and who have been selected to pose for the country’s most prestigious annual Calendar which is a joint effort of a business tycoon Rishabh Kukreja, and his able photographer friend Timmy Sen.

The selected 5 calendar models are – a Hyderabadi girl Nandita Menon (Akanksha Puri), a Goan Sharon Pinto (Kyra Dutt), a Pakistani model Nazneen Malik (Avani Modi), Rohtak’s Mayuri Chauhan (Ruhi Singh) and a Bengali Paroma Ghosh (Satarupa Pyne).

Calendar Girls is an average film with skin show in abundance.

Read the full review and see more pics at: 

http://www.filmytown.com/movies/calendar-girls-hindi-movie-review/

Urvashi Rautela – a big threat to Miss Universe contestants?

Here is the Yamaha Fascino Miss Diva 2015 finalist – Urvashi Rautela

She is known for her glamorous side in Bollywood seems to be a reason which might create a pressure for the Miss Universe contestants.

Urvashi has been part of many beauty pageants and has won many titles at a very young age, who entered Bollywood at a very young stage and has made a special place for herself.

Urvashi did her schooling from D.A.V Public School Kotdwara in Uttarakhand and then her graduation from Hindu College, Delhi University

Urvashi has Volunteered at the women’s development resource centre, advocating for “Urvashi Rautela Foundation” a cause that my parents have been dedicated for several years.

Being Crowned Miss Universe India 2012 winner, Miss Tourism Queen of The Year International 2011 World, Miss Asian Supermodel 2011 Urvashi Rautela is an Artist, Thespian, Social Activist and Performer.

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world,” she says.

Urvashi was chosen to be the only Indian female celebrity to work with WhateverItTakes.org along with Hollywood superstars like Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Daniel Craig, George Clooney & others for raising funds to support charitable projects in the developing world.

She is also spiritual whose favourite character from Ramayana is Hanumanji. “He is the perfect hero because he’s known for his unparalleled loyalty to Lord Ram. And it’s not just loyalty but his love for Ram surpassed everything,” she added.

A word is wisdom hrom her, “Success is not the key to love. Love is key to success. If you love what you are doing ,you will be successful.”

- Read the full write-up at: http://www.filmytown.com/urvashi-rautela-miss-universe-contestant/#sthash.Kbhcnalq.dpuf