SRK - Aamir may recieve National Awards

The latest B-town news is that two of the biggest Bollywood superstars, Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan are in contention for National Awards in the ‘Best Actor’ category. While SRK has been nominated for his in ‘Chak De India’, Aamir Khan is in the running for his performance the critically acclaimed flick ‘Taare Zameen Par’.

‘Taare Zameen Par’ has also been nominated in the ‘Best Film’ category. Darsheel Safari is being considered for the Best child actor award for his performance as the dyslexic Ishaan Awasthi in ‘TZP’.

Shah Rukh’s home production, ‘Om Shanti Om’ has also been nominated for a National Award for ‘Best Feature Film’ in the entertainment category. This award was previously won by Aamir for ‘Lagaan’ in 2001.

I&B Minister Ambika Soni is likely to announce the National Awards next week and President Pratibha Patil is scheduled to give away the awards in Delhi in October this year.

Taare Zameen Par dubbed in English

"Taare Zameen Par" is Aamir Khan’s directorial debut. It has been dubbed in English for the Jury members of Oscar awards. The film is India’s official entry to the foreign film category at the Oscar awards.

The film had bridged the divide of commercial and parallel cinema by focusing on an issue of social relevance and appealing to all groups of audiences. ‘Taare Zameen Par’ is also being featured in the Indian Panorama section at the 39th IFFI. The film’s inclusion as well as that of a few other mainstream Hindi films has invited criticism.

K N T Sastry, chairman of the jury, which selected the feature films in the Panorama package, was of the view that box office hits should be kept out of Indian panorama section. He said five films including ‘Taare Zameen Par’, ‘Jodhaa Akbar‘, ‘A Wednesday‘ among others in the Panorama.

He said the films have been selected after recommendation from the Film Federation of India (FFI). He was of the opinion that the mainstream cinema section, which was scrapped a few years ago, should be revived and mainstream and parallel movies should not be clubbed in the Panorama.

Begging to differ, Director of Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) S M Khan said that Panorama comprises a package of films made in all genres and languages in various parts of the country. “I don’t think there is need for a separate section to club mainstream movies,” he added.

International Dyslexia Association gives a standing ovation to Taare Zameen Par

It was the first time that Taare Zameen Par was really credited. In his blog, Aamir speaks about his special screening of TZP in Seattle for the IDA (International Dyslexia Association). This was one mega event which was attended by more than 200 members who were aware of Dyslexia.

Through this event, Aamir wanted to gauge the responses of the cinegoers from the foreign shores. The 'screening was in a conference room and not in a cinema hall. Much to the surprise of Aamir, the film got itself an absolutely thunderous standing ovation. Not just that, after the screening there were many tear-filled eyes in the audiences.

The ironical moment of the evening was the eagerness of the audience to know when the film would release in the US. And when informed that the film has already seen a US release, they all insisted that the film be re-released in theatres, this time for the mainstream American audiences.

One of the important points that came out of the Q&A session was the request from the audience to dub the film in English when re-released in US, as they wanted their children to see the film. Aamir has taken keen interest into this matter with an assurance that 'at the very least, the DVD release in US can incorporate an English dubbed version.

Taare Zameen Par Niminated for Oscars

Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan's directorial debut 'Taare Zameen Par' will be India's official entry for the Oscar award for the best foreign film, the jury announced here Saturday.

The announcement was made by the Sunil Darshan, chairman of the jury set up by the Film Federation of India (FFI).

'Taare Zameen Par', which won critical acclaim as well as mass popularity, is a story of a child's bonding with his teacher.