Marathi film at London Fete

Sindhutai,who works for the welfare of orphaned and destitute children,presently resides in Hadapsar,a suburb in Pune suburb. The film is inspired from her book Mi Vanvasi.

The cast includes National award-winning actor Upendra Limaye,Tejaswini Pandit,Jyoti Chandekar,Neena Kulkarni,Uday Tikekar,Vinay Apte and Suhas Palshikar. The film is slated for a Diwali release.

Petition against Oriya film

The Orissa High Court on September 15 dismissed a petition against an Oriya film,Swayamsiddha,on Maoists after receiving the report of an expert committee.

The bench of Chief Justice V Gopalgowda and Justice Indrajit Mahanty gave a clean chit to the film by rejecting the petition on the basis of the report the committee,headed by the police commissioner,submitted. The report stated that the movie in totality sent no wrong message to youths in society.

Alleging that the movie, which has BJD MP Siddhanta Mohapatra in the lead role would encourage Maoist activities in the state and had dubious financers. State BJP youth leader Bibhuti Jena had prayed to the HC to ban its screening and sought a CBI probe into its funding.

Producers car damaged

Unidentified miscreants damaged the windshield of a car belonging to Telugu film producer D Suresh Babu,elder son of veteran filmmaker and Dadasaheb Phalke award winner Daggubati Rama Naidu,at Banjara Hills area in Hyderabad.

The incident occurred late night on September 10 when some miscreants,who came on a motorcycle,pelted stones on the vehicles parked near the house of Suresh Babu at Film Nagar and damaged windshields of four cars,including that of the film producer. Banjara Hills Police are investigating the matter.

Singer Swarnalatha is no more

South Indian playback singer and National award winner Swarnalatha died at a Chennai private hospital on September 12 following a lung infection. She was 37.

Born in Keralas Palakkad district,Swarnalatha had sung in various languages including Tamil,Kannada,Telugu,Hindi and Malayalam since 1989. She won the 1995 National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for her song Porale ponnuthayi,composed by A. R. Rahman in the Tamil film Karuththamma.

Swarnalatha,who was also a dubbing artiste,is survived by parents.

Malayalam actor-director dies

Renowned Malayalam film actor and director Venu Nagavally,died at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on September 9. He was 61.

Venu had been suffering from bad health for some time. When his condition worsened,he was moved to the hospital. He is survived by his wife and son.

The son of veteran writer and broadcaster late Nagavally R S Kurup,Venu had acted in over 200 films and directed 12 movies,many of them super-hits during the 1990s. Venu had his breakthrough in 1978 through Ulkkadal,in which he played the role of a tragic hero and his subdued but sensitive portrayal made him an instant hit with the audience.

His directorial hits included Lal Salaam,Sukhamo Devi and Ai Auto.