Best wishes to the women on International Women’s Day 2022

Women used to be ignored by the men and the logic used to be – “they should be seen and not heard.” Their responsibilities used to be divided between the kitchen and the bedroom. Even in the movies of pre 1970s, women seldom appeared in the posters. The men dominated movies. However, today in the 21st century there are women like Madhuri Dixit, Deepika Padukone, Hema Malini, Aishwarya Rai and Priyanka Chopra who call the shots. There used to be a time when women worked as domestic helps or as nurses in hospitals. Today, the world is their stage. They can be seen at work in the police, armed forces, banks, colleges and even in the world of fashion and cricket. To them, the sky is the limit – literally. They occupy the cockpits and fly as pilots to different destinations.

When it comes to the arena of politics, many women can outwit the males. Examples are Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Nirmala Sitharaman, Smriti Irani etcetera. The bottom line is – women are powerful and deserve respect. They are no longer helpless and have the ability to reach the peak in any field.

The Bachchans with Shah Rukh Khan to attend 20th Kolkata International Film Festival

The eight-day extravaganza of the 20th Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) - India's second oldest movie fest - will see megastar Amitabh Bachchan and his celebrated family, superstar Shah Rukh Khan and a host of film personalities at the Netaji Indoor Stadium.
Amitabh Bachchan is already in Kolkata shooting for Shoojit Sircar’s movie Piku with Deepika Padukone and has been seen at various times on Howrah Bridge inside a car and in Shyambazar – riding a bicycle. He has tasted a couple of fast foods of Kolkata, foods like jilebi and kachori.
Anyway, the KIFF promises to be heady mix of Bollywood, Hollywood and the best of world cinema would be there for the audience. It seems there would be 137 films from 60 countries and there would be 40 international delegates and 15 segments. There will be 31 Indian films, including 13 Bengali films.
Hollywood classics such as Guns of Navarone, The Sound of Music and Jighangsa by Ajoy Kar will be screened at the 'Centenary Tribute' section.
Incidentally, it will be for the first time that the festival would turn competitive with 15 films by women directors from across the globe who would be competing for the top jury award -- the Golden Royal Bengal Tiger trophy in the Women Directors segment.
Headed by award-winning Australian filmmaker Paul Cox, the jury will comprise Iranian director Nikki Karimi and Indian filmmaker Amol Palekar and others.
The screening locations will be spread across 12 venues and the KIFF will conclude on November 17.

Amitabh Bachchan is in Kolkata shooting a movie with Deepika Padukone

Amitabh Bachchan is all of 72-years-old and is, at present, in Kolkata shooting for a movie with Deepika Padukone. The movie is Piku directed by Shoojit Sircar and Amitabh is playing the role of Deepika’s Bengali father.
True to tradition of merging with the role and playing the perfect character that we have seen him portray in his movies, he was dressed in his pyjamas, socks and a grey half-sweater and looked frail enough. He also sorted a neck brace and a head of snow-white hair and that led some to believe that he was not well!!
That was a false alarm because, he stuck to the shooting schedule at Alipore’s Burdwan Rajbari and packed up with the others at around 8pm and headed for his hotel in the Oberoi Grand.
Acting is in Big-B’s blood and he tries to live the role that he is portraying on the silver screen. Some examples are ‘Aakhree Raasta’ of 1986 in which he changed his appearance to take revenge against the people who had wronged his wife. Apart from this movie, there was his 2005 movie ‘Black’ followed by ‘Paa’ in 2009 – he played totally out-of-this-world roles in these movies.
He is aware that he is not young anymore and, therefore, opts for roles of aged persons that would fit him to a T.