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By:

Naresh Kamath

5 November 2024 at 5:30:38 am

Battle royale at Prabhadevi-Mahim belt

Amidst cut-throat competition, five seats up for grabs Mumbai: South Central Mumbai’s Prabhadevi-Mahim belt, an epicentre of Mumbai’s politics, promises a cut-throat competition as the two combines – Mahayuti and the Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) combine – sweat it out in the upcoming BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. It is the same ward where Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray used to address mammoth rallies at Shivaji Park and also the residence of MNS chief...

Battle royale at Prabhadevi-Mahim belt

Amidst cut-throat competition, five seats up for grabs Mumbai: South Central Mumbai’s Prabhadevi-Mahim belt, an epicentre of Mumbai’s politics, promises a cut-throat competition as the two combines – Mahayuti and the Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) combine – sweat it out in the upcoming BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. It is the same ward where Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray used to address mammoth rallies at Shivaji Park and also the residence of MNS chief Raj Thackeray. This belt has five wards and boasts of famous landmarks like the Siddhivinayak temple, Mahim Dargah and Mahim Church, and Chaityabhoomi, along with the Sena Bhavan, the headquarters of Shiv Sena (UBT) combine. This belt is dominated by the Maharashtrians, and hence the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS has been vocal about upholding the Marathi pride. This narrative is being challenged by Shiv Sena (Shinde) leader Sada Sarvankar, who is at the front. In fact, Sada has fielded both his children Samadhan and Priya, from two of these five wards. Take the case of Ward number 192, where the MNS has fielded Yeshwant Killedar, who was the first MNS candidate announced by its chief, Raj Thackeray. This announcement created a controversy as former Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator Priti Patankar overnight jumped to the Eknath Shinde camp and secured a ticket. This raised heckles among the existing Shiv Sena (Shinde) loyalists who raised objections. “We worked hard for the party for years, and here Priti has been thrust on us. My name was considered till the last moment, and overnight everything changed,” rued Kunal Wadekar, a Sada Sarvankar loyalist. ‘Dadar Neglected’ Killedar said that Dadar has been neglected for years. “The people in chawls don’t get proper water supply, and traffic is in doldrums,” said Killadar. Ward number 191 Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Vishaka Raut, former Mumbai mayor, is locked in a tough fight against Priya Sarvankar, who is fighting on the Shiv Sena (Shinde) ticket. Priya’s brother Samadhan is fighting for his second term from neighbouring ward 194 against Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Nishikant Shinde. Nishikant is the brother of legislator Sunil Shinde, a popular figure in this belt who vacated his Worli seat to accommodate Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray. Sada Sarvankar exudes confidence that both his children will be victorious. “Samadhan has served the people with all his dedication so much that he put his life at stake during the Covid-19 epidemic,” said Sada. “Priya has worked very hard for years and has secured this seat on merit. She will win, as people want a fresh face who will redress their grievances, as Vishaka Raut has been ineffective,” he added. He says the Mahayuti will Ward number 190 is the only ward where the BJP was the winner last term (2017) in this area, and the party has once nominated its candidate, Sheetal Gambhir Desai. Sheetal is being challenged by Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Vaishali Patankar. Sheetal vouches for the BJP, saying it’s time to replace the Shiv Sena (UBT) from the BMC. “They did nothing in the last 25 years, and people should now give a chance to the BJP,” said Sheetal. Incidentally, Sheetal is the daughter of Suresh Gambhir, a hardcore Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray loyalist, who has been a Mahim legislator for 4 terms and even won the 1985 BMC with the highest margin in Mumbai. In the neighbouring ward number 182, Shiv Sena (UBT) has given a ticket to former mayor and veteran corporator Milind Vaidya. He is being challenged by BJP candidate Rajan Parkar. Like the rest of Mumbai, this belt is also plagued by inadequate infrastructure to support the large-scale redevelopment projects. The traffic is in the doldrums, especially due to the closure of the Elphinstone bridge. There are thousands of old buildings and chawls which are in an extremely dilapidated state. The belt is significant, as top leaders like Manohar Joshi, Diwakar Raote and Suresh Gambhir have dominated local politics for years. In fact, Shiv Sena party’s first Chief Minister, Manohar Joshi, hailed from this belt.

Why are cinema writers marginalised in awards?

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

There is a need to promote and encourage the best writers who put light on the cinemas


Why are cinema writers marginalised in awards

The 70 th Annual National Awards for films, actors, music directors and technicians in 2022 were declared on August 16. The Awards are decided by a jury chosen carefully by the members of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on the basis of these members’ track record and experience in the film industry. There is a section on Feature Films in the national category and then there are Best Feature films in regional languages. There is also a section in non-fiction or documentary films classified into many sections which is very beneficial for relative newcomers and documentary filmmakers whose films are open only in film festivals.

There is one more category known as the Best Writing on Cinema. This is divided into two segments – The Best Book on Cinema and The Best Writing on Cinema with a separate expert jury. All Indian regional languages including English entries can be submitted by entrants. While the Best Book on Cinema is chosen from entries of entire books on cinema entered by authors, the Best Writing on Cinema is for a collection of published articles published with the byline of the journalists and clippings of the published articles during the year prior to the award. Best Writing on Indian Cinema in both sections are awarded with Swarna Kamal (Golden Lotus).

Though the National Awards for different sections of cinema began in 1954, the Writing awards began in 1981 at the 29th National Film Awards However, the media pays scant attention to the Best Writing Awards and as a result, many brilliant journalists and authors specializing in cinema do not send their entries for selection. The time-span between media announcement of entries and the last date is so marginal that many writers miss out on sending in their entries. Surprisingly, several filmmakers have bagged the National Award for the Best Writing on Cinema in the Best Books section. Among them are Adoor Gopalakrishnan (Cinemayude Lokam) in Malayalam in 1983, veteran actress Bhanumathi Ramakrishna (Naalo Nenu) in Telugu, noted actor Bharath Gopi for the book Abhinava Anibhavan in Malayalam in 1993.

The first award for journalistic articles in the same “Best Writing on Cinema” was begun in the year 1984 and the award went to Swapan Mullick who was then in an editorial position in The Statesman in Kolkata. The following year, the award went to the famous veteran writer, journalist and filmmaker Chidananda Dasgupta. Joshy Joseph, a national-award-winning filmmaker of documentary films, bagged this award in writing on cinema in 2010.

Very few eminent journalists have bagged these two awards under the Best Writing on Cinema mainly because it lacks publicity, media coverage and so on. Fewer journalists have bagged both the awards in this category – for the Best Book and for the Best Articles on Cinema in previous years. Among them is Manmohan Singh Chadda who won both awards for the Best Book on Cinema and for the Best Film Critic in Hindi. He still involves in research on cinema.

This writer is the only woman who has won both awards, the Best Articles in 1990 and for the Best Book on Cinema in English in 2002. This section demands more media coverage and a longer span for entry into the competition which has great jury members and the awards, as far as I know, is completely free of political interference.

(The writer is a film enthusiast. The views are personal.)

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