Entertainment: Veteran filmmaker Lekh Tandon no more

Veteran filmmaker Lekh Tandon, who directed iconic film like Amrapali, died on Sunday, his associates said. He was 88. Tandon passed away at his residence in Powai in presence of his family.

Tandon was reportedly bed-ridden for the last five to six months and fed fed through a pipe.

Many film personalities paid tribute to him and remembered him fondly on Twitter. Ashutosh Gowarikar tweeted:

Born in Lahore in 1929, Tandon directed many Bollywood stalwarts like Shammi Kapoor (Professor, 1962; Prince, 1969), Rajender Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Hema Malini, Shabana Azmi, Rekha, Rajesh Khanna to name a few. His Amrapali (1966), featuring Sunil Dutt and Vyjayanthimala, was selected as Indian entry for the best foreign language film at 39th Academy awards.

He also bagged Filmfare Best Screenplay Award for his movie Dulhan Wahi Jo Piya Man Bhaye, along with Vrajendra Gaur and Madhusudan Kalekar in 1978.

He directed his first television serial Dil Dariya in 1988 through which he was also credited for discovering Shah Rukh Khan.

Tandon also acted in films like Swades, Chennai Express, Rang De Basanti among others.

50 celebs in one video: Wishes galore for Hema Malini on birthday

From Amitabh Bachchan to Arjun Kapoor, Vyjayanthimala to Kriti Sanon, Lata Mangeshkar to Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Neeta Lulla to Shiamak Davar, Ramesh Sippy to Madhur Bhandarkar -- as many as 50 celebrities are a part of a special video to be played at the launch of actress-politician Hema Malinis biography on her 69th birthday on Monday.
The launch of the book Beyond The Dreamgirl, by former editor of Stardust and producer Ram Kamal Mukherjee, also marks the celebration of Hema Malini's glorious run of 50 years in Indian showbiz.

The video campaign was spearheaded by Aritra Das from Assorted Motion Pictures. He roped in five media students -- - Christopher Noel D'Souza, Riona Mariette Gomes, Iqra Laique, Vadin Gear and Savio Gerhert -- from Don Bosco Mumbai, to work on this project.
The video will be played at the launch of the book, which is published by Harper Collins India, and comprises her journey since childhood to her recent political sojourn as a BJP MP of Mathura.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has penned the foreword for the book, while the afterword is by Ramesh Sippy, who directed her in the iconic role of Basanti in Sholay.

Having started her film career in 1968 with Raj Kapoor-starrer Sapno Ka Saudagar, Hema regaled movie buffs with roles in films like Seeta Aur Geeta, Sholay, Dream Girl and Satte Pe Satta. An accomplished classical dancer, Hema Malini earned the epithet of Dreamgirl for her flawless beauty, and became a pioneering female superstar in an otherwise male-oriented film industry.

Anupam Kher visits FTII campus unannounced

Newly-appointed Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Chairperson Anupam Kher on Monday visited the campus of the iconic institution unannounced and promised the students that he is on their side.

In a live video on social media, Anupam revealed that he was on his way to FTII. He caught the guards, students and faculty by surprise when he walked the streets of the institute where he once studied around 40 years ago.

“I did not want to go there feeling important, and feeling 'Oh my God, now I have done 508 films and I have been in movies for 33 years, I have done more than 120 plays. I wanted to go there as a humble student,” Anupam said.

The veteran actor, 62, also focussed his camera at the FTII gate, saying: “This is the amazing gate which gave me an amazing insight into life, and into the life and times of great filmmakers like Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen.”

Anupam was on October 11 announced as the new Chairperson of FTII. He succeeded the controversial Gajendra Chauhan, whose appointment in 2014 had triggered widespread student protests.

As the actor made his way into the institute and met the guards, some students and a faculty member, Anupam also heard a “welcome band”. It was in fact, a group of students who were protesting with a banner that read: “12 hours shift is inhuman.”

It is one of the nine key issues that were raised by the FTII Students' Association in an open letter addressed to Anupam a day after his appointment.

The students had pointed to how “limitations have been brought into exercise norms as part of the new syllabus”.

Citing the norms brought in place for dialogue exercise in the third semester, the letter said: “These limitations are logistically not feasible, like the three-day eight-hour shift has been reduced to a two-day twelve-hour shift which would be exhausting and also inhuman to force the lightmen, carpenters, painters and make-up artists and actors to work at such a stretch.”

During his visit here, Anupam assured the students that he will work out solutions with them.
“First of all, you have to know that I am on your side, completely... I don't want to bring any baggage of Anupam Kher. I am here for what I have done over the last so many years because of the six months that I spent here. Don't worry about it (the problems) because I know every student who comes to this place, comes to study so that they can work on their future when they go back.

“You are the contributors of our society, the future filmmakers, actors... So let's sort out these problems and work on these issues,” he said.

He tried to pacify the crowd with the title of his play Kuch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai.

Anupam also said he was keen to take an acting class at the institute. “The biggest joy for me is to teach in the place where I was a student,” said the actor, who has his own acting institute called Actor Prepares, in Mumbai.