South films score big at National Awards

SRK, Aamir win awards too

Filmmaker Priyadarshan's offbeat Tamil film Kanjeevaram has scored big at the 55th National Film Awards 2007, winning best feature film and best actor for Prakash Raj, while renowned Malayalam director Adoor Gopalakrishnan has been judged best director for Naalu Pennungal, it was announced in New Delhi today.

Kannada actress Uma Shri is best actress for Gulabi Talkies; Aamir Khan's directorial debut Taare Zameen Par gets best family welfare award.

Lyricist Prasoon Joshi gets the award for the best lyrics for Maa from Taare Zameen Par about a dyslexic child. The song also gets Shankar Mahadevan the National Award for best playback singer.

Shah Rukh Khan starrer Chak De! India, about a humiliated national level hockey player who steers the women's team to international victory, has been awarded best film in overall entertainment.

Anil Kapoor’s Gandhi My Father has won two awards - Feroz Abbas Khan, the director of the film, gets the National Award for best screenplay and Darshan Zariwala bags best supporting actor for portraying Gandhi, the father of the nation who strove for a normal relationship with his son.

Bhavna Talwar’s directorial debut Dharm, that explored religious undercurrents, has won best film for national integration award.

Set in the backdrop of Filmmaker Priyadarshan's offbeat Tamil film Kanjeevaram has scored big at the 55th National Film Awards 2007, winning best feature film and best actor for Prakash Raj, while renowned Malayalam director Adoor Gopalakrishnan has been judged best director for Naalu Pennungal, it was announced in New Delhi today.

Kannada actress Uma Shri is best actress for Gulabi Talkies; Aamir Khan's directorial debut Taare Zameen Par gets best family welfare award.

Lyricist Prasoon Joshi gets the award for the best lyrics for Maa from Taare Zameen Par about a dyslexic child. The song also gets Shankar Mahadevan the National Award for best playback singer.

Shah Rukh Khan starrer Chak De! India, about a humiliated national level hockey player who steers the women's team to international victory, has been awarded best film in overall entertainment.

Anil Kapoor’s Gandhi My Father has won two awards - Feroz Abbas Khan, the director of the film, gets the National Award for best screenplay and Darshan Zariwala bags best supporting actor for portraying Gandhi, the father of the nation who strove for a normal relationship with his son.

Bhavna Talwar’s directorial debut Dharm, that explored religious undercurrents, has won best film for national integration award.

Set in the backdrop of Kanjeevaram's handloom silk industry from the 1920s to 1948, Kanjeevaram is the story of a non-political weaver who leans towards communism and soon becomes a revolutionary leader and an advocate of the ideology, only to find himself caught between personal needs and his pursuit of social equality.'s handloom silk industry from the 1920s to 1948, Kanjeevaram is the story of a non-political weaver who leans towards communism and soon becomes a revolutionary leader and an advocate of the ideology, only to find himself caught between personal needs and his pursuit of social equality.

Bollywood body boycotts Australia following racial attacks

Citing racial attacks on Indians in Australia, Bollywood's biggest labour union, Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE), has banned its members from working Down Under.

"We prefer to call it a non-cooperation movement because we feel what is happening in Australia is painful and shameful. The Australian government is just not taking adequate steps to find the culprits. So being the head of FWICE, I planned to launch this movement," Dinesh Chaturvedi told IANS on phone from Mumbai.

The issue of racial attacks on Indians came to world attention late last month when a student, Sravan Kumar Theerthala, was left fighting for life after being stabbed with a screwdriver in Melbourne. After that nine more attacks have taken place on Indians in the country. The latest incident occurred Friday.

Popular Bollywood films like "Dil Chahta Hai", "Salaam Namaste", "Chak De! India" and "Heyy Baby" were shot in Australia.

But Bollywood now wants to take a tough stand and has united in raising its voice against the attacks. Recently, mega star Amitabh Bachchan rejected an honorary doctorate from a Brisbane university, in protest.

Chaturvedi says many producers and directors have decided to cooperate with FWICE's stand. "Producers are also cooperating with us and some have already postponed their shooting schedules."

However, there are those who believe the attacks should not be allowed to affect the Indian entertainment industry's ties with Australia.

"From my discussions with Indian film professionals, no filmmaker has cancelled any project in Australia," said Anupam Sharma, founder and director of Australian production house Films and Casting Temple.

"Filmmakers should see through the media hype and sensationalism. They should not cancel projects and let violent criminals win."

FWICE that comprises more than 270,000 members is, however, firm that it will terminate their ban only when the Australian government expedites its procedures and nails the culprits.

"Until and unless we get a positive response from the Australian government and the people responsible are punished, also till the time there is an apology from them for the attacks, we plan to continue with our stand," confirmed Chaturvedi.