NEW DELHI - The Pravasi Film Festival 2010 ended here Wednesday with the screening of “Chehere” by Rohit Kaushik and a panel discussion on “NRI Films - The Road Ahead”. Panelists asked organisers to stipulate guidelines on what should be categorised as NRI cinema.
The session was attended by filmmaker Mira Nair, director Basu Chatterjee, Dhananjoy, the contributing editor of Pravasi Today, and film critic Aruna Vasudev.
Addressing the session, Chatterjee said the festival must “specify guidelines on the kind of films that would qualify as NRI cinema so that movies are not disqualified from the panel at the last moment”.
“I would like to know whether a movie which has been conceived in India and made abroad qualifies as an NRI film. Three movies have been removed from the panel because they could not fulfill the criteria of NRI cinema,” Chatterjee said.
He urged an action plan “to recommend to the organisers on what should constitute non-resident Indian cinema”.
Echoing Chatterjee’s plea, Vasudev said: “If a director is Palestinian, lives in France and gets funds for his movies from US and other countries of Europe, how would you describe the movie?” She was referring to filmmaker Rashid Masharawi.
Mira Nair, who operates in three continents - Africa (Uganda), India and North America - said she has an Indian passport and will never give it up.
“I used to be pretty sensitive about being called an NRI for a long time. But I think the feel of the movie should have the feel of the journey to the destination and there should be some kind of definition to clarify ideas vis-a-vis movies made by people living abroad,” Nair said.
Pravasi (non-resident Indian) films should have some homeland routes, “but the definition of what constitutes an NRI movie is still very fuzzy”, said the Washington-based contributing editor to Pravasi Today, Dhananjoy.
“Not many pravasi movies are made in India but for many overseas Indians, films are a passion and they make more crossover movies. In the area around Washington where I stay, nearly 100 movies are made every year of which 10-12 make it to the local television.
“What about the rest? They can look forward to be screened in India and gross revenues if the organisers of the festival and the Indian government lay down some points on NRI movies and provide a support system,” Dhananjoy said.
The festival screened 43 movies, both feature films and documentaries. There were six panel discussions on various aspects of NRI cinema.
Showing posts with label NRI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NRI. Show all posts
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Pravasi meet begins, property-related issues dominate Day 1
A plethora of issues ranging from cheating by builders to complexities involved in succession and inheritance of properties dominated the first day of the annual Pravasi Bhartiya Divas attended by nearly 1,500 delegates from over 40 countries.
Issues like red tape in approval of investment proposals and bottlenecks in acquiring land for various projects were also raised strongly by the delegates who called for simplifying procedures to facilitate their involvement in India's development.
A group of NRIs from the US, the UK, Australia and some Gulf countries strongly raised the issue of non-delivery of flats sold to them by Maytas Properties, the real estate firm promoted by kin of disgraced Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju.
"More than one year has passed but not a single brick moved into Maytas Hill County in Hyderabad. Over 300 NRIs are trapped into this tragedy and the government has done nothing," claimed Srinivas Reddy, an NRI from Britain.
Assuring the diaspora of all possible help, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Minister of State for External Affairs Praneet Kaur said the government would address all the grievances of NRIs and PIOs.
They were speaking at a conference on property- related disputes of the diaspora community.
Issues like red tape in approval of investment proposals and bottlenecks in acquiring land for various projects were also raised strongly by the delegates who called for simplifying procedures to facilitate their involvement in India's development.
A group of NRIs from the US, the UK, Australia and some Gulf countries strongly raised the issue of non-delivery of flats sold to them by Maytas Properties, the real estate firm promoted by kin of disgraced Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju.
"More than one year has passed but not a single brick moved into Maytas Hill County in Hyderabad. Over 300 NRIs are trapped into this tragedy and the government has done nothing," claimed Srinivas Reddy, an NRI from Britain.
Assuring the diaspora of all possible help, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Minister of State for External Affairs Praneet Kaur said the government would address all the grievances of NRIs and PIOs.
They were speaking at a conference on property- related disputes of the diaspora community.
Prasad Thotakura honored with Bharat Gaurav Award
India International Friendship Society (IIFS), New Delhi has announced globally reputed 'Bharat Gaurav Awards' for the year 2010. Prasad Thotakura, a well known NRI community leader from Dallas is one of the recipients of this prestigious award for his community service achievements.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
NRIs flood govt with real estate grievances
NEW DELHI: A real-life version of 'Khosla ka ghosla' is being played out with an increasing number of non-resident Indians (NRIs). Complaints of real estate deals going sour, illegal encroachment and unauthorised occupation of properties have flooded the ministry of overseas Indian affairs (MOIA).
In fact, with the recent Satyam scam casting its shadow on Maytas Properties, apprehensions amongst overseas investors has deepened.
"Property dispute is one of the most frequent complaints by NRIs. They are unable to protect their property due to long absences or lack of awareness of laws," Vayalar Ravi, overseas Indian affairs minister, said.
The largest number of complaints are from major real estate markets like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Punjab.
The nature of the complaints are mainly protection of property that has been forcibly occupied or encroached, dispute relating to division of property or inheritance and cases where investors have been cheated by real estate developers.
The minister added that following this flood of complaints, he had written to state governments asking them to appoint nodal officers for civil, judicial and police matters. These nodal officers are independent from NRI cells that are dedicated for issues related to financial or welfare interests of overseas Indians.
The ministry has also planned a session on property disputes at the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas in January 2010. The purpose of the interactive session is three-fold: allowing NRIs to invest safely in realty, putting in place an institutional mechanism at the state-level for property related disputes and providing a channel for credible information relating to property and inheritance laws.
The session hopes to bring legal luminaries, NRI associations and state police officials on a common platform to hammer out a solution. "The PBD will offer an opportunity to people to debate and understand the issue," Didar Singh, MOIA secretary, said.
Among those expected to attend the seminar are former Law Commission chairman Justice A R Lakshmanan, former judge of the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe Justice A M Ebrahim, Gujarat National Law University vice-chancellor Prof Bimal N Patel, senior police officials from states, real estate developers like K P Singh of DLF Limited, CII's national committee on real estate and housing chairman Harshvardhan Neotia, lawyers who specialise on property laws for NRIs and NRI association representatives.
In fact, with the recent Satyam scam casting its shadow on Maytas Properties, apprehensions amongst overseas investors has deepened.
"Property dispute is one of the most frequent complaints by NRIs. They are unable to protect their property due to long absences or lack of awareness of laws," Vayalar Ravi, overseas Indian affairs minister, said.
The largest number of complaints are from major real estate markets like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Punjab.
The nature of the complaints are mainly protection of property that has been forcibly occupied or encroached, dispute relating to division of property or inheritance and cases where investors have been cheated by real estate developers.
The minister added that following this flood of complaints, he had written to state governments asking them to appoint nodal officers for civil, judicial and police matters. These nodal officers are independent from NRI cells that are dedicated for issues related to financial or welfare interests of overseas Indians.
The ministry has also planned a session on property disputes at the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas in January 2010. The purpose of the interactive session is three-fold: allowing NRIs to invest safely in realty, putting in place an institutional mechanism at the state-level for property related disputes and providing a channel for credible information relating to property and inheritance laws.
The session hopes to bring legal luminaries, NRI associations and state police officials on a common platform to hammer out a solution. "The PBD will offer an opportunity to people to debate and understand the issue," Didar Singh, MOIA secretary, said.
Among those expected to attend the seminar are former Law Commission chairman Justice A R Lakshmanan, former judge of the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe Justice A M Ebrahim, Gujarat National Law University vice-chancellor Prof Bimal N Patel, senior police officials from states, real estate developers like K P Singh of DLF Limited, CII's national committee on real estate and housing chairman Harshvardhan Neotia, lawyers who specialise on property laws for NRIs and NRI association representatives.
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