PM express grief at Ashok Kumar's demise

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee expressed his grief at the death of thespian Ashok Kumar, who died of heart attack in Mumbai on December 10.

In his condolence message the Prime Minister said, “Dadamuni, as Ashok Kumar, was fondly called, had an emotive appeal that transcended all barriers and was a source of inspiration and a role model for many a generation of aspiring actors.”

“His demise is an irrepairable loss to the world of cinema,” Vajpayee added.

Urmila-Manoj team up again

After Satya and Kaun the Urmila Matondkar-Manoj Bajpai team will reunite for a feature to be made by Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi.

The film will be a historical and will have the Indo-Pak partition as its central theme.

Agreement reached to tackle film piracy

Television viewers may not be able to view unauthorized exhibition of new films on the small screen, if an agreement reached among film producers, cable operators and Multi System Operators to check video piracy is abided by.

Representatives of film producers, cable operators and MSOs agreed that no film should be exhibited without a license from the copyright holder.

Franchisees or cable operators would not show any film without a valid license under the Copyright Act and they would respect the producers' wishes that no film be shown on satellite or cable television for a year after its release except when permitted by the copyright owner.

Producers will create a secure website containing the names of films and relevant information about their copyright holders like name and address making access to them by cable operators and MSOs easier.

The agreement was signed by Yash Chopra, Yash Johar, T T Hingorani, Amit Khanna, A K Rustogi and Roop Sharma and presented a copy to Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj.

Asoka -- In the capital, once more

Shah Rukh Khan's Asoka still manages to draw attention. Recently, a special showing of the film was organized for Rajya Sabha MP Rajiv Shukla at the Films Division Auditorium in New Delhi.

Also spotted at the auditorium was Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka with husband Robert Vadra in tow.

Compiled by: Vivek Fernandes
Design: Imran Shaikh