Bangladeshi filmmaker Taher Chowdhury dead

October 9th, 2009 LONDON - Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg followed in the footsteps of U2 frontman Bono and Nelson Mandela as he was awarded Pennsylvania's Liberty Medal. Former US president Bill Clinton Thursday presented the Oscar-winning filmmaker with the prize at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia in a ceremony to honour the star's artistic and humanitarian efforts, reported femalefirst.co.uk Clinton took the opportunity to praise Spielberg's charity efforts, which include setting up a foundation to document the stories of Holocaust survivors after he made World War II drama Schindler's List.

October 7th, 2009 The boy who set a world record for being the youngest filmmaker, Kishan, made his first movie, Care of Footpath, when he was not even 10 years old. The film was screened at numerous film festivals all over the world.

September 29th, 2009 DHAKA - Veteran Hindi film actress Shabana Azmi, who was here to inaugurate a painting exhibition, says that South Asians will have to work together without losing their diversity if they want a place in the global arena. "We, South Asians, have to work together if we intend to make our presence felt on the global stage.

September 25th, 2009 These days Selvaraghavan seems to be flying across globe on the attempt of finalizing locations for his upcoming untitled film with Vikram and Subramaniapuram fame Swathi in lead roles. The filmmaker had recently completed working on postproduction works and didnt spare any moment for holidaying.

September 13th, 2009 KOLKATA - MTV VJ and singer Sophie Chowdhury feels Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan is the most stylish man. "Mr. Bachhan will never go out of style and he is just one man who looks good in anything," Sophie told reporters here after walking the ramp for Mandira Wirk's collection at the ongoing Kolkata Fashion Week-II Saturday night.

September 2nd, 2009 Filmmaker Perarasu is ready to strike with his next film, titled ‘Thiruthani’ featuring most-favorite Bharath in lead role. The film started rolling recently herein Chennai and following schedules are planned to be shot in ‘Thiruthani’, ‘Karaikkudi’, ‘Pondicherry’ and other surrounding locales.

August 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - As Sampooran Singh Kalra - famous as Gulzar the lyricist, director and scriptwriter - turns 73 Tuesday, his daughter Meghna says he has "unconditional love for everyone" even though he is a "silent individual and an introvert". "One thing I love and adore in my father is his unconditional love for everyone who is associated with him.

August 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian film fraternity is trying to seek 100,000 solidarity comments on a social networking website to urge the government to confer the prestigious Bharat Ratna upon Bollywood thespian Dilip Kumar. A community titled "Dilip Kumar for Bharat Ratna" on Facebook that now has over 850 members dedicated to the cause was started at the behest of filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.

August 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Perhaps Ram Gopal Varma doesn't need to get noticed any more after he created panic by getting dummy dead bodies hung at 15 locations in Mumbai. And the unapologetic filmmaker says it was merely for more publicity for his supernatural thriller "Agyaat".

July 26th, 2009 KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian filmmaker Yasmin Ahmed who took up controversial issues like inter-racial relations is dead. She was laid to rest Sunday after she died close to midnight following a stroke and bleeding in the brain, Star Online said.

July 16th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladeshi filmmaker Murad Parvez's directorial debut "Chandragrahan" won the top award at the Rainbow Film Festival held in London. An adaptation of Syed Mustafa Siraj's literary work "Ranighater Brittanto", the movie that highlights life at a river bank received the best film award.

June 14th, 2009 DHAKA - An Indo-Bangladesh theatre venture articulating Sita's viewpoint on the epic Ramayana, that enthralled audiences here, is to tour Britain and North America. According to Lubna Mariam, general secretary of Shadhona that produced "Sitar Agni-Parikkha" (Sita's test by fire), this production - a joint effort by Bangladeshi and Indian theatre artistes - will also be staged in major Indian cities.

June 3rd, 2009 HYDERABAD - Nagendra Karri, an Indian American filmmaker whose debut film "Where Are You Sophia" was screened at the recently concluded Cannes Film festival, Wednesday announced his new Rs.150 crore (Rs.1.5 billion) venture "Mobster" to be shot in India. Karri plans to cast top Hollywood stars in this crime thriller and also re-make the film in Hindi and Telugu.

May 29th, 2009 DHAKA - Bangladesh is ascertaining possible terror links of Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant, convicted killer of Bollywood music baron Gulshan Kumar, who was nabbed while hiding in a town in the eastern region, media reports here said Friday. Bangladesh is specifically probing Merchant's possible link to the haul of a huge arms shipment in 2004.

May 29th, 2009 DHAKA - Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant, convicted killer of Bollywood music baron Gulshan Kumar, has been nabbed by Bangladesh police that is ascertaining his possible links to an arms haul case. Merchant is believed to be part of the gang of notorious Indian fugitive Daud Ibrahim Kaskar who Bangladesh suspects of being involved in the shipping of Chinese arms to Chittagong in April 2004 for the banned militant outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA).