BOLLYWOOD BUZZ

Dilip Kumar laments neglect of art
Dilip Kumar launched a strident attack on the government for neglecting Indian art, values and customs during the last 50 years. He was speaking at Kolhapur, Maharashtra, before an august gathering of scientists, scholars, technocrats, literary figures, doctors and television personalities.

He cast a spell on the audience as he went on to describe the various ills that were “eating into the vitals of an already sick society”. He said everyone was making Indian cinema a very easy scapegoat for several ills. “Indian cinema, like society itself, is going from bad to worse. All the blame for it goes to the neglect of literature,” the thespian said.

He went on to say: “There is no good literature, no good culture and no good vision. How then, can we expect good cinema, the kind of cinema that could inspire ideal nation building?” he asked a delighted gathering. “There are no good poets and no good writers in the country today,” the thespian lamented more than once.

“50 years ago, there were institutions like Prabhat, Filmistan and Bombay Talkies to inspire artistes. Today, there are no such institutions to encourage and inspire young talent,” he lamented.

Harish Awasthi is new DG
The deputy director general of Doordarshan, Harish Awasthi, has been appointed Doord-arshan’s new director general in place of KS Sarma who has been sent back to the ministry of Information and Broadcas-ting. According to Prasar Bha-rati CEO, SS Gill, KS Sarma’s tenure in DD was on an ad-hoc basis as the DG’s post required an official of the additional secretary’s rank and Sarma was a joint secretary.

Nana Patekar in Gulzar's film
Gulzar’s Hu Tu Tu, which ran into teething problems soon after the title was announced, is now being produced by Dhirubhai Shah of Time. The film is based on a script by Gulzar who has also written the lyrics and has Nana Patekar, Sunil Shetty, Tabu in lead roles and Suhasini Mulay, Shivaji Satam and Vikram Godhale in key roles. Music is by Vishal Bharadwaj and cinematography by Manmohan Singh are the other major credits of the film.