In Nepal, a four day literature festival has begun in the capital Kathmandu today. Indian authors including Bengali poet and novelist Sunil Gangopadhyay, Journalist Vinod Mehta , Amish Tripathi, Advaita Kala, are taking part in the festival .

There will be various sessions on literature, theatre, art, music, sociology and economics in the four-day festival. alongwith book launches. The festival is organised by the Bookworm Trust .

 On the occasion of the 100 years of Hindi Cinema, a four- days Film Festival- Suhana Safar is being organized at Ranchi in Jharkhand from tomorrow. AIR Ranchi Correspondent reports that the festival will begin with showing of first Hindi feature film Raja Harishchandra. Altogether 21 films, mostly in Hindi, would be screened during the festival. Films from other Indian languages like Begali, Odia and Tamil and two films in regional tribal languages would also be screened. The festival is being organized by the state government and Directorate of Film Festival .

 he Centre has informed the Supreme Court that it is bringing new notification to regulate smoking scenes in films and television programmes.

The government told a bench headed by Justice P Sthsivam that it would bring the notification next week and it would override all earlier notifications issued by Union ministries of the Health and the Information & Broadcasting.

The court was hearing the Centre's 2009 appeal against the Delhi High Court order, which had quashed its earlier notification banning depiction of smoking scenes in films and television programmes. The apex court had earlier suspended the high court's order. The government had enacted the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Regulation Act in 2003 for ban on tobacco promotion and advertising of tobacco products. In 2005, the rules were made to combat smoking in films on the ground that surrogate advertising was done through films. Surrogate advertising is when an advertisement has the logo or brand of another company advertised within it.

A week long film festival to mark the India Bangladesh Joint Celebrations of 100 years of Indian Cinema and a Soumitra Chatterjee Film Retrospective is set to begin in Dhaka on Saturday. The festival is being jointly organized by the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre in Dhaka in association with the Bangladesh Film Development Corporation along with the support of the Bangladesh's Ministry for Cultural Affairs and India's Directorate of Film Festivals of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Bangladesh's Minister for

Information and Cultural Affairs, Mr.Abul Kalam Azad will be the Chief Guest at the Inaugural session of the film festival while Eminent Film Director Mr. Muzaffar Ali and Versatile actor Mr. Farooq Sheikh and Mr. Rajeev Kumar Jain, Director, Directorate of Film Festivals of India will also participate in the programme at the National Museum auditorium in Dhaka.

The India-Bangladesh Joint Celebrations of the 100 Years of Indian Cinema with a week- long film festival is being organised as a tribute to the entire film community of India and Bangladesh of today and the yesteryears who have shaped the film industry over generations. A total of 15 films from India and 8 films from Bangladesh will be screened during the festival which includes Raja Harish Chandra the First feature Film made in India by Dada Saheb Phalke, Muzaffar Ali's Umrao Jaan, and Bangladesh's internationally acclaimed film Matir Moina. The festival also a involves a retrospective of films of Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee to celebrate the recognition of his lifetime contribution to Indian cinema by being honoured with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award this year.

 The year-long country-wide celebration to mark the Centenary of Indian Cinema, was inaugurated at Puducherry today. The Chief Minister N. Rangasamy, while inaugurating the three day festival, asked the film industry to produce more films which entertain people and also have good social themes. He also stressed that all films produced in the country should be preserved at the National Film Archives. Mr. Rangasamy announced that a Film Institute will be opened in Puducherry soon.

Renowned Tamil Film Director, Mr. Bharathiraaja, Chief Secretary, Mrs. M.Sathyavathy and the Director of Film Festivals, Shri R.K. Jain also participated in the inaugural function. Many landmark Indian films are being screened during the festival. A colourful exhibition showcasing the photographs, posters of classical films, prominent film production companies and premier cinema halls in the country, is being mounted at the venue. The event is jointly organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals and National Film Archive of India under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Department of Information and Publicity, Govt. of Puducherry.AIR Correspondent reports that Puducherry is the first state capital to host film festival as part of the centenary celebrations of Indian cinema.

Indian sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik has won the ‘People's Choice' Gold Medal at the second World Sand Sculpture Championship in Moscow. The celebrated sand artist sculpted replica of the showman of the millenium, Raj Kapoor's face. Mr. Pattnaik's rendition( व्याख्या) of Raj Kapoor, was highly acclaimed by visitors, who voted him for the top prize. The iconic actor is seen as the symbol of Indo-Russian Friendship.

The theme of this year's championship was ‘World cinema'. The artists were required to give their vision of famous movies from famous directors with famous actors in their sand creations. Artists from 11 countries, including India, the United States, Russia, UK, Italy and the Czech Republic, took part in the championship.
He had earlier won the Berlin world championship for his sand sculpture on spreading awareness about global warming.

Wrestling champion and veteran Bollywood and Silver screen actor Dara Singh is in a very critical condition at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in suburban Mumbai. The 83 year old veteran actor who is best known for his portrayals of Hanuman and Bhima in films and TV serials was admitted to emergency ward of the hospital on last evening after he suffered a cardiac arrest. He was later shifted to the ICU and put on a ventilator.

Speaking to AIR this morning, Dr. Ram Narayan, executive director of Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital said that the condition of the veteran actor remains very critical and is being constantly monitored on an hourly basis. He also said that the actor has been given medication to keep his blood pressure under control.

Clapstick 12 International Stuidents’ Film Festival organized by Satyajit Roy Film and Television Institute SRFTI, Kolkata, begins in Kolkata tomorrow. The three-day Festival would showcase about 25 International and National film & media schools and 80 selected films would be screened during the Festival.

Giving this information Director, SRFTI, Kolkata, Mr. Sanjay Pattanayak said that, besides screening of film there would be follow-up discussions, Open Forum and master-class to facilitate exchange of ideas among the students of different schools. The Open Forum is going to be addressed, among others, by National Award winning director of Manipur, Mr. Nightouja Lancha. 21 International films schools including those from Poland and France and 10 national film schools including FTII, Pune and SRFTI, Kolkata are expected to participate in the festival, Mr. Pattanayak said.

The noted film personalities would also be felicitated on this occasion. While in the inaugural function film director, Girish Kasaravalli would be felicitated, Father Gaston Robertz, renowned film teacher and an expert on films would be honoured in the valedictory session. Film director, Basu Chattopathyay would be present during the festival, SRFT, director informed.

The term feature film came into use to refer to the main film to be presented in a cinema, and the one which was promoted or advertised. The term was used to distinguish the main film from the short films (referred to as shorts) typically presented before the main film, such as newsreels, serials, animated cartoons and live-action comedies and documentaries.A feature film is a film that runs for 40 minutes or longer, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,American Film Institute, and British Film Institute, though the Screen Actors Guild states that it is 80 minutes or longer.

Actor Madhuri Dixit was awarded the prestigious Master Dinanath Vishesh award by the legendary singer, Lata Mangeshkar, in Mumbai on Monday. Madhuri, who is planning a comeback in the film industry with Ishquiya sequel, Dedh Ishquiya, was honoured for her contribution to cinema. The award comprises a memento and one lakh rupees cash.