Madhur Bhandarkar’s India Lockdown set for a world premiere at IFFI 2022

The Indian Express | 1 hour ago | 11-11-2022 | 02:40 pm

Streaming platform ZEE5 on Friday announced that India Lockdown will have its world premiere at the upcoming International Film Festival of India (IFFI). The 53rd edition of the festival is scheduled to take place from November 20 to 28 in Panaji, Goa.Directed by Madhur Bhandarkar, India Lockdown is inspired by true events. It will depict four parallel stories and the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on the people of India. The film is set for a direct-to-digital release on ZEE5 on December 2.Bhandarkar, known for critical hits such as Chandni Bar, Traffic Signal, and Fashion, said he is excited for the premiere of his movie at IFFI.The director, who has penned the script with Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah, is hopeful India Lockdown will strike a chord with the audiences as it captures all the varied emotions experienced by many during the pandemic that hit India in March 2020.“Every citizen across the world will relate to this film as COVID binded us together and made us stronger. We experienced similar emotions, frustrations and uncertainties unlike ever before and India Lockdown will capture all that and more.“This film is my lockdown baby, and I am looking forward to showcasing it at IFFI where cinema lovers across the globe come together for their common passion of storytelling,” the director said in a statement.The movie features Prateik Babbar, Sai Tamhankar, Shweta Basu Prasad, Prakash Belawadi and Aahana Kumra. Manish Kalra, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 India said they are excited for the premiere of India Lockdown at IFFI.“We are excited to host India Lockdown world premiere at IFFI and get the first reactions of delegates and cinema lovers as this is our honest attempt at showcasing the repercussions of the COVID pandemic on the people of India,” Kalra said.The film is produced by Jayantilal Gada of PEN Studios, Bhandarkar Entertainment and Pranav Jain’s PJ Motions Pictures.In addition to India Lockdown, films such as The Kashmir Files directed by Vivek Agnihotri, SS Rajamouli’s RRR, Marathi film Dharamveer, and Bengali movie Tonic too will be screened at the festival. All four movies are streaming on ZEE5.

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Goa: National award winner headmistress turned bus into classroom for tribals during Covid

Times of India | 2 months ago | 29-08-2022 | 06:16 am

Times of India

2 months ago | 29-08-2022 | 06:16 am

PANAJI: Nine years ago, Maria Murena Miranda was transferred as headmistress to the remote government high school in Morpirla, Quepem, with an enrolment of only tribal students. Her first visitor then was the sarpanch, who wanted to know how long Miranda would wait before seeking a transfer. Today, Miranda has won the National Award for Teachers, as the villagers ask her not to leave until retirement. It is a 20-km journey one-way each day for Miranda from her home in Assolna to Morpirla. The challenges only worsened for her when the pandemic arrived on the scene and a lockdown was imposed in March 2020. “How do I reach the students during the lockdown, when most did not even have mobile phones. I began going to their house to take lessons and also introduced peer to peer learning where senior children would teach younger children. Art integrated learning was another strategy we used,” Miranda said. But, most importantly, when the tribal students could not come to the classroom, Miranda turned the school bus provided by the government into a mobile classroom during the pandemic. “I would take the bus along during the lockdown and I would teach them in the bus,” said Miranda, who has a master’s degree in physics and a bachelor’s degree in education. “The children would come running seeing the bus. Though these children have poor financial background they are very disciplined and determined to learn.” She has also turned her car into a mobile library and when the bus could not make it, she would take the library to the children’s homes. The Government High School, Morpirla, has recorded 100% pass percentage at the Class X state board exams for seven of the nine years under Miranda. The school had one of the highest numbers of 54 students answering the Class X exams during the lockdown due to the pandemic, but Miranda’s effort saw that the school still registered 100% result. “I don’t mind the distance to Morpirla, I drive down even during holidays to teach my students. I was very touched when I saw that the students come with shoes one day and the next day they are without shoes because the dog has damaged a shoe and the family cannot afford to buy another pair. I wanted to do something for them,” Miranda told TOI. Even the bus provided by the state cannot access the difficult terrain and the students have to walk a distance down the hill to get to the bus. “When I first joined it was very challenging. The resources were limited. The children are first generation learners and have no support at home. Their parents are all farmers. My teachers and I would stay back after school to take their lessons because if they went home they would throw their bags away and go into the fields to help their parents or go out to play,” said Miranda. Miranda’s career began as an assistant teacher before being posted as teacher grade-I in physics at government higher secondary schools in Canacona, Panaji and Margao. But the most fulfilling chapter of her career began after her posting to Morpirla. Today, the list of achievements of Government High School, Morpirla, is long. It is the only school from Goa to have a rank (11th) in the ‘Eat Right’ national programme. This year, seven of the ten students who qualified for a scholarship in the SC/ST category in the state talent search exam were students from the Government High School, Morpirla. The high school has been awarded Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar twice at the district level for clean toilets. The school students are also state champions in kho-kho and kabaddi. “We also have a tie-up with Manovikas English School in Margao, where students from the private school come to our government school to see how rural school functions and we take our students to Manovikas to provide them exposure,” she said. Miranda said her national award is a tribute to her students, the hardworking teachers of her school and the parents ‘who have complete faith in me’. “I never differentiate between the children. The minute a student comes in, all I think of is how I can mould him or her. You can teach any student to be bright. Only some students need more attention than others. There is no such thing as government schools and private schools, even government schools can bring out the best in students. A student can shine anywhere,” said Miranda, who has also guided two special children in the area to complete their Class X.

‘Cotton Fab’ exhibition underway in Margao

Navhind Times | 6 months ago | 07-05-2022 | 01:34 am

Navhind Times

6 months ago | 07-05-2022 | 01:34 am

Margao: Works executed by weavers from all over the country during the lockdown have been put on display at the cotton and silk exhibition ‘Cotton Fab’ in the city.The exhibition, being organised at the Ravindra Bhavan at Fatorda-Margao, was inaugurated by the state assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar, and will run till May 16.More than 100 weavers are displaying cotton, khadi and silk fabrics made in various parts of India at the exhibition.Weavers from East Medinipur in West Bengal have used silk as a canvas for their paintings. In different colours for all occasions of joy and celebration, dense jungles, summits of south Indian temples, forests, and deserts have been woven with silk threads. Shantanu has brought with him saris of ‘aari’ stitch work and Subhashish has shown a jungle on a sari.The exhibition is open from 10.30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Women entrepreneurs and new-age theme cafés

Navhind Times | 6 months ago | 01-05-2022 | 12:14 am

Navhind Times

6 months ago | 01-05-2022 | 12:14 am

PTIWomen entrepreneurs of Kolkata are storming the male bastion of café business and setting up new-age theme-based outlets offering a wide array of choices to customers.Leading the tribe is actor-turned-entrepreneur Swaralipi Chatterjee, who runs the popular café ‘Abar Baithak’ in the Jodhpur Park area of Kolkata. It is the city’s first café themed on Feluda, the immortal detective character of Satyajit Ray.“After our initial startup café in Rabindra Sarobar area failed to click in 2010 due to faulty planning, we set up this café a few years later but I have to now run the show alone as I am divorced with my husband,” says Chatterjee, who was a popular face in Bengali soaps till 2014.Chatterjee says that she and her former husband had started the café for their passion for ‘adda’, good food, and ambience. He was a good cook, which contributed to their decision to start the venture. Also, she was not getting “meaningful roles” on the silver screen.“However, after we got divorced, it became my responsibility to run the household, raise our daughter as a single mother and also keep my venture afloat,” she says.Chatterjee claimed that hers was the first theme-based café in theeastern metropolis.“We had to temporarily shut down the café during the 2020 lockdown, but reopened it after the restrictions were lifted. Slowly, in the last few months, people are thronging the café again,” she said.Chatterjee, who plans to resume her acting career this year, says that a woman has to prove herself at every step and grit and determination are very important for doing that. She has also opened another outlet in Narendrapur area on the southern outskirts of the city.Amrita Annie, the owner of ‘Pancham er Adday’, a popular hangout in Hindustan Park area themed on R D Burman’s works, says that she had always dreamt of a café themed on the music of 1970s and 80s, and materialised it in August 2019.Annie said that she had to sell all her jewellery to restart the café after the lockdown. “I was determined not to let it sink,” she says.Aarunima Dhawan, the owner of ‘Hola’, a popular café in Vivekananda Park area, says that she is passionate about food, and has received full support from her husband in the venture.“It has been a four-year-long journey and we are still learning. We did not have much knowledge about the food and beverages industry when we started,” she says.Rajreeta Sen, co-owner of tea bar ‘Ttoniq’, says that entrepreneurship was traditionally a male domain but things have started to change.“We three women made a foray into the café segment. We set off in October last year after a delay due to the second wave of the pandemic, and there has been a steady rise in the number of customers at our tea bar located opposite the South City shopping mall, as we offer varieties of tea suiting every pocket. We plan to open two more outlets in the suburbs,” she adds.

MMCs Rs 32L sopo waiver resolution rejected by govt

Times of India | 6 months ago | 28-04-2022 | 04:33 am

Times of India

6 months ago | 28-04-2022 | 04:33 am

Margao: A resolution taken by the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) to the effect that the sopo (occupation) fees collected by its contractor amounting to Rs 32 lakh be waived on the grounds that the pandemic led to losses, has been rejected by the department of urban development. Taking cognisance of the complaint filed by Shadow Council for Margao with the department of urban development in the matter, additional director of urban development Clen Madeira wrote to MMC chief officer that the “sopo fees cannot be waived” just like that. “The MMC has to make a detailed examination and take reasonably sound resolution before taking any decision to waive sopo fees,” Madeira said in his letter to the MMC chief officer. The Shadow Council has now demanded that the outstanding arrears of the sopo contractor be recovered immediately. It warned that if the outstanding instalments are not recovered from the contractor within 15 days, it would take further steps, including moving the court. The Shadow Council had demanded that the MMC resolution of March 24 with regards to waiving sopo fees be scrapped. “Even the traders from Margao, who had requested for 50% reduction in the trade/signboard/sanitation fees on account of the total lockdown, were not granted any relief. In such circumstances, how could the sopo contractor be granted such a huge waiver of Rs 32 lakh for the period from April 2021 to August 2021, when the lockdown was partial,” Coutinho said.

Tantrums on the rise among kids: Experts

Times of India | 6 months ago | 18-04-2022 | 12:57 am

Times of India

6 months ago | 18-04-2022 | 12:57 am

Panaji: The transition to schools after being home-bound and studying online for two years is proving a struggle for children, said teachers and experts who are observing a rise in tantrums and other behavioural changes. The education department and the office of the Goa State Disability Commissioner are working to help teachers understand these challenges and address the behavioural changes in children. “Teachers said that after returning to school, children are finding it difficult to sit in class, something they had no problem doing prior to the lockdown,” vice-president of the Psychiatric Society of Goa, Dr Ravindra Agrawal, said. Teachers said that two years of online classes meant that many students are no longer accustomed to sitting at the desk for an entire class and are used to taking breaks in the comfort of their homes. Sangath, a Porvorim-based mental health institute, has partnered with state government departments for training teachers, special educators and school counsellors in dealing with students who are struggling after the pandemic. Commissioner for Disability, Guru Pawaskar, recently kick-started the first training session at the Sanjay School. Similar sessions will be held for government-aided schools with one such program being held at Hedgewar High School on April 18. Pawaskar has offered to support the roll out of the training to all schools and has recommended that parents also be trained in handling the “unique challenges in caring for children during and after the pandemic” in Goa. Teachers and mental health professionals have noticed behavioural disturbances, inability to adjust to the structured school environment, screen addiction and low-attention span among students. In light of this, the training being imparted by Sangath aims to understand and address the needs of teachers in dealing with these challenges. “Due to the lockdown, many students developed a habit of attending online classes while sitting on the couch, watching television, eating snacks or by sitting on their beds,” a teacher with a Mapusa-based school said. “Their routine has again changed suddenly and they are irritable or easily distracted.” Sangath has put together two teams to train teachers — one for special schools and the other for mainstream government and government-aided schools. “Children are also finding it difficult when parents are attempting to take phones or tabs away from them as there is no need for these devices for online classes. There are tantrums from the children,” Agrawal said.

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