October 26, 2009 5:14:57 PM IST Enkayaar, Bollywood Trade News Network

view GULZAR HONOURED AT 11TH OSIAN'S CINEFAN FILM FESTIVAL picture gallery

Osian Cinefan Festival has opened with a bang at Delhi from October 24 2009, and the focus this time around is the celebration of the Youth in the World of Hindi cinema. As an apt tribute, therefore, the Festival also decided to honor Gulzar, who though having reached 73 years of age, still celebrates the spirit of youth through his lyrics as also through his films. Gulzar has been honored with the Osian's Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2009. Its latest manifestation is KAMINEY and the whole nation is still mesmerized by the magic of Dhan Te Nan.

To commemorate the youth that is giving a new direction and focus to Indian cinema the organizers have decided to honor the filmmakers who have been radical in their approach to film making and have given a new idiom and grammar to the lexicon of Indian cinema. The sense of respectability that the breed of young directors has given to Hindi cinema in the last decade is indeed luminescent and the pack is led by the likes of Vishal Bhardwaj, Imtiaz Ali, Dibakar Banerjee, Anurag Kashyap, Raj Kumar Gupta etc.

Besides, the film festival to celebrate the spirit of youth has also decided to utilize the services of actors who were the signature statement of youth and included in this category are Rishi Kapoor and Abhay Deol to honour the young blood of Indian cinema, departing from the convention of using glamorous faces to do the honors.

Indeed the choice in all the ways is synonymous of youth and the three faces that have been chosen for honors define three directions that the Indian cinema is gravitating to. Vishal Bhardwaj vexed with the existentialist dilemma of existence that the youth of present times is besotted with, Dibakar Banerjee with the sociological evolution of the present times where the line between good and bad has diffused and where the ends justify the means, and Anurag Kashyap focusing on evolution of the social relationship among the young urban India.

Indeed the choice is apt, and the selection of the city is also apt as it would indeed lead to expansion of the notion of cinema and beliefs in Delhi and would lead to fostering of new committed fans. Cinema as a subject would acquire seriousness by more such initiatives across different cities of the country, and it indeed is a salutary step forward.


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