ZEE CINE AWARDS IN DUBAI: Feb. 27: Around 300 film personalities from Bollywood, including actors Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta and Saif Ali Khan, attended Zee Television’s Cine Awards function in Dubai on Feb. 26. It was the first time an Indian film awards ceremony was held in Dubai. “We chose Dubai as it has one of the world’s largest transnational gatherings, from 180 countries, reflecting the cosmopolitan nature of our audience,” business head of Zee Cinema, Yogesh Radhakrishnan, said.

Gulzar

‘LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT’ AWARD FOR GULZAR: April 25: The Association for Indians in America (AIA) presented ‘Lifetime Achievement’ Award to poet, lyricist and filmmaker Gulzar at a benefit gala at Capitale in downtown Manhattan, New York, on April 25. The event coincided with the launching of AIA’s ‘Project India.’ Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, chief guest at the gala, presented the award to Gulzar.



PUNEET GOENKA IS DIRECTOR IATAS: May 7: Punit Goenka, group president and CEO of ASC Enterprises, was elected a director of New York-based International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (IATAS), which organizes the iEMMYs Festival and International Emmy Awards in New York every year. Goenka is Zee TV chief Subhash Chandra’s son and began his career with the Essel Group.

Om Puri

‘ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE’ FOR OM PURI: July 20: The east-west cruising star of films like ‘East is East’ and ‘My Son the Fanatic,’ Om Puri was awarded the prestigious Order of the British Empire (OBE). “I got a letter from the British High Commissioner informing me that I’ve been made an honorary officer of the British empire. Apparently, the Queen has conferred the honor on me for my contribution to the British film industry,” Puri said.



OSIAN FILM FESTIVAL: July 25: The 10-day Osian Cinefan Film Festival in New Delhi screened 90 Asian films. The festival had a special segment of films from Iran’s Makhmalbaf family. Another highlight of the festival was the screening of five films of Hong Kong auteur Wong Kar-Wai. The Arab section had 12 films from countries like Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine and Iraq.

Aishwarya Rai

RAI SHARES GLOBAL MEDIA AWARD: Oct. 8: Actress Aishwarya Rai and Haresh Sood, a Leicester University law graduate of Indian origin were named co-winners of the 2004 Global Foreign Artiste Debutantes to Mainstream Media Award. Both were honored for having excelled in more than one field either through film, music, fashion, education, politics or many other combined fields.

Konkona Sen-Sharma

KONKONA IN NAIR’S ‘NAMESAKE’: Oct. 22: Bengali actress Konkona Sen-Sharma, who won a National Award for ‘Mr & Mrs Iyer,’ replaced Bollywood star Rani Mukherjee in Mira Nair’s celluloid adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel ‘The Namesake.’ Initially, Mukherjee was supposed to play the female lead in ‘The Namesake’ but she opted out. And Sen-Sharma, who spiralled to fame in her mother Aparna Sen’s critically-acclaimed film about a young Tamil woman caught in a communal riot, was selected to replace Mukherjee.

Anupam Kher

ANUPAM KHER REPLACED AS CENSOR BOARD CHIEF: Oct. 13: The government removed film actor Anupam Kher as head of the Central Board of Film Certification and appointed actress Sharmila Tagore in his place. Kher was appointed by the former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government last year. The United Progressive Alliance’s directive was seen to be a result of pressure from the Left parties which wanted the government to replace appointees of the NDA government in key organizations.

Shyam Benegal

BENEGAL GETS INDIRA GANDHI AWARD: Oct. 31: Filmmaker Shyam Benegal was presented the 19th Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for contributing to communal harmony and unity through his films. Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi presented the award to Benegal, famous for his artistically superior yet commercially viable films like ‘Ankur’, ‘Nishant’, ‘Manthan’, ‘Bhumika’ and ‘Zubeidaa.’