“Kotak Worldkids International Film Festival” in Mumbai from November 30,

Adlabs, at Wadala will screen and host Mumbai's first-of-its kind children's film festival targeted at 8-18 year olds. World Kids Foundation will be promoting the festival while P9-Cinema Activation will be marketing the event.

Some of the multi-award winning films which will be showcased during the festival are Red like the Sky( Italy) Hayat-(Iran,) Heda Hoda- (India,) Magnifico –( Phillipines,) An Inconvenient Truth – (USA,) Charkh- (Iran,) Summer with the Ghosts- (Canada) Pinky & Million Pug – (Germany,) Halo – (India,) Malli – (India,) Bonkers –( Holland) and Benji – (USA )

Explaining the reason behind initiating such a move, Festival Director Manju Singh said, "Our endeavor is to engage the children of India with positive media images and inspire them into thinking and learning while having a good time entertainment with a Purpose is the Foundations mantra."

'The Kotak WKIFF aims to introduce the present generation to different cultures and languages to establish the universality of human values and experiences.'
The organizers also aim to provide a platform to young and talented directors to reach a wider audience at the festival, said Vijay Kalantri, chairman of the WKIFF advisory board.

The festival director also said at the function that WKIFF will become an annual event and would travel across the country with establishing itself as an international film festival of repute.

'Worldkids will also create the 'Worldkids Clubs' with children members, who can avail exciting offers to watch films produced, distributed by Worldkids or showcased at WKIFF,' Singh added.

The weeklong 'Kotak Worldkids International Film Festival' (WKIFF) will be held in association with private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank, Godrej Interio, BPL Mobile, AIAI, Ryan International School, Adlabs, P9 Integrated and with the support of Maharashtra government's department of culture, Children's Film Society of India (CFSI) and Times Foundation.

Source: http://www.indiantelevision.com/

Please Walk! It is a Car Free Day on 25th November in Bandra

A Car Free Day is an event organized in different places in different ways, but with the common goal of taking a fair number of cars off the streets of a city or some target area or neighborhood for all or part of a day, in order to give the people who live and work there a chance to consider how their city might look and work with a lot fewer cars.

On 25th November 2007, Banda will be observing a car free day and every one is requested to use the public transport for emergency, cycle or walk the small distance and help in reducing the polution in the suburbs.

Everyone who would want to be involved with the car free Bandra campaign can call the Radio City Breakfast Show between 7am and 11am and they will be put on air to say their piece.

The number for them to call is: 6696 9191

They can also send an SMS to BFM (with their name and message) to 54646

Alternatively, they can email at shawnf@myradio city.com

It would increase the income of auto drivers, decrease pollution- Noise and Air. Of course there would be emergencies like hospitals and drops and pick ups for people traveling and out of Bandra/Mumbai.

We cannot force people to not use their cars. But thought it's worth a try to see if it's possible.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5398084582

Celebrate Bandra 2007

Watch video celebration of "Celebrate Bandra here http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/52581/aamir-khan-joins-in-to-celebrate-spirit-of-bandra.html

Starting from 17th November, Bandra will be host to people of other suburbs as it showcases its talents in ‘celebrate Bandra’ and this year’s theme is “Harking Back to Heritage”.


But it isn’t only the built heritage that Bandra celebrates this year. As much as the buildings, it is the living heritage – a remembrance of times past – that distinguishes Bandra as the most happening suburb. There are memories and images of residents and artistes that will be celebrated with élan this year.

Both Heritage and Literary Heads will feature old residents reminiscing about times past – “All Our Yesterdays”. These will take place in Pioneer Hall on St John Baptist Road, a quaint former tobacco factory, which will soon be converted into a restaurant.

The first festival celebrated Amit Chaudhuri, the Kolkata-based poet and writer who once lived on St Cyril Road and has a book of poems under that name. This year Nalini Jones, whose mother hails from Bandra and now lives in the US, has published her debut book What You Call Winter (Alfred Knopf), a collection of short stories set in the imaginary suburb of Mumbai called Santa Clara. She will read at Pioneer Hall. That’s living heritage for you.

In particular, Bandra has nurtured some of the finest artistes when it comes to Western music. Their legacy will be explored – often, through their next of kin and pupils.

Celebrate Bandra will stage a musical called, simply, “Jazz”, written by Ramu Ramanathan and directed by Etienne Coutinho, who brought the house down last festival with a spoof called “The Ballad of Bandora”. The musical is based on the contribution that celebrated musicians like Chick Chocolate and Sebastian D’Souza made to the evolution of jazz in the country as a whole and how their tunes filtered into Bollywood films.

Somewhat ironically, although Pali Hill has so often been dubbed the Beverly Hills of Mumbai, the celluloid sister of Los Angeles, film hasn’t received the attention it deserves in previous festivals. We are making up for that lapse this year.

The last festival, in 2005, saw the commissioning of “Where’s Sandra?”, eminent documentary film-maker Paromita Vohra’s spoofy take on the quintessential girl from Bandra who’s now mostly mythical and exists only in our nostalgic minds. This time Celebrate Bandra will premiere a half-hour film called “Romson & Juliana” – with profuse apologies to the Bard – written and directed by Rohan Sabharwal and Andrew Fernandes.

The script begins with the beguiling lines: “Set in 21st century Bandra, this comical film explores forbidden love between the heirs of two feuding houses on Waroda road. A very petty squabble in the year 1995 turned into something that would, for over a decade, disturb the peace and tranquility of this very dormant neighborhood.”

A short film with a Bandra theme has also been commissioned, chosen out of a competition among media students. It’s called “Finding Bandra” and has been made at breakneck speed – in just a month – by Abhay Kumar, a student from the Xavier Institute of Communications.

A highlight of this year’s festival – we are tempted to christen it “Bandra with a Haat”! – promises to be a Shopping Fest on Hill Road and Linking Road, where shopkeepers decorate their premises and offer special discounts to those who venture inside. And it will literally prove music to the ears of shoppers who will be serenaded by balladeers and street performers, lest they drop before they shop!

As part of the festivities of the Bandra Festival, watch some interesting films being screened.
Date- Nov 19
Time: 6.30 pm onwards
Venue: Bandra Bandstand Promenade
Movie:

Bheja Fry
A journey on Bandra's Heritage
Animated film on the changing face of Bandra

Date- Nov 22
Time: 6.30 pm onwards
Venue: Reclamation PromenadeMovie:
Romson and Juliana
Bollywood in Bandra

Date: Nov 25
Time: 6.30 pm onwards
Venue: Carter Road Promenade
Movies:
Bheja Fry
Romson and Juliana
Finding Bandra

Date: Nov 28
Time: 6.30 pm onwards
Venue: Reclamation Promenade
Movies:
A journey on Bandra's Heritage
Animated film on the changing face of Bandra
Honeymoon Travels PVT Ltd.

Jazz Utsav

From : 23-11-2007
Till : 24-11-2007
Venue : Bandra Amphitheatre
Time : 7.00 pm - 10.00 pm
For all Jazz Lovers this year's Jazz Utsav promises to be a treat. With an excting line - up of global bands featuring Paula Jeanine, Sascha Ley, Cafe Du Sport, Chet Baker Tribute and our very own Martin Dahanukar and Loius Banks, get set to have a musical treat.

Being part of the Bandra festival this year, entry to Jazz Utsav is free!

Venue: Bandra Amphitheatre
Bandra Bandstand,
Bandra

Source: http://www.wheremumbai.com/

Marathon 2008 to be held in Mumbai In January

Are you taking part in the Marathon> Registration for participation in Marathon has started.
Registration Start Date: Friday, November 9, 2007
Registration End Date: Friday, November 30, 2007 or as soon as running places are filled, whichever is earlier
Collection of Running Numbers: Wednesday, January 16 to Saturday 19. 2008

"If you want to run, then run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon" -- Emil Zatopek, long distance legend who won the 5000 m, 10000m and the marathon at the Olympic Games (1952).

The Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon was conceptualized to provide thousands of Mumbaikars and Indians with an opportunity to experience a different life. The statistical growth of the event, along with an upsurge in its profile, has necessitated certain changes and in its fourth year now, a bouquet of initiatives have been planned to further strengthen its claim as Asia's largest marathon.

Day to mark on your calender Race Day: Sunday, January 20, 2008

Spirit of Mumbaikars.....

Everybody turns a blind eye whenever they see an illegal construction. In Mumbai, we see illegal constructions; illegal slum dwellers, illegal shops and common man can do nothing but just walk blindly


But what can one person do? If I see a poor family spread a sheet of cloth on an open space. What can I do? Should I drive them away? But then, where will they go? They obviously have no home therefore they are on the road. A cop may come with his rod and try to shoo them away but the squatters are back again, the very next day. This time, with a bigger group and they decide to share some of their smiles and earnings with the cop and melted cop decides to turn a blind eye too. Very soon, wall is built, then the roof and then more friend and more walls, and before you realize there is a group of families living in that open space, stealing electricity and water supply from the neighborhood.

And the common people like me will say “‘What can I do?”

In Mumbai you see many police chowkies mushrooming all over the city. When I saw them for the first time, I was quite impressed by their architecture, not realizing that they were built illegally without any permission for construction of such outpost. But how were they initially allowed to build such illegal chowkies? Don’t they have some kind of plan or paper work to do before they decide to build?
What can one really do when police themselves are corrupt and when confronted they will shameless say “People like you require permission, but for the police there are no such rules.”

Recently, Mumbai has seen the power of one that has brought embarrassment to the entire police force. Indur Chhugani, a resident of Khar, has extracted a High Court order that has sought action against the all the police outposts that have come up in various corners of Mumbai without any permission

Chhugani argued that not only were the chowkies illegal, but they had even managed to secure illegal water and electricity connections. He then sought information on the sponsors for the outposts, as many were built with the funds provided by builders and businessmen. He was surprised that the home department didn’t know about who had financed the construction of such beat chowkies. “Even the home department had washed its hands off the issue,” he states.

Justice Patel and Justice Amjad Sayed directed the chief secretary (home) to rectify the irregularities pointed out in the PIL and file a compliance report by January 9, 2008.

Public prosecutor Satish Borulkar has told HC the 269 chowkies that did not have permission from the BMC will either be regularized or demolished. Nameplates of chowky sponsors will be removed in the next 30 days.

It is time the citizens organize themselves and form watchdog committees in every police station area. Every body has right to information and if every citizen is alert and united, a power can be build to fight corruption. One person alone cannot do anything.

When a group of people successfully operate and nurture an illegal dream, a committee of caring citizens should shed their timid attitude towards disgusting conduct of the police, the bureaucrats and the judiciary…………….. and fight for a change.