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Crude bombs hurled at Tamil TV channel's office

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puthiya-thalaimurai

Chennai: Unidentified persons today hurled crude bombs at the office of a popular Tamil TV channel here, police said.

No one was injured in the attack. The incident happened in the early hours today when four motorcycle-borne youths hurled two crude bombs packed in tiffin boxes, police said.

No one has been detained in this connection and police were examining various clues.

Journalists in the Puthiya Thalaimurai channel said nobody was injured in the incident and that no major damage to property was reported. They said the incident had been caught on CCTV camera.

The incident comes close on the heels of the channel removing a controversial show about ‘Thaali’ (Mangalsutra) on Sunday when a fringe outfit, Hindu Munnani, opposed it and staged a protest during which some equipment was damaged and a video journalist allegedly attacked.

(PTI)

Disproportionate assets case: CBI court issues summons to Yeddy's sons

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Yeddyurappa

Bengaluru: A CBI special court has issued summons to former Chief minister B S Yeddyurappa’s sons B Y Raghavendra and B Y Vijayendra in a disproportionate assets case.

Sohan Kumar and Uday Kumar have also been summoned by the court. They have been asked to appear before the court on April 18.

A CBI court had earlier recorded the statement of the complainant in the alleged disproportionate assets case against Raghavendra. According to the complaint, Raghavendra had misused his position as a Member of Parliament when his father Yeddyurappa was the deputy chief minister and the chief minister in the State and amassed properties in Bengaluru, Shivamogga and other places.

(Agencies)

Aid agencies slam UN Security Council over Syria

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More than 20 organisations say Security Council has failed to implement resolutions seeking to boost humanitarian aid.

Residents inspect damaged buildings in what activists say was a U.S. strike in Kafr Daryan, in Syria's Idlib Province, on Sept. 23, 2014. (REUTERS/Abdalghne Karoof)

Residents inspect damaged buildings in what activists say was a U.S. strike in Kafr Daryan, in Syria’s Idlib Province, on Sept. 23, 2014. (REUTERS/Abdalghne Karoof)

by Al Jazeera

More than 20 international aid organisations have sharply criticised the United Nations Security Council, saying it has failed to implement three resolutions passed last year seeking to boost humanitarian assistance to Syrian civilians.

The 21 aid groups say the resolutions have been “ignored or undermined by the parties to the conflict, other UN member states, and even by members of the UNSC itself”.

They said in a report released on Thursday that despite the resolutions violence in Syria has intensified, aid access has decreased and humanitarian assistance remains “chronically underfunded”.

The aid groups, including the International Rescue Committee, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Handicap International, call on UN members to ensure the resolutions are fully implemented.

The report was released as Syria enters its fifth year since an uprising that has turned into civil war began in March 2011.

Another UN-backed report released on Wednesday said the war had plunged 80 percent of Syrian people into poverty, reduced life expectancy by 20 years and led to massive economic losses estimated at over $200bn since the conflict began in 2011.

The Syrian Center for Policy Research painted a devastating picture of the “systematic collapse and destruction” of Syria’s economic foundations in the report, saying the nation’s wealth, infrastructure, institutions and much of its workforce have been “obliterated”.

Loss of income

Almost three million Syrians lost their jobs during the conflict, which meant that more than 12 million people lost their primary source of income, it said, and unemployment surged from 14.9 percent in 2011 to 57.7 percent at the end of 2014.

“As huge swatches of the community have lost the opportunity to work and earn an income, just over 4 in 5 Syrians now live in poverty,” the report said. “As it has become a country of poor people, 30 percent of the population have descended into abject poverty where households struggle to meet the basic food needs to sustain bare life.”

The report said the four-year-old conflict coupled with the country’s economic disintegration and social fragmentation have resulted in a 15-percent drop in Syria’s population – from 20.87 million in 2010 to just 17.65 million at the end of last year.

Syria now has the second-largest refugee population in the world after the Palestinians, with 3.33 million people fleeing to other countries, it said. In addition, 1.55 million Syrians left the country to find work and a safer life elsewhere while 6.8 million fled their homes but remain in Syria, it said.

The report, supported by the UN Development Programme and the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said that as Syria’s economy continues to deteriorate, total GDP loss is estimated at $119.7bn – accounting for 59 percent of the overall economic loss of $202.6bn by the end of 2014.

As violence intensified, it said, the number of deaths in the conflicts rose dramatically to 210,000. Together with the 840,000 wounded, this represented 6 percent of Syria’s population killed or injured during the conflict, it said.

“Equally horrendous is the silent disaster that has reduced life expectancy at birth from 75.9 years in 2010 to an estimated 55.7 years at the end of 2014, reducing longevity and life expectancy by 27 percent,” the report said.

It said education is also “in a state of collapse” with 50.8 percent of school-age children no longer attending school during 2014-2015 and almost half losing three years of schooling.

Amit Shah reconstitutes BJP's national executive, drops Smriti Irani, Najma Heptulla

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Amit-Shah

New Delhi: BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday reconstituted the party’s national executive which has 111 members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior party leader LK Advani.

The list has 27 special invitees, including chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states.

HRD minister Smriti Irani and minority affairs minister Najma Heptulla are among the prominent faces whom BJP chief Amit Shah dropped from party’s national executive announced on Thursday.

The list announced on Thursday also did not include names of senior party spokesmen Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, a former union minister, and Sudhanshu Trivedi, a close aide of home minister Rajnath Singh.

Sultanpur MP Varun Gandhi, whom Shah dropped as the national general secretary, has been retained in the top panel that also includes the likes of Yogi Adityanath and Sadhvi Nirajna Jyoti.

Subramanian Swami, has been accommodated too.

Apart from 40 special invitees, all leaders of the party in state assemblies and councils and state presidents will also be invitees to the national executive, a party release said.

(Agencies)

Delhi HC quashes look out circular against Greenpeace campaigner Priya Pillai

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Priya Pillai, Campaigner Greenpeace India.

Priya Pillai, Campaigner Greenpeace India.

New Delhi: Exactly two months after Greenpeace activist Priya Pillai was stopped from boarding a flight to London to speak to British MPs, the Delhi High Court has asked the government to quash and set aside the lookout circular against her.

The court has also directed the government to expunge the passport entry where it has been stamped as “offload”.

The court told the government that democracy cannot be muzzled in a democracy and that citizens can have different opinions of development policies.

“I’m feeling very happy because this reposes our faith in the Indian judiciary. Big win for people who dare to have a different dream of development which may not coincide with the dream of the government… Big vindication of our work,” Ms Pillai said after the court order.

Ms Pillai, who was offloaded from the aircraft by immigration officials on January 11, was scheduled to visit London to make a presentation before British MPs regarding alleged human rights violation at Mahan in Madhya Pradesh where a proposed coal mining project was threatening to uproot the lives of the local communities.

Ms Pillai said her offloading was “illegal and arbitrary” and she had a valid business visa for six months to visit London where she was scheduled to address British parliamentarians on January 14.

Her name will now also be removed from any government database that prevents her from travelling abroad.

(Agencies)

Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar to be questioned in Sunanda murder case

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Mehr_Tarar

New Delhi: Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar is likely to be questioned in connection with the murder of Sunanda Pushkar, wife of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, police said on Thursday.

“Tarar is a relevant person in the case… If necessary, she will be examined,” said Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi.

Tarar’s friendship with Tharoor had reportedly led to a row between Tharoor and Pushkar.

Delhi Police constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) after registering a murder case against unknown people on January 1. Pushkar was found dead in a luxury hotel room on January 17, 2014 under mysterious circumstances.

The SIT probing the case has so far questioned at least 15 people, including Tharoor, his staff members, close friends of the couple and the staff of Leela Palace hotel where Pushkar was found dead.

(IANS)

Movie Review: 'Focus'

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focus-poster

Banner: RatPac – Dune Entertainment, Di Novi Pictures, Kramer & Sigman Films, Overbrook Entertainment & Zaftig Films
Producer: Denise Di Novi
Director: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
Cast: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, Gerald McRaney, B. D. Wong, Robert Taylor, Dominic Fumusa, Brennan Brown, Griff Furst, Adrian Martinez & Alfred Tumbley
Music: Nick Urata

Director duo Glenn Ficarra & John Requa in their latest outing ‘Focus’ seems to be just a bit out of focus as while mixing the recipe of con-game with love dose they got really carried away by the inspirational game from George Roy Hill’s ‘The Sting’ or even Stephen Frears ‘The Grifters’. Not to forget other “Heist” movies like ‘Out Of Sight’ & ‘Ocean’s 11’. But the over all presentation of good actors, eye pleasing locales (New Orlean & Buenos Aires), some smart twists & turns et al are really note worthy & impressive.

So ‘Focus’ is an American romantic dark comedy film in which a seasoned con – man Nicky Spurgeon (Will Smith) goes to a nightclub, where an inexperienced grifter, Jess Barrett (Margot Robbie), attempts to seduce him by pretending that they’ve been caught by her jealous husband, in order to con Nicky. Seeing through their deception, Nicky exposes their plan and advises them never to lose focus when faced with unexpected situations before leaving. Jess finds him in another nightclub a few days later and convinces Nicky to become her mentor by detailing all information she acquired on him, including that his father, Bucky Spurgeon, was forced to shoot Nicky’s grandfather after a con game gone wrong. Nick takes Jess to New Orleans, where she performs a series of minor cons as a test. After proving her worth, Jess is introduced to Nicky’s crew, and soon Nicky & Jess develop a romantic relationship, upsetting Nicky, who was taught by his father to never become emotionally involved with anyone in their line of business. At a professional football championship game at the Mercedes -Benz Superdome, Nicky & Jess con a compulsive gambler, Liyuan Tse (B. D. Wong) out of all his money. Afterwards, Nicky gives Jess her share but reluctantly sends her away, leaving her heartbroken. 3 years later, Nicky is in Buenos Aires, working for a billionaire motorsport team owner Rafael Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro). Garriga needs to beat a team headed by Australian businessman McEwen (Robert Taylor) to win the championship. Nicky will pretend to be a disgruntled technician on Garriga’s team, and will sell a bogus component to McEwen, slowing their car down during the race. At a pre -race party, Nicky runs into Jess, who is now Garriga’s girlfriend. Nicky has a convincing fight with Garriga in public, and is recruited by McEwen to provide the component. Nicky begins pursuing Jess again, and they eventually rekindle their relationship. The head of Garriga’s security entourage, Owens (Gerald McRaney), is suspicious and follows Nicky & Jess. Nicky delivers the component to McEwen for 3 million euros, but also sells it to the other teams for similar amounts. While he is waiting for Jess at his hotel room, he receives a text saying that he is exposed, and should leave immediately. Nicky & Jess attempt to return to the United States together. However, they are caught by Garriga’s men and taken to an abandoned warehouse, where Nicky pleads for Jess’ life, and is beaten by Garriga. Jess reveals she was trying to seduce Garriga in order to steal his valuable watch, and Owens then shoots Nicky in the chest, causing a horrified Garriga to leave. Owens then reveals himself to be Nicky’s father, Bucky, and assures Jess that he avoided any major arteries.

Bucky drives Nicky & Jess to the hospital to treat Nicky’s punctured lung and departs with Nicky’s money, as a reminder of the consequences of losing focus. After he leaves, Jess reveals that she had snatched Garriga’s watch before he left the warehouse, and Nicky & Jess then go into the hospital together.

Mostly solo directors or even co – directors plan a sequel of a movie once it acquires the box office crown but the director duo Glenn Ficarra & John Requa seems to have set their focus, the other way round as ‘Focus’ is appears garbed more like a prequel.

That apart they had too battle it out with the indian censor board too who indeed allowed scores of cuss words & raunchy innuendo, as well as several sex scenes, though they’re limited to kissing and shots of bare shoulders, backs, and the sides of breasts but no frontal nudity. As we are all morally conscious indians you know! Kudos & bouquets of appreciation to the director duo Glenn Ficarra & John Requa, if only their script did not display loopholes galore, in tandem with their technical team Xavier Pérez Grobet (Cinematographer), Jan Kovac (Editor), Nick Urata (Music) et al for making the movie racy & enjoyable to some extent.

Performance wise, for a change, ‘Focus’ focuses on each & every characters galore. So in brief their individual act can be outlined: Will Smith as Nicky Spurgeon – Outstanding Act, Margot Robbie as Jess Barrett – Brilliantly Sensuous, Rodrigo Santoro as Garriga – Charming, Gerald McRaney as Bucky Spurgeon / Owens – Perfection Personified, B. D. Wong as Liyuan Tse, Extremely Funny, Robert Taylor as McEwen – OK, Dominic Fumusa as Jared – Passable, Brennan Brown as Horst – Adequate, Griff Furst as Gareth – Noteworthy, Adrian Martinez as Farhad – Hilariously Comical & Alfred Tumbley as Dogs – Wicked.

Tailpiece: Worth watching without loosing your focus on the entire proceedings.

Cricket World Cup 2015: South Africa ease into quarter-finals

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ab_de_villiers

by Michael Emons, BBC Sport

South Africa moved into the World Cup quarter-finals with a routine 146-run victory over United Arab Emirates.

Proteas captain AB de Villiers top scored and was dismissed on 99 after useful contributions from Rilee Rossouw (43) and David Miller (49).

Farhaan Behardien blasted 64 off 31 balls to take South Africa to 341-6, a total UAE never looked like reaching.

Swapnil Patil scored an unbeaten 57 and Shaiman Anwar made 39 but UAE were bowled out for 195 in 47.3 overs.

The victory means South Africa, who have never reached a World Cup final, will finish second in Pool B and, barring shock results, will probably face Sri Lanka in the quarter-final in Sydney on 18 March.

South Africa dominated against a UAE side that has never beaten a Test-playing nation in a World Cup but who surprisingly opted to bowl first after winning the toss.

That decision backfired as South Africa made the eighth highest total of the tournament with De Villiers again leading the way.

He scored the fastest 150 in one-day cricket off 64 balls on his way to an unbeaten 162 against the West Indies earlier in the World Cup and hit six fours and four sixes in his 82 ball-knock on Thursday.

However, he missed out on his 21st ODI century when he sliced the ball to short third man Amjad Javed off Kamran Shazad’s bowling. De Villiers then showed his ability with the ball, taking 2-15 from three overs.

“It’s never just a given you are going to make the quarter-finals of the World Cup, we have a lot of people we are representing back home and we have a great opportunity,” said De Villiers.

“They made it difficult so I was very happy with the way we fought, which is what I want to see as a captain.”

The only disappointment for South Africa was another failure from opening batsman Quinton de Kock, who made an unconvincing 26 off 45 balls before being caught behind. He has only scored 53 runs in their six pool games.

In reply, UAE struggled to cope with the pace of the South African attack, as both Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander claimed two wickets each.

The associate side fell to 45-3, although Patil and Anwar gave their score some respectability. With Fahad Alhashmi unable to bat after suffering a knee injury while bowling, Patil was left unbeaten on 57 as UAE suffered their fifth successive defeat.

Despite another loss, UAE captain Mohammad Tauqir was pleased with his side’s performance. He said: “We bowled well until 44-45 overs when things went a bit wrong. We almost batted 50 overs which is very positive for our batters.

“It has given us a lot of confidence, they have some amazing bowlers. There is a huge difference between our domestic level and this level so the more we play against these nations, the better it is for our cricket.”

Karnataka overwhelm Tamil Nadu to retain Ranji title

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ranjii

Mumbai: Karnataka successfully defended their Ranji Trophy title in emphatic style as they trounced Tamil Nadu by an innings and 217 runs in the final at the Wankhede Stadium here on Thursday.

Tottering at 113 for three overnight in their second innings after conceding a 628-run first innings lead, Tamil Nadu were bowled out for 411 runs to add to their first innings score of 134.

Baba Aparajith (68) and Vijay Shankar (103) put up a brave fight. After Aparajith’s departure with the scoreboard reading 191/4, it was veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik who tried steadying the sinking Tamil Nadu ship.

Right-hander Karthik notched up a 115-run partnership for the fifth wicket with Shankar and was fluent in his stroke-making.

But then it was Karnataka skipper Vinay Kumar (2/43) who broke the partnership getting rid of Shankar holding onto a return catch.

Karthik continued in his merry ways, but the batters around him fell prey to Shreyas Gopal’s (4/126) spin and Sreenath Aravind’s (2/52) movement and pace.

Earlier in the match, Karnataka had put on a monumental total of 762 runs in their first innings. Right-hand middle-order batsman Karun Nair scored 328 — the highest in a Ranji Trophy final in the 92-year history of the country’s premier domestic cricket tournament.

Nair, 23, went past Baroda batsman Gul Mohammad’s 319 made against Holkar in the 1946-47 season final. Nair got good support from India Test Opener Lokesh Rahul (188) and the duo forged a 384-run stand for the sixth wicket.

Skipper R. Vinay Kumar also scored a ton (105) to ensure they amassed a monumental total of 762 all out. Vinay became the first captain to pick up a five-wicket haul and score a century in a Ranji final. He was only the second cricketer to achieve the feat after Vijay Hazare’s heroics in 1946-47 final.

After conceding the mammoth lead, Tamil Nadu went down by an innings and 217 runs, allowing Karnataka to lay their hands on their second consecutive and eighth Ranji Trophy title.

“It is a big moment for us. I would like to thank all the players, they have worked hard to achieve this milestone. I am very happy with my own performance,” skipper Vinay said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

“Ultimately, winning the Ranji Trophy is important. As I said last year, we have a good bunch of players. If we keep performing we will dominate the Indian domestic circuit. Next we will play the Irani Trophy and will try to win that.”

Losing captain Abhinav Mukund said: “We really did well in the first day. We could have batted better, but its history now. Rahul and Karun Nair took the game away from us.”

Mukund, however, was satisfied with the performance throughout the season.

“It has been a great season. After a poor start we have made to the finals. We will go back to the drawing board. We have competed well, I made around 800 runs. I could have carried on, but we ran into a good side.”

Brief scores: Tamil Nadu 134 all out, 411 all out (Dinesh Karthik 120, Vijay Shankar 103; Shreyas Gopal 4/126; Vinay Kumar 2/43)) lose to Karnataka 762 all out. Karnataka win by an innings and 217 runs.

(IANS)

Nasheman.in exclusive: A controversial & clarifying interview with producer & director Suneel Kumar

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“I Am Trying To Assemble 300 Small Time Filmmakers Under 1 umbrella (Read Association) To Be Headed By Veteran Filmmaker Pahlaj Nihlani.” – Suneel Kumar

Suneel Kumar

Suneel Kumar maybe a small time filmmaker who has made mostly “B” & “C” grade films. But he has no qualms on being labelled as a “B” & “C” grade filmmaker as he strongly feels that it is the so called “B” & “C” grade films that are largely successful at the box office turnstiles, so what if they run successfully in “B” & “c” grade centres only, the smaller pockets of the distribution sectors of the interior territories. Besides these small films fetch enough coins at the box office turnstiles which feeds 100’s of families of the technical crews. But Suneel Kumar also laments the fact that the small films do not get their due recognition in all aspects & respects. Not only this there is not even a single umbrella (Read Association) protection to safeguard their varied interests.

So what according to you are the main grievances of the small time filmmakers?

The main grievances of us, small time filmmakers is that there is no one to listen to us. There is not even one umbrella (Read Association) to voice our opinions, no one to take heed of our problems, our difficulties in varied aspects & respects.

Kindly elaborate!

To give you a specific example. You see I have made many low budget films. And all of them were released in the single theaters of Mumbai circuits as well as the other circuits @ the All India Level. In the earlier times all the distributors used to take a keen interest in picking up such projects on outright basis at a good price. Then came the trend of releasing them on a joint profit sharing basis with Minimum Guarantee (MG). And now the tables have turned completely as now the distributors, sometimes in connivance with the exhibitors too, have started the trend of releasing the film only at our expense. So now we small time filmmakers have to shell out an additional budget of publicity (materials cost too), promotions and even the theater hire charges (Read Exhibitors) and to top it we do not even get any revenue from the music rights & the satellite rights as the doors of this 2 avenues are closed for us forever. Today the situation has become such that if the making cost is 5 lacs, we end up spending another 5 lacs on other miscellaneous expenses that I have just mentioned above. And after all this we consider ourself lucky if we end up making a marginal profit of just 1 lakh. And if our film becomes a runaway hit, which is very rare nowadays, than that proves to be a Bumper Bonus, almost akin to a Double Bonanza for us. Not only this now we also have to deal with the changing censor guidelines from time to time.

And pray what is that?

Oh! That is one more ailing situation that we small time filmmakers have to face. As the morality conscious Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) feels itself so duty bound that it keeps changing its censor guidelines, to protect public morality, from time to time sometimes without even any prior intimation. And needless to say the CBFC members are very harsh with us small time filmmakers.

How come?

I will cite a latest example. My recently released film was ‘Yeh Figure Hai’. And the film’s title goes with its theme. But the censor board had asked me to chop off all the semi clad shots of a female figure. Then you tell me what would have remained in the finally chopped off movie. I really had a trying time in convincing them not to mar my film in this distorted fashion. Now what are these guidelines wherein a so called male nudity (Read semi – nude) in a recently released film is passed without even batting an eyelid and for a semi – clad female nudity a lot of hullabaloo and even societal eyebrows are raised. And in the end it is the cine goers who feel cheated as they cannot enjoy the semi – clad nudity scenario either on the big screen as the censors chop off their visual delight and they can’t do so by feasting their eyes on the wall posters or even the filmy trade magazines as the Information & Broadcasting ministry has decided to slam it with hammer & tongs.

Are small time filmmakers facing any other problems?

Earlier we used to give manual prints of our films processed in a film laboratory. But now with the advent of the digitized release through UFO, Cube, UMW, K. Sera Sera et al we are facing more problems. Earlier the manual print cost was more but now we find that releasing the film through this above mentioned digitised medium is exorbitant. Not to forget about their high handed tantrums & the non – preferential treatment that they mete out to us over big films.

Anything more that you would like to add on?

Oh! Yes of course, the latest ordinance passed by the Government (Read The Information & Broadcasting Ministry). As now they have become the watchdogs over the semi – nude advertisement that we release in Filmy trade Magazines to promote our films nay to lure the cine goers to the cinema halls which used to boost the collections on the box office turnstiles. So what are we supposed to do as we are trapped from both sides (Read CBFC & I & B Ministry) with no way to escape from any loopholes whatsoever.

So are the small time filmmakers taking any steps to wriggle out of these dire situations that they are facing from all sides?

Yes! Of course we are striving very hard to improve our precarious situation. On a close knit survey I discovered that there are almost 300 small time filmmakers who are suffering including me. I am making all the efforts to assemble all of them under 1 umbrella (Read Association) hopefully & probably to be headed by none other than veteran filmmaker Pahlaj Nihlani, who is now also the new chair person of the Central Board 0f Film Certification. I am sure that under his tutelage & expertise oriented guidance we will surely & definitely solve all our ailing problems galore.

Lets hope for the best and now tell us are you contented with your filmic journey as a small time filmmaker so far?

For that you have to travel with me in the time frame of the year 1991. Almost a runaway lad had arrived & landed in the Bollywoodian capital with starry dreams in his eyes. He struggled a lot and was soon to be clubbed as an extra in crowded sequences, sensing danger he fled and started his struggle all over again, this time as a filmmaker and very soon he gained prominence as a small time filmmaker. So the small time filmmaker that’s me had finally arrived by making his own gem of 2 small screen serials and a few small time big screen films in Hindi, Bhojpuri, chattisgarhi et al. So yes the answer is an emphatic YES I am fully & totally satisfied with my filmic journey as a small time filmmaker. Period!

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