13th Mother Teresa Award given to a Pubcaster...

Anthony Biswas ,Chairman Award Committee with Mukesh Sharma

This year the 13th Mother Teresa International Award were given on 7th April 2013 at Kolkata. 

The Award

 I was honoured for my contribution in "Social Work" through Public Service Broadcasting. At least MOTHER showered her blessings by recognizing the efforts of a Pubcaster. Leander Paes was another recipient among others this year.

Anthony Biswas (in cap) and other members of the award commitee.

Last year the foreign minister of Bangla Desh, Dipu Moni, had received Mother Teresa international award for her contribution towards social and administrative work.

The Recognition...

 Justice Shyamal Sen, former Chairman, Human Rights Commission & former Governor of West Bengal is the  Patron -in-Chief of the award committee.

Sahydri Navratna Awards 2002

To judge a person's success , dont just look at where they are now. But how they got there. How many obstacles they had to surmount, how many sacrifices they had to make. How many upheavels they had to overcome.It is the journey that tests the mettle of the traveller. For people like these the journey never ends.

These people strive on with their task, too immersed in their work to bother about applause and accolades. That was the reason I wanted to tell these people through Sahyadri, we want to recognise your work, we want to acknowledge your contribution. With no Strings attached, its our way of humbly saying "Thank you" .

Selected by an independent jury, these awards were conceptulised in the year 2002. Since then they have become a synonym to Excellence in Maharashtra.

The first ever Sahyadri Navratna Puruskar were given on 27th April 2002 at Juhu Centaur , Mumbai

The Jury

An esteemed jury panel of industry professionals and experts helped in short listing the nominations for the various categories.

The jury included -

Former India cricket captain Ajit WadekarMaharashtra government cultural secretary Govind SwarupTheatre personality Kamlakar SontakkeSabe TV vice chairman Markand AdhikariIMPPA president & Mukti Foundation president Smita ThackerayFilm & TV personality Sachin PilgaonkarMaharashtra Times editor Bharatkumar Raut

It is this jury that has, after hours of deliberation, finalised the nine personalities who will be awarded this year's honours.

The Sahyadri Navratna Awards 2002 were conceived as as a way of honouring Maharashtrians from diverse fields, on one platform.

The awards are the first ever honour to recognise nine outstanding Marathi achievers from different walks of life such as film, music, theatre, television, sports, social work, business and media.

An eminent jury panel of industry professionals and experts was constituted to independently shortlist the nominations for the various categories. The idea was to seek gems of excellence from the sea of talent that is Maharashtra. Our partners in the venture, DD Sahyadri, the regional terrestrial channel of pubcaster Doordarshan will telecast the function on 1 May, Mahashtra Divas, at 3 pm.

The awards -

Swar Ratna -- For excellence in music
Chitra Ratna -- For excellence in cinema
Ratna Vahini - To recognize outstanding Marathi Television Channel
Natya Ratna -- For excellence in theatre
Ratna Saurabh -- For excellence in sports
Seva Ratna -- To recognize work rendered to the cause of people
Ratna Darpan - For outstanding achievement in Media.
Ratna Sharda - To recognize achievements by a woman in any field.
Vaibhav Ratna - For outstanding achievement in Industry/Business.

The Statuette -
The principles behind the Sahyadri Navratna awards 2002 have been kept in mind while designing the statuette. After extended deliberations, it was decided that the statuette would resemble a female form, dressed in typical Maharashtrian nau vari saree, holding the pallu aloft in a celebration of life.

The statuette is a symbol of all the Maharashtrian holds sacrosanct. The outstretched arms signify his costant search for excellence and a yearning for goals yet unachieved. The figure is however, firmly bound to its roots, unwavering in its dedication and commitment to values and a culture lovingly cherished. The graceful figure is also a reminder of the letter S, for Sahyadri, the range that defines Maharashtrian nature and the TV channel that holds their interest.

The Godrej No 1 Sahyadri Navratna Awards 2002 are to be held on Saturday, 27 April, 2002 in Mumbai at the Juhu Centaur.

The venue : The Poolside.
The time : 7 pm.

The awards ceremony will be a place where the creme de la creme of Marathi culture will converge, to be entertained and to honour nine esteemed personalities who have done Maharashtra proud.Sahyadri Navratna Puraskar 2002 Awardees:

Swar Ratna - Shri Sudhir Phadke, the doyen of Marathi light music, is one of the most popular music directors and singers of our time. Born on 25 July, 1919, Shri Phadke had his initial training in vocal classical music from the late Shri Vamanrao Padhye in Kolhapur. Starting his career in 1941 with His Master's Voice, Phadke moved on to the Prabhat Film Company as music director in 1946. He has about 110 films to his credit as music director, 20 of which are Hindi films. He has received several awards for his music direction as well as singing during his illustrious career. His home production, Ha Maaza Marga Ekala has won the Rashtrapati award in 1963. A record creating achievement of his career is the music composition of the Geet Ramayana, rendered in lyrical form by the poet GD Madgulkar. 

Chitra Ratna - Smt Sulochana is a face well known to Maharashtrians the world over. Starting her career with Bhalji Pendharkar's Maharathi Karna in 1943, Sulochana has acted in over 150 Marathi films and over 250 Hindi films till date. So far, she has been honoured with the V Shantaram Puraskar of the Maharashtra government, and several awards from various organisations. Among the films she has starred in are Mith Bhakar, Chimni Pakhare, Jaya Bhavani, Jivacha Sakha and Bala jo jo re. 

Ratna Darpan - Shri DB Karnik is a name familiar to all Maharashtrians. He is credited with starting four publications in Maharashtra. The first of these was Dainik Sangram. He was instrumental, as founder editor, of turning the Maharashtra Times into a dynamic, people oriented newspaper. A disciple of the revolutionary MN Roy, he was jailed in Dhulia jail for participating in the Indian freedom struggle. 

Ratna Sharada - Smt Prema Purao is a name that spells succour for scores of destitute women in the state of Maharashtra. The founder of the Annapurna Mahila Mandal, she helped tap their talents and skills in which they excelled. Closely involved in the Goa freedom struggle and the Samyukta Maharastra Andolan, she was imprisoned while working as an active trade unionist for nine months in the 1960s. She started the Annapurna Mahila Mandal in 1973 with a group of 14 women with the help of loans from nationalised banks for generating self employment for women in the state. The Mandal's membership has today grown to over 200,000. She has been honoured with the Padmashree, the Baya Karve Award and Com Datta Deshmukh award, among others.

Natya Ratna - Shri Vijay Tendulkar ranks among the best playwrights this country has seen. Well known for plays like, Sakharam Binder, Kamala and Khamosh, Adalat Jari Hai, 1972 was a landmark year for Tendulkar as well as for Indian vernacular theatre - his Marathi play Ghashiram Kotwal made waves by its brilliant use of traditional folk forms in modern contemporary theatre. Born in 1928, Tendulkar started his literary life as a writer of short stories before moving on to write plays and film scripts. Tendulkar, who has written screen-plays for films like Manthan; Nishant, Ardh Satya and Aakrosh, was awarded the Pabmabhushan in 1984.

Seva Ratna - Shri Baba Amte and the cause of the downtrodden are almost synonymous in India today. Baba is a living legend of our time and a shining example of the Gandhian spirit and approach to current and compelling social problems of the country. By crusading for human dignity and sustainable development he has sought to arouse the inner vitality of our society and invest it with sanity, peace and compassion. Anandwan, which he set up for leprosy patients, provides, through a creative combination of medical intervention, rehabilitation and economic regeneration, self-esteem and self-reliance to leprosy affected people thus translating the ideal of Mahatma Gandhi to make the victims of leprosy "as much a part of society as the tallest among us". Starting with leprosy-affected people, Amte's work covered education in health and hygiene, village sanitation, village industries, communal unity and removal of untouchability and work among tribals and the youth of the country. He has introduced at Anandwan and other tribal areas rain-harvesting experiments for augmenting agricultural production. How he organized the youth of India in the "Knit India Movement" across the East and the West, the North and the South of the country, is a saga of our times. He has been awarded the Gandhi Peace Prize, 1999, among several other awards.

Vaibhav Ratna - Shri Rahul Bajaj, apart from heading the Bajaj group of companies, has several accomplishments to his credit. A Harvard graduate, he has been the CEO of Bajaj Auto since 1968. Today, the company is India's premier two and three wheeler manufacturer. Bajaj Auto received Dalal Street Journal'sCorporate Excellence Award for 1990 & 1995 (Rank I). In recognition of his contribution to the automotive industry, the Government of India appointed Bajaj as the Chairman of the Development Council for Automobiles and Allied Industries, 1975-77. Bajaj was Chairman of Indian Airlines between 1986-89. Bajaj was appointed by the Government of India as the Chairman of Technology Development Advisory Group on Technology Trends in Automobiles - August 1991. Bajaj was Chairman of the World Business Council of the World Economic Forum and continues to be its Member. Bajaj is a Member of the New York Stock Exchange's Asia Pacific Advisory Committee as well as a Member of the Asia Pacific Advisory Board of the Harvard Business School. FIE Foundation awarded Mr. Bajaj the Rashtrabhushan Award in 1996. Lokmanya Tilak Smarak Trust awarded Mr. Bajaj the Tilak Award in 2000. Government of India Conferred the Padma Bhushan to Mr. Bajaj in March 2001. He has done more than what the state of Maharashtra could have hoped for from a true son.

Ratna Saurabh - Shri Nandu Natekar is a name well known to all Maharashtrians, not just the badminton buff. One of the earliest awardees of the Arjuna Award in 1961, Natekar had the distinction of reaching the quarter finals in the men's singles in the All England Championships in 1954 in London, semi finals in the All American at Niagara Falls in 1980, 1981 and runner up in 1982. Several titles dot his illustrious badminton career. He has represented India at the Commonwealth Games in Jamaica in 1965, and has been honoured at the Jagatik Marathi Parishad in Mauritius in 1991. He was included among 'the Greats' in a souvenir published by Malaysia during the Thomas Cup series in 1954-55

Ratna Vahini Yogadaan - Doordarshan Sahyadri, the channel closest to the Marathi viewers, has retained its appeal, despite stiff competition from satellite channels that have mushroomed in the last few years. With programming designed to draw in the intellectual as well as the discerning viewer, its interactive shows and news programming have a huge following.

Have I made it large...

One good thing about Bollywood is it always respects the rising sun.If they need your assistance in any which way ,they will go out of their way to ensure that you are the most important person in their lives and career.
It starts with the exchange of telephone nos , followed by an invite for the evening party (in case the matter is urgent). You are then introduced to other film personalities. They are told all the good things about you. By the time dinner is laid, you learn that actually you are more important then any of them present their. You then decide to invite the host for your official function (with fingers crossed) and lo and behold your invite is accepted without betting an eyelid. In fact the host gives you a choice of more celebrities who can also attend your function.
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 You are on the top of the world, suddenly discovering that  you are more important then you think you really are. And the next moment the request from your host is immediate.... "Mukeshji  please see that my name is ticked off from the defaulters list" or may be... "I have submitted the proposal it will be the channel driver for your TV network"

Now if their work is done(on its merit) or otherwise you are soon forgotten. Or you are ticked of their list once you are not heading the cell that brought you closer to the Bollywood star.   They stop taking or returning  your calls. They actually don't know who you are, in case you bump into them in some party or function.

You are hurt most, if you are a simpleton from a small town and you have made it large due to your hard work and studies. You have grown with these larger then life figures. So when you meet them you genuinely try and help them, since they were the heroes of your life. You are under the impression that the heroes will not ask you to bend rules or go out of your way to help them because they did no wrong on the silver screen. Heart to heart you still ensure that their proposal is approved with the given frame work. But then some how it does not happen for reasons beyond your control.

 During my 33 years in the tinsel town, never ever I was proved wrong. Though I tried my best to tell my self that "this time the man is genuine" but my hopes were always short lived.
  Invariably I asked a question to myself.."Have I made it large?''

Have we lost out on ... Excitement...Enthusiasm... Exhilaration... Enjoyment ...and the Anticipation of a call getting matured

The Telephone.........

Alexander Graham Bell gave us the first ring tone by inventing telephone at t

he age of 29 in the year 1876

.

First Voice...
Alexander Graham Bell's notebook entry of 10 March 1876 describes his successful experiment with the telephone. Speaking through the instrument to his assistant, Thomas A. Watson, in the next room, Bell utters these famous first words, "Mr. Watson -- come here -- I want to see you."

90 years later in 1966 for the first time I used AG Bell's discovery at Bareilly, where my father was posted. Telephone in India at that time was meant for the selected few in any city. We never had phone at home .This instrument which I used for the first time was installed at my relative's place in Bareilly. He was the Dealer for Escorts Tractor & Motor cycles. 

We had gone to do a long distance. Unlike today there were no STD booths . The procedure to book a call was simple (complicated in today's norms). Pick up the receiver and wait as we hear the sound of a ringing bell in the receiver. At the other end, a telephone operator would pick up and asked for the number. After noting down the number the operator would then ask " Any PP? " ( Particular Person). We would provide the name of the PP. The next question from the operator was"duration of call please ?". Generally it used to be in the multiples of 3 minutes or 6 minutes. We were to be charged accordingly. Operator's next question was, "urgent or ordinary call"? Normally we would book Ordinary call since the rates were half of the Urgent call. 

It would take an hour or more to get an ordinary call matured. Some times we had to wait for hours together to get the call. The time factor also depended on the distance. The longer the distance, the more the time for the call to get matured. How ever if we wanted to get the call immediately, then we could book a Lighting Call. As the name suggest it was instant but we had to shell out 10 times more money then the urgent call. 

Lighting call was done only in extreme emergency. When ever we booked a lighting call it was more official in nature. But we ensured that we were surrounded by couple of staff, friends, visitors in order to create an impression on them that we are booking a lighting call.
Once the call was through we would get a call from the operator and then it was thunder and lighting with lot of excitement. We would shout at the top of our voice, talk very fast( since the time was running out), pass the receiver to ensure that as many people could talk and in order to make the best use of our talk time . Once the call was over, there was a great relief and the atmosphere was upbeat. Getting a call matured was a feat in itself.

Today when I look back I realize we have taken a quantum leap in terms of phone technology but we have lost out on ...
Excitement...Enthusiasm... Exhilaration... Enjoyment ...and the Anticipation of a call getting matured

Remembering DDK Mumbai on its 41st Birthday.....on 2nd October 2012

The Who's Who of Doordashan ...Back to the roots

On 2nd October 2012 DDK Mumbai celebrates its 41st birthday. The Kendra was set up on 2nd oct 1972. The last major celebrations took place  on Oct.2nd 2006 when I was the director of the Kendra.

We had especially invited all the past Producers, Engineers, Programmers.

The list of the who's who included Gajendra Singh, past video editor of DDK Mumbai who is today a successful creative head and the originator of Antakshari on Zee TV.

The Pub Casters who served  Doordarshan for nation building

Felicitation of Pradeep Bhide the Newscaster of DD Sahyadri

Bijondas Gupta , a successful Art director with Bollywood, once headed the Scenic department of DDK Mumbai.

Satish Bhatia a cameraman, associated with the popular serial Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi.

Madhvi Mutatkar, programme executive of DDK, later resigned and headed the Zee TV as its President.

  

Madhvi Mutatkar

Bijon Das Gupta

Vinay Apte , now a popular Actor and Director in the Marathi Film Industry, worked as the producer at DDK Mumbai.

Who does'nt know about the popular serial Aahat on Sony. But how many of us know that BP Singh the Director and Cameraman was DDK Mumbai's product . He too came for the reunion.

Also present was Nina Raut , the producer of the successful programme Tak Dhina Dhin which ran on DD sahyadri for more then 7 years. (Incidentally her husband Mr Bharat Kumar Raut is the sitting Shiv Sena MP from Rajya sabha).   

Neena Raut

Bharat Kumar Raut

Aadesh Bandekar who fought the recent election on Shiv Sena ticket, was present to grace the occasion.

Manju singh, Pradeep Bhide (the evergreen newscaster of DDK), Yakoob Sayeed, Madhu Shrivastav....the list is end less

Bijon das Gupta, Gajendra Singh and BP Singh

BP Singh of CID fame

Gajendra Singh of Sur Keshtra

After the telecast of the programme, I received numerous letters and phone calls from all parts of Maharashtra. Some thing new, something different was presented to Sahyadri viewers.

The Times of India , 8th Oct 2006 wrote an article entitled THEY KILLED THE RADIO by Bella Jasinghani. I quote the 1st para from it:

"Comparing two dinosaur not always a futile exercise. Last week,Vividh Bharti & Doordarshan (DD) observed their anniversaries one day apart. Sahyadri, which is the name Mumbai DD goes by, hosted a hugely successful live gathering of television stalwarts to celebrate its 35th birthday on Oct 2.However the very next day,Vividh Bharati, the radio station that was once the opium of the masses, stumbled its way into its golden jubilee without any fanfare"......

Hope in its 41st year DDK Mumbai will do something different, something new for its numerous FANS out there..

Black & White colourful years of Shabana Azmi...The relentless crusader

On 18th Sept 2012 Shabana Azmi turned....Well that's not important. What is important is that she continues to work with the same zeal and enthusiasm what she did a quarter century ago, when she became the Chairperson of Childern' Film Society, India (CFSI).

 Shabana Azmi had succeded  Jaya Bachchan. Ms Azmi was the woman in a hurry. The moment she took over as the Chairperson, she wanted the best  Directors of Bollywood to come forward and make children films for CFSI. She used all her goodwill and contacts to ensure no stone was left unturned. From Pankaj Parashar( Karamchand, Chaalbaaz and Jalwa fame) to Shekhar Kapoor, Ila Arun all came to CFSI to ensure that some good work can be done to elevate the standard of Children films in our country.

 The film Asman se Gira produced and directed by Pankaj Parashar was the costliest film (37Lakhs in 1986-87 ) produced in the history of CFSI. Inspite of the Music by Louis Bank and actors such as Anupam Kher,  Amjad khan and Raghubir Yadav, the film did not click with the young audience.I remember children walking out of the theater in the International Film Festival at Banglore.

But that's what the uncertainty of celluloid business is all about....
Shabani Azmi continued with her good work at CFSI. She, for the first time, sold the video rights of CFSI films in the public domain in order to bring children cinema  home.This was a bold step since CFSI was very particular about showing its films to children, only in theaters and that too only in morning shows

Another feather in the cap for Ms Azmi as the Chairperson of CFSI was to revive the Indo Mauritius Film Co Production, the foundation of which was laid by me in 1984 during my visit to Mauritius.
 However the shooting of the co production film, could start only after Mrs Jaya Bachchan returned to CFSI.
In short the tenure of Shabana Azmi as chairperson of CFSI was short but dynamic.

 It is not in our hands to choose our parents or our Boss. I was lucky to have Shabana Azmi as my Boss.
May she continue to live up to her reputation as a relentless crusader. Belated Happy Birthday Shabanaji.

with Shabana Azmi B & W photos