Introduction

A story by Jasmine Kaur

Experienced Bollywood actress Hema Malini and CBFC Chairperson Prasoon Joshi will be honored with the “Indian Film Personality of the Year” award at the International Film Festival of India. Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur announced at a press conference on Thursday.e., November 18^th, where two prominent figures will obtain a prestigious award at IFFI 2021.

Thakur talked about Malini and Joshi’s significant contributions to Indian cinema, saying their work has delighted the audience for generations.

About their work

“Hema Malini and Prasoon Joshi’s contributions to Indian cinema and its work have been prevalent for decades and entertained the audience for generations. They are praised all over the world. They are Indian cinematic icons who are admired & respected the world over,” ANI quoted Thakur.

 Actor-politician Hema Malini and lyricist, screenwriter, and chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification Prasoon Joshi will be honored with the ‘Indian Film Personality of the Year’ award at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. Minister of Information and Broadcasting of India Anurag Thakur made the announcement on Thursday.

Contribution

 “Contributions of Hema Malini and Prasoon Joshi to the field of Indian cinema spread over decades and their body of work has enthralled audiences across generations. They are Indian cinematic icons who are admired and respected the world over,” news agency ANI quoted the minister as saying.

The International Film Festival of India 2021 will be organized in Goa from November 20 to November 28. Last year, the award for the ‘Indian Film Personality of The Year’ was conferred to veteran actor-director Biswajit Chatterjee.

The minister also announced that American filmmaker Martin Scorsese and Hungarian filmmaker Istvan Szabo will be conferred Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award at the festival. Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur, while making the announcement on Thursday, said, “Their contributions to the field of Indian cinema spread over decades and their body of work has enthralled audiences across generations. They are Indian cinematic icons who are admired and respected the world over.”

About Hema Malini

The government said in a statement that Malini, born October 16, 1948, in Ammankudi, Tamil Nadu, “is an Indian actress, writer, director, producer, dancer and politician” who made her acting debut in 1963 with the Tamil film IdhuSathiyam and later “entered the Hindi cinema as the lead actress of Sapno Ka Saudagar in 1968”. She has acted in successful titles like Sholay, Seeta Aur Geeta, Baghban, among many others. “Also known as the Dream Girl”, she has won multiple awards for acting and was honored with the Padma Shri in 2000.

 Malini first became an MP in 2003, serving as a member of the Rajya Sabha till 2009. A BJP member, she has been an elected member of the Lok Sabha since 2014, representing Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.

About Prasoon Joshi

About Joshi, the government said in its statement that the CBFC Chairperson “is a poet, writer, lyricist, screenwriter and communication specialist and marketer” who published his “first book of prose and poetry at the age of 17”. He is also the Asia Chairman and CEO of marketing giant McCann World Group India.

 Joshi started as a lyricist in 2001 with Rajkumar Santoshi’s Lajja. “Today he is widely recognized in the country for keeping the great tradition of classic poetry and literature alive in the mass consciousness,” the government statement mentioned. “Through his writing in films like Taare Zameen Par, Rang De Basanti, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Neerja and Manikarnika, Delhi 6 and many more, he has rekindled the faith that one can give constructive direction to the society through high caliber work in the popular genre”.

 Apart from writing the famous campaign song for Modi “Main deshnahinjhuknedoonga”, before the 2019 General Elections, Joshi had conducted a much-publicized interview of the Prime Minister in London, where he repeatedly appreciated Modi for being like a ‘fakeer’.

 In 2019, the government had also appointed Joshi to the Modi-headed Nehru Memorial Museum and Library Society, under which the government is building a new museum of Prime Ministers

Moreover, IFFI will be organized between November 20 and 28 in Goa. For the first time, OTT platforms will participate in the IFFI this year.