1.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
2.
International Indian Film Academy Awards
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Instituted in 2000, the ceremony is held in different countries around the world every year with the most recent one being held in Madrid, Spain. The IIFA Utsavam is the South Indian segment of the annual IIFA Awards, the awards were introduced in 2016, around the films released in 2015. The 1st IIFA Utsavam was held on 24 and 25 January 2016 at the Gachibowli Athletic Stadium, Hyderabad, the first awards were presented in 2000 at The Millennium Dome in London, United Kingdom. From then onwards, the awards are held at locations around the world signifying the success of Bollywood. Since 2000, the event has expanded from an event to a three-day celebration, hosting various events. These awards honour films from the calendar year. Amitabh Bachchan is the Brand Ambassador of the IIFA since its inception, in its 10th year, five special awards were introduced, Star of the Decade, Movie of the Decade, Music of the Decade, and Director of the Decade. The following is a listing of all International Indian Film Academy Awards ceremonies since 2000. R. Rahman =10 Most singing awards Shreya Ghoshal =7 Sonu Nigam =4 South Indian International Movie Awards Bollywood Cinema of India IIFA. com Official website IIFA2014 Rocks with Stars at Tampa Bay
3.
Anupam Kher
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Anupam Kher is an Indian actor who has appeared in over 400 films and many plays. Russells 2013 Oscar-winning Silver Linings Playbook, Kher has won the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Comic Role five times. For his performance in the 1988 film Vijay he won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor and he has held the post of chairman of Central Board of Film Certification and National School of Drama in India. He is currently the chairman at Actor Prepares, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri in 2004 and the Padma Bhushan in 2016 for his contribution in the field of cinema and arts. His wife, actress Kirron Kher, is a Member of the Indian Parliament from Chandigarh, Kher was born on 7 March 1955 in Shimla in a Kashmiri Pandit family. His father was a clerk and he had a modest upbringing, in his struggling days as an actor in Mumbai, he slept on railway platforms. He is an alumnus and a chairperson of the National School of Drama. Some of his roles were in plays performed at the Himachal Pradesh University. Kher made his debut in the 1982 Hindi movie Aagman. Then in 1984 came Saaransh, where 28-year-old Kher played a middle class Maharashtrian man who has lost his son. He has had many comic roles but has played the villain such as his acclaimed role as terrorist Dr. Dang in Karma. For his role in Daddy he received the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Performance and he has starred alongside Hindi Cinemas superstar Shahrukh Khan many times in films such as Darr, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Chaahat, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Mohabbatein, Veer-Zaara and Happy New Year. He ventured into directing with Om Jai Jagadish and has been a producer and he produced and starred in the film Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara. He received the Best Actor Award from the Karachi International Film Festival for his performance, the role of the Police Commissioner Rathor, played by him in critically and commercially acclaimed A Wednesday is also very much appreciated. Kher is known internationally for Bend It Like Beckham, Bride and Prejudice, Speedy Singhs, his appearance on the hit TV show ER, in 2012 he co-starred in the Academy Award-winning Silver Linings Playbook. Kher has written and starred in a play about his own life called Kucch Bhi Ho Sakta Hai, until recently he served as chairman of the Indian Film Censor Board. He is an alumnus of National School of Drama and was its director between 2001 and 2004, in 2007, Anupam Kher, with his batchmate of NSD, Satish Kaushik, started a film production company, Karol Bagh Productions. Their first film, Tere Sang, was directed by Satish Kaushik and he was appointed in 2010 as the goodwill ambassador of the Pratham Education Foundation, which strives to improve childrens education in India
4.
Rekha
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Bhanurekha Ganesan, better known by her stage name Rekha, is an Indian film actress. Despite the success of several of her films, she was often panned for her looks. Rekha has acted in over 180 films in a career spanning over 40 years, throughout her career, she has often played strong female characters and, apart from mainstream cinema, appeared in arthouse films, known in India as parallel cinema. She has won three Filmfare Awards, two for Best Actress and one for Best Supporting Actress, for her roles in Khubsoorat, Khoon Bhari Maang and Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi and her portrayal of a classical courtesan in Umrao Jaan won her the National Film Award for Best Actress. Though her career has gone through periods of decline, she has reinvented herself numerous times and has been credited for her ability to sustain her status. In 2010, she was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India, Rekha was born in Chennai to Tamil actor Gemini Ganesan and Telugu actress Pushpavalli. Her father enjoyed considerable success as an actor and Rekha was to follow in his footsteps and she is an alumnus of the popular Church Park Convent in Chennai. She considers Telugu to be her mother tongue and she also speaks Hindi, Tamil and English fluently. Her parents were not married at the time of her birth, Rekha has one full sister, one half brother and five half sisters. It was in early 1970s, when she was looking for a footing in Bollywood, later, at the peak of her career, Rekha told a magazine interviewer that fathers neglect still rankled and that she had ignored his efforts at reconciliation. Rekha quit school to start a career in acting and she did not have any personal aspirations in this direction, but the troubled financial state of her family compelled her to do so. Rekha appeared as a child in the Telugu film Rangula Ratnam, Rekha made her debut as heroine in the successful Kannada film Operation Jackpot Nalli C. I. D999 with Rajkumar in 1969. In that same year, she starred in her first Hindi film and she later claimed that she was tricked into a kissing scene with the leading actor Biswajit for the overseas market, and the kiss made it to the Asian edition of Life magazine. The film ran into problems, and would not be released until almost a decade later in 1979. She had no interest in acting and was forced to work to sustain her family financially. Still a teenager, acclimatising herself to her new surroundings was an uneasy process, coming from the South, she did not speak Hindi and struggled to communicate with co-workers, and was constantly missing her mother, who was critically ill. Moreover, she was required to follow a strict diet and she had to learn Hindi, as that was not her naturally spoken language. Sawan Bhadon became a hit, and Rekha – a star overnight, despite the success of the film, she was often scorned for her looks
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Asha Bhosle
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Asha Bhosle, is an Indian singer. She is best known as a singer in Hindi cinema. Bhosles career started in 1943 and has spanned six decades. She has done playback singing for over a thousand Bollywood movies, in addition, she has recorded several private albums and participated in numerous solo concerts in India and abroad. Bhosle is the sister of playback singer Lata Mangeshkar, apart from Hindi, she has sung in over 20 Indian and foreign languages. In 2006, Asha Bhosle stated that she had sung over 12,000 songs, in 2011, she was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history. The Government of India honoured her with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2000, in 2013, she made her debut as an actress in the film Mai, and received critical acclaim for her performance. Asha Bhosle was born in the hamlet of Goar in Sangli. Into the musical family of Master Deenanath Mangeshkar, who belongs to Marathi-speaking Gomantak Maratha Samaj and her father was an actor and classical singer on Marathi Musical stage. When she was nine years old, her father died, the family moved from Pune to Kolhapur and then to Mumbai. She and her elder sister Lata Mangeshkar began singing and acting in films to support their family and she sang her first film song Chala Chala Nav Bala for the Marathi film Majha Bal. The music for the film was composed by Datta Davjekar and she made her Hindi film debut when she sang the song Saawan Aaya for Hansraj Behls Chunariya. Her first solo Hindi film song was for the movie Raat Ki Raani, at the age of 16, she eloped with 31-year-old Ganpatrao Bhosle, marrying him against her familys wishes. In the early 1960s, prominent playback singers like Geeta Dutt, Shamshad Begum, and Lata Mangeshkar dominated the singing for the female lead, Asha used to get the assignments they refused, singing for the bad girls and vamps, or songs in the second-grade movies. In the 1950s, she sang more songs than most playback singers in Bollywood, Most of these were in low budget B or C-grade films. Her earliest songs were composed by A R Qureshi, Sajjad Hussain, and Ghulam Mohammed, singing in Sangdil, composed by Sajjad Hussain, she got reasonable recognition. Consequently, film director Bimal Roy gave her a chance to sing in Parineeta, Raj Kapoor signed her to sing Nanhe Munne Bachche with Mohammed Rafi in Boot Polish, which gained popularity. O. P. Nayyar gave Asha a break in C. I. D and she first achieved success in B. R. Chopras Naya Daur, composed by him
6.
Rajesh Khanna
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Rajesh Khanna was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who is known for his work in Hindi cinema. He was referred to as the first superstar and the superstar of Indian cinema. He starred in 18 consecutive solo hit films in the period 1969 to 1972 and he made his debut in 1966 with Aakhri Khat. Through his career he appeared in more than 160 feature films and 17 short films and he received the Filmfare Best Actor Award three times and the BFJA Awards for Best Actor four times. In 1991, he was awarded the Filmfare Special Award and in 2005 and he was the highest paid Indian actor from 1970 to 1987 where Amitabh Bachchan shared the same tag with Khanna from 1980 to 1987. He was also a Lok Sabha member of the Indian National Congress from New Delhi constituency from 1992 to 1996 and he married Dimple Kapadia in March 1973, eight months before her debut film Bobby was released and had two daughters from the marriage. Their elder daughter Twinkle Khanna is married to actor Akshay Kumar, after being critically ill, Khanna died on 18 July 2012. Khanna has been posthumously awarded Indias third highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan and his father had migrated from pre-partitioned Pakistan to Gali Tiwarian in Amritsar. His biological parents were Lala Hiranand and Chandrani Khanna, Lala worked as headmaster of the MC High School in Burewala, Vehari District, Punjab, Pakistan. His adoptive parents belonged to a family of railway contractors who had moved from Lahore to Bombay in 1935, Khanna lived in Saraswati Niwas in Thakurdwar near Girgaon, Mumbai. He attended St. Sebastian’s Goan High School with his friend Ravi Kapoor, Khanna gradually started taking interest in theatre, did a lot of stage and theatre plays in his school and college day, and won many prizes in inter-college drama competitions. In 1962 Khanna played a wounded soldier in the play Andha Yug and impressed with his performance. Khanna became a rare newcomer who struggled in his own MG sports car to get work in theatre, Khanna did his first two years of Bachelor of Arts in Nowrosjee Wadia College in Pune from 1959 to 1961. Khanna later studied in K. C, College, Mumbai and Jeetendra studied from Siddharth Jain College. Khanna tutored Jeetendra for his first film audition, Khannas uncle KK Talwar changed Khannas first name to Rajesh when he decided to join films. His friends and his wife called him Kaka, Rajesh Khanna was one of eight finalists in the 1965 All India Talent Contest organised by United Producers and Filmfare from more than 10,000 contestants. Sippy and Nasir Hussain were the first to sign Rajesh Khanna after he won the contest, Aakhri Khat was India’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 40th Oscar Academy Awards in 1967. Khanna in an interview to Hindu newspaper said, Though Aakhri Khat is my first film, I received my first break as an actor in Ravindra Daves
7.
Dharmendra
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Dharmendra is an Indian film actor. In 1997, he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Hindi cinema and his starring roles in action films earned him nicknames such as Action King and He-Man. One of his most notable roles was in Sholay and he has been a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India, representing Bikaner constituency in Rajasthan from Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2012, he was honoured Indias third highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan by the Government of India, Dharmendra was born Dharam Singh Deol in Nasrali, a village in Ludhiana district, Punjab to Kewal Kishan Singh Deol and Satwant Kaur. His ancestral village is Dangon, near Pakhowal, Ludhiana and he spent his early life in the village of Sahnewal and studied at Government Senior Secondary School at Lalton Kalan, Ludhiana, where his father was the village schools headmaster. He did his intermediate from Ramgarhia College, Phagwara in 1952, Dharmendra won the Filmfare magazines new talent award and came to Mumbai from Punjab looking for work. He made his debut with Arjun Hingoranis Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere in 1960 and he had a supporting role in the film Boy Friend in 1961, and was cast as the romantic interest in several films between 1960-67. He had a hero role in Phool Aur Patthar, which was his first action film. It has been speculated for a time that Meena Kumari and Dharmendra had an intimate relationship in the 1960s. Phool Aur Paththar became the film of 1966 and Dharmendra received his first Filmfare nomination for Best Actor. His performance in Anupama was critically acclaimed and his comic timing in comedy films like Tum Haseen Main Jawan, Do Chor, Chupke Chupke, Dillagi, Naukar Biwi Ka was appreciated. His most successful pairing was with Hema Malini, who went on to become his future wife and his most notable acting performances include Satyakam with Hrishikesh Mukherjee, and Sholay, which is listed by Indiatimes as one of the Top 25 must see Bollywood films of all time. In 2005, the judges of the 50th annual Filmfare Awards awarded Sholay the special distinction of Filmfare Best Film of 50 Years, along with Rajesh Khanna he made a cameo appearance in the 1986 B film Mohabbat Ki Kasam. He has worked with directors, each with a different style of filmmaking. His longest collaboration was with director Arjun Hingorani from 1960-91, Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere was the debut film of Dharmendra as an actor and Arjuns first directorial venture with Dharmendra as the lead hero. Kahani Kismat Ki, Khel Khilari Ka, Katilon Ke Kaatil and Kaun Kare Kurbanie where Arjun Hingorani was the producer and the director and he worked with director Pramod Chakravorty in Naya Zamana, Dream Girl, Azaad and Jugnu. Dharmendra has played roles in many films such as Yakeen as both the hero and the villain, Samadhi as father and son, Ghazab as twin brothers. Dharmendra has worked with all members of the Kapoor family except for Prithviraj and he periodically made films in his native tongue of Punjabi, starring in Kankan De Ole, Do Sher, Dukh Bhanjan Tera Naam, Teri Meri Ik Jindri, Putt Jattan De and Qurbani Jatt Di
8.
Asha Parekh
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Asha Parekh is a Bollywood actress, director, and producer. She was one of the top stars in Hindi films from 1959 to 1973, in 1992, she was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India. Parekh is regarded as one of the most successful and influential Hindi movie actresses of all time, Asha Parekh was born into a middle-class Gujarati Jain family on 2 October 1942 in Mumbai, to a father and a Dawoodi Bohra Muslim mother. Parekhs religious upbringing involved worshipping Sai Baba and her mother enrolled her in Indian classical dance classes at an early age and she learned from many teachers including Pandit Bansilal Bharati. Parekh started her career as a child artist under the screen name Baby Asha Parekh in the film Aasmaan, famed film director Bimal Roy saw her dance at a stage function and cast her at the age of twelve in Baap Beti. The films failure disappointed her and even though she did a couple more child roles, precisely eight days later, film producer Subodh Mukherjee and writer-director Nasir Hussain cast her as the heroine in Dil Deke Dekho opposite Shammi Kapoor, which made her a huge star. The film also led to a long and fruitful association with Hussain. He went on to cast Parekh as the heroine in six more of his films, Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai, Phir Wohi Dil Laya Hoon, Teesri Manzil, Baharon Ke Sapne, Pyar Ka Mausam and she also did a cameo in his film Manzil Manzil. Hussain also got her involved in distribution of films for 21 years, director Shakti Samanta gave her more dramatic roles in her other favourite films, Pagla Kahin Ka and Kati Patang, the latter earned her the Filmfare Best Actress Award. Many important directors cast her in several of their films, including Vijay Anand, Parekh acted in her mother tongue by starring in three Gujarati films at the height of her fame in Hindi films, the first being Akhand Saubhagyavati, which became a huge hit. She also acted in some Punjabi films, such as Kankan De Ohle opposite Dharmendra and Lambhardarni with Dara Singh, after her days as a leading lady ended, Parekh took on supporting roles as bhabhi and mother, but she called this the awkward phase of her career. So she stopped acting in films, and her friends recommended that she become a television director and she took their advice and became a television director in the early 1990s with the Gujarati serial Jyoti. She formed a company, Akruti, and produced serials like Palash ke Phool, Baaje Payal, Kora Kagaz. She was the president of the Cine Artistes Association from 1994 to 2000, Parekh was the first female chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification of India. She held the post from 1998 to 2001 for which she received no salary but plenty of controversy for censoring films, later, she became the treasurer of the Cine and Television Artists Association and was later elected as one of its officebearers. Asha stopped acting in 1995 to pursue directing and producing television serials, Parekh received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002. She received the Living Legend Award from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce, in 2008, she was a judge on the reality show Tyohaar Dhamaaka on the Indian entertainment channel 9X. In 2017, her autobiography titled The Hit Girl was released, Parekh has remained unmarried, claiming that her reputation of being unapproachable made people hesitate in asking for her hand in marriage
9.
Shabana Azmi
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Shabana Azmi is an Indian actress of film, television and theatre. The daughter of poet Kaifi Azmi and stage actress Shaukat Azmi, she is the alumna of Film and she has also received five Filmfare Awards, and was honored among women in cinema at the 30th International Film Festival of India. In 1988, the Government of India awarded her with Padma Shri, Azmi has appeared in over 120 Hindi and Bengali films in both mainstream and independent cinema, and since 1988 she has acted in several foreign projects. Numerous of her films have been cited as a form of progressivism which portrays Indian society, its customs, in addition to acting, Azmi is a social and womens rights activist. She is the wife of poet and screenwriter Javed Akhtar and she is a Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Population Fund which seeks to spread contraception and abortion in India in order to limit that countrys population. In appreciation of Azmis life and works, the Congress partys government gave her a membership of the Rajya Sabha. Shabana Azmi was born into a Saiyyid Muslim family of Arab origin, in Hyderabad and her parents are Kaifi Azmi and Shaukat Azmi, both of whom were members of the Communist Party of India. Her brother, Baba Azmi, is a cinematographer, shabana was named at the age of eleven by Ali Sardar Jafri. Her parents used to call her Munni, Baba Azmi was named by Prof. Masood Siddiqui to Ahmer Azmi. Her parents had a social life, and their home was always thriving with people. It was not unusual for her to wake up in the morning and find members of the communist party sleeping about, Azmi did her schooling at the premier girls school, Queen Mary School, Mumbai. She completed a degree in Psychology from St. Xaviers College, Mumbai. I really marvelled at that and said, My god, if by going to the Film Institute I can achieve that, Azmi eventually topped the list of successful candidates of 1972. Azmi graduated from the FTII in 1973 and went on to sign on Khwaja Ahmad Abbas Faasla and her first release, however, was Shyam Benegals directorial debut Ankur. Belonging to the genre of neo-realistic films, Ankur is based on a true story which occurred in Hyderabad. Azmi played Lakshmi, a servant and villager who drifts into an affair with a college student who visits the countryside. Azmi was not the choice for the film, and several leading actresses of that time refused to do it. The film went on to become a critical success
