Timesexclusive update

Director of a firm arrested for service tax evasion

Mumbai, Jan 18 The Service Tax Department has arrested a director of a firm for allegedly defaulting tax to the tune of Rs 7 crore, officials said here today.

The department sleuths said that he had been defaulting service tax payment since 2008.

"We have arrested Praksah Shaktivel Thevar, director of M/S Captain Facility Service Ltd (CFSL)," confirmed Sushil Solanki, Commissioner of Service Tax.

The court remanded Thevar in judical custody till January 29

Won't ignore any mistakes on 'DID' now: Feroz Khan

New Delhi, Jan 18: "Dance India Dance 4 (DID)" is nearing its end, and choreographer Feroz Khan, who co-judges the dance reality show, is now in no mood to take any slip-ups by contestants lightly. Be it costume slip-ups or prop mismanagement - things he would have let go off earlier, will also be looked at with intricacy, he said. "Now the end of the season is here. We don't let any mistake go by now. Whether it is costume or prop, we make sure to look into every small detail. The performances have to be perfect in everything," Feroz said. He co-judges the show with fellow choreographers Mudassar Khan and Shruti Merchant. The team of the dance reality show was present in the capital recently to create a buzz for the upcoming finale Feb 22, as well as thank the viewers for their undying support to the show. "There is already a buzz for the show. We got to know that we get about 25-30 lakh votes which means that people like the show. We were here (Delhi) to thank everyone," he said. Feroz's own filmography includes choreographing Bollywood numbers like "Maa da laadla" from "Dostana" and "Move your body" from "Johnny Gaddaar". He has also worked as an assistant to ace choreographer Farah Khan. He admits that Bollywood projects have taken a backseat for him while "Dance India Dance" is on. But he said that his clients understand it. "I had initially thought that I will take out time. But once I realised how much time this (DID) takes , I knew that I will not have the time to look into anything else. I did have some projects which I have kept on hold...everyone understands you once you form a good rapport with them," he said. To add to the list of his achievements, the choreographer was also recently featured in the latest commercial by Apple for iPad Air. The company wanted to feature real people who use their iPad on a regular basis and were impressed with Feroz, who does most of his work on his iPad. "For their commercial, I directed and choreographed a portion in Agra with 40 more dancers. The Apple team was present there and were fascinated with the way I work. Later, they called me from America and even interviewed me," he said.     History in reel time Special Arrangement Gulshan Mahal, the site for the museum The National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai, due to open this year, will fill a long-felt gap in chronicling. In India, the power of the visual medium is ruthlessly underestimated. Nehruvian belief, which considered cinema merely a form of entertainment and believed that a poor country like ours should have better priorities, is still not completely dead. Films serve the same historical purpose as other forms of art such as painting, songs, books or theatre, representing social and cultural attitudes about gender, class, caste and ethnicity. Our films have not only chronicled wars, leaders and elections, they have documented other important aspects of our social histories. They give a sense of what it was to walk in Bombay’s Victoria Terminus in the 1950s, or the efficiency of Calcutta’s trams in the 1960s, or how mill workers of Bombay struggled through the 1970s. Cinema is an important aspect of the subaltern history of a nation, and possibly the most impactful, given its visual capacity. But despite its obvious importance, cinema in India was not taken seriously until recently. Not enough academic study was done on the subject and preservation of film and its promotion was half-hearted at best. Things are changing, though. A classic example is the National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai. “The history of cinema is also the history of humanity,” says curator Amrit Gangar, who fought several difficulties on this journey to chronicle Indian cinema through the ages. Brian Shoesmith, author of several books on Indian cinema, talks of its three stages. The first was the cottage industry stage, where individual filmmakers raised money and shot movies. This stage is very tough to document, says Gangar. “During the silent era (1912 to 1934) over 1,300 films were made but the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) has in its vault not even one per cent of this. That’s mainly because it was established as late as 1964, 17 long years after independence. Many of the films had been destroyed in studios that often caught fire; they were inflammable nitrate-based,” he says. The second stage of Indian cinema, according to Shoesmith, was the studio system in which films were produced in well-equipped studios, run like a factory, with artistes on a regular pay roll. Of the very first Indian talkie, Alam Ara (1931), there is nothing left, except a few stills. When major studios were closed in the late 1950s, records were not preserved. Historians thus turn to film literature of that period. “The most important sources of information are song-synopsis booklets published earlier by producers, distributors or exhibitors of films as part of publicity material. These booklets not only provided song lyrics and synopses but also crucial details of cast and credits, including the labs where they were processed,” says Gangar. Other secondary sources are film journals, posters, lobby cards, stills, pamphlets, and so on. “To obtain as many as possible original displayable sources was a major curatorial challenge,” adds Gangar. In the third stage, the star era, the industry revolved around stardom and stars who were brands in their own right. Now, the country slowly learned the importance of preserving film. The Museum will showcase the long journey of Indian cinema, beginning with silent movies to modern-day filmmaking. It will not only have clips from benchmark films like Raja Harishchandra by Dadashaheb Phalke, but also a section housing posters, booklets and other mementos from the past eras of Hindi and regional movies. A walk along this corridor will be a virtual journey across the 100-year-old history of Indian cinema. The museum, built on the Victorian heritage site of Gulshan Mahal, a part of the premises of the Films Division, on Dr. G. Deshmukh Marg, Mumbai has a budget of nearly Rs. 120 crore and is one of the Ministry of Culture’s most ambitious projects Farooque Shaikh was a leader of 'namazis' in the unit: Muzaffar Ali MUMBAI: Thursday's memorial for Farooque Shaikh by 11 directors in Mumbai left an indelible mark on all those who were privileged to attend. Director Muzaffar Ali remembered the actor that was a constant in his films. His tribute became a moving reel spanning Shaikh's faith in organised religion, his affinity for the elegant chikankari fabric, and his fabled indifference to motoring. Ali began with Shahryar's couplet in 'Umrao Jaan' that fans have been reciting frequently in despair during the past 20 days. 'Har mulaqat ka anjaam judaai kyon hai, Ab to reh reh ke yehi baat sataati hai hamein'. His association with Farooque Shaikh spanned three pictures, 'Gaman', 'Umrao Jaan' and 'Anjuman', all filmed at least partly in Lucknow. "In each of these, his character held a mirror to society. He reflected the struggles of Avadh so well that I could not think of doing anything with any other artiste." Muzaffar Ali first met Shaikh when they both worked with Air India during the 1970s. The actor was reportedly a flight purser for a brief period. "I was casting for 'Gaman'. Farooque had a sensitive and vulnerable look, which is what I wanted for a village youth who comes to the city to seek employment and becomes a taxi driver. And he went beyond acting, he came with such credibility he took a limited role to great heights." Sai Paranjpye, who could not make it from Pune owing to ill health, had said a few days ago that Shaikh was punctual at all times, whether for work or for prayer. He would resolutely take a break to attend Friday namaz during the shoot of 'Chashme Buddoor' and 'Katha' and the unit respected his wish. At Thursday's memorial, Muzaffar Ali narrated a similar experience which evoked gentle laughter amid the assembly. "We were shooting 'Gaman' in Lucknow and shortly the unit of Shashi Kapoor's 'Junoon' arrived too. We soon discovered that both units was divided into two groups of people who rose early. One was the group of namazis -- that was led by Shaikh -- the other was a group of 'charasis' (drug addicts) led by...'' He did name the other gentleman in question and the hall burst into laughter for he later rose to become a prominent director. "Slowly the unit and indeed the village was divided into namazis and 'charasis'. Villagers of each kind began to gravitate towards each group,'' he laughed. He said Shaikh was a late riser but would wake up in time for the 'Fajr' (morning) namaz and go back to sleep. Most fans know by now that although the actor was assigned to play the role of a taxi driver in 'Gaman', he was not comfortable driving a car. Muzaffar Ali smiled as he recalled how he would place the camera on the bonnet and himself crawl under to operate the clutch-brake. Shaikh was not particularly enamoured by his part in 'Umrao Jaan', often remarking how he looked like a 'halwai ka beta' than a 'nawabzadah'. He felt that he and Raj Babbar paled before the character assigned to Naseeruddin Shah. But his director begs to differ. ""In 'Umrao' and in every role, Shaikh became typecast as a fine gentleman because he brought a credibility to that image. Emotion was his forte. In fact, I am reminded of a beautiful line written by Javed Siddiqi in 'Tumhari Amrita', ki agar kucch nahin hota toh aankhen nahin bheega kartin.'' Any account of Farooque Shaikh by Muzaffar Ali would seem incomplete if he did not mention how while shooting for 'Anjuman', the actor developed an affinity for white chikankari kurta-pyjama. "He fell in love with this fabric and would roam the world in his simple outfit. He and I also shared a love of horses. I own a few myself but he owned a few more than necessary,'' Ali laughed. "He promised me he would gift my daughter a horse should she learn how to ride." The two gentleman last met at a function held to celebrate 100 years of Indian cinema in Bangladesh. Ali stood and watched as all the Bengali ladies went into raptures over his friend. "Who would have thought we would never meet again. I was shocked out of my wits when I received the news. He had displayed no symptoms of any illness, he was a happy and proud man. Proud of his life, proud of all his relationships. My heart reaches out to his children.." Muzaffar Ali broke into tears as he looked towards Shaikh's daughters. Young Sanaa, no doubt the pride that Ali spoke about, nodded her acceptance.    Kala Ghoda's got competition With its first-ever culture festival, Thane is all set to emerge from Mumbai's shadows as an international hub of art, music and theatre  Recently, furtive lovers who are a staple presence at the quaint Upvan lake in Thane reached it to find a dramatically different scene. The private moments they sought to steal would have to be found elsewhere because Upvan's vast periphery had been swept clean and spruced up with ornamental lights; and instead of the sprinkling of hawkers, curiously there stood scores of pristine stalls and stages. As many as 350,000 visitors, including families, students and artists, thronged the venue between January 10 and 12 for the city's first-ever art festival. With walk-ins from Kalyan-Dombivali, Navi Mumbai and even parts of Mumbai, the three-day event generated enough interest to ensure its recurrence in coming years, and the establishment of Thane as a growing hub for culture. Mumbai's smaller neighbour - known for its lakes and patronage of Marathi theatre and natya sangeet - was treated to rare international acts, performances by Indian classical music stalwarts such as Zakir Hussain and L Subramaniam, contemporary art and experimental street theatre. Railways, metro rail projects to decongest Mumbai fail to take off  While the state govt opposes Indian Railways project citing FSI norms, metro projects face land acquisition issues and protests by locals Mumbai Metro Trial In November last year, the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held a meeting of top officials from the Planning Commission, Maharashtra government and State chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. The agenda was to take stock of the Rs 22,000 crore Indian railways project to build a new 60 km elevated rail corridor to ease the growing traffic in the metropolis.  Soon after the meeting, the Prime Minister's office issued a statement that a fresh traffic study would be conducted taking into account the Mumbai metro project which is partially on the same alignment.  The state government also made it clear that it will not allow higher floor space index (FSI) to the project which is to be built on the public-private partnership model. The state government also touted its own metro rail projects set up by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The meeting ended without any resolution to Mumbai's traffic woes and exposed the differences between the Central and the State government.   While the state government was lobbying for its Metro project, officials of Reliance Infrastructure, which bagged the second phase of Mumbai Metro part II project in 2009, say the project is as good as dead. The Metro phase two project between Charkop and Mankhurd via Bandra was touted as dream project by the state government to connect western suburbs with the eastern suburbs of Mumbai.  But while walking away from the project, Reliance Infrastructure cited lack of land at Charkop to go ahead with the project.   And in almost a joke at the expense of Mumbai commuters, MMRDA invited bids in September last year for yet another underground metro project worth Rs 23,126-crore between Colaba-Bandra-Seepz to be called Metro III. The 33.5-km corridor will have 26 underground stations and was to be financed by Japan government. The MMRDA has still not disclosed the bidders for the project as yet.  “What is the use of calling in bids, setting up project reports and doing traffic studies for the last 10 years if there is no progress on the ground?” asks a CEO of infrastructure company. "There is no coordination between the railways, MMRDA and the state government to come out with an integrated plan for the Mumbai city," says he.  While the state government is opposing the Indian Railways project citing FSI norms, the metro projects are threatened by land acquisition issues and protests by locals who do not want a metro line to dug up for roads for years and disrupt traffic as it happened in the case of Mumbai Metro phase I project between Ghatkopar and Versova.    Analysts say the viable long-term solution for infrastructure projects is to adopt the integrated project planning approach. The Indian railway project has to be in line with other Metro projects though, analysts say, there is a demand for both projects as Mumbai population is rising very fast. The state government and the MMRDA, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority should coordinate with the Indian Railways so that the project could see the light of the day.  As Mumbai has the world’s most crowded and overloaded railway system in the world, the present railways network is unable to meet the demand.  “There is space for both the elevated railways project and for the metro projects… the proper coordination between the state and the central government authorities will help the city infrastructure projects. The government should also look at the option of setting up railway projects over the sea so as not to disturb the present population. Many cities across the world have already done it (sea-based rail projects),” says the CEO of a leading infrastructure company.