Home | Arts - Entertainment | Bollywood
Bollywood stars Dev Anand and Manisha Koirala's trip to attend a film festival here at the invitation of Nepal's royal regime has come under a cloud with the disclosure that the organisers misappropriated tens of thousands of rupees from the treasury. In July 2005, four months after King Gyanendra dismissed the government, the new Film Development Board, headed by royalists, organised what they called Nepal's first national film festival. This week, the new head of the Film Development Board tabled the expenses incurred by the festival before the parliamentary committee, which show the event had a budget of Nepali Rs.8 million. There are no bills for some of the overheads and some are wildly exaggerated. Three members of the board went on a junket to India, ostensibly to invite Indian stars, and spent Rs.130,000. Besides Dev Anand and Manisha Koirala, no other Indian star turned up at the festival due to the controversy surrounding it and King Gyanendra's government. The festival organisers claimed Rs.180,000 from the festival fund in the name of obtaining air tickets for the two stars and three members of their retinue and Rs.3 million for a banquet. Manisha's participation in the festival resulted in the king making her father Prakash Koirala a minister in the royal cabinet. Last month, Prakash Koirala was made to rue the decision when he was summoned by a commission and interrogated about his role in suppressing the anti-king protests. Inaugurated by Queen Komal and attended by the king himself, the festival honoured Dev Anand with a special Film Excellence Award. The organisers said the award went to the Bollywood star because of his contribution in promoting Nepal and the Nepali film industry, primarily by shooting his hit film "Hare Ram Hare Krishna" in the Himalayan kingdom. However, both the festival and the award were questioned by dissidents, who said Dev Anand was chosen not because of his contribution to the Nepali film industry but because he was a friend of the king's father, the late king Mahendra. After mounting opposition to his authoritarian rule forced King Gyanendra to step down this year, Nepal's parliament formed a committee of MPs to look into the misuse of state money by the royal regime. Asked about the controversy over his award, Dev Anand had shrugged it off. "At this point in my life and career, I don't chase after awards," he had said. "They come chasing after me."
Article Source: http://www.share.onlypunjab.com
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
