Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Bhojpuri industry On a High

The glory of Bhojpuri films and culture is soaring new highs by the day. Recently actor-parliamentarian Govinda was appointed the official Brand Ambassador of the Bhojpuri Film Awards (BFA). The Union Minister for Food & Processing Industries, Subodhkant Sahay who was the chief guest of the function announced the actor’s name for the coveted post. It may be recalled that the year 2005 was a turning point when a young active and hardcore Bhojpuri film lover Vinod Gupta did something that no one dared to do in the last 45 years. He started the Bhojpuri Film Awards. He talks about his plans...


When do you plan to hold the next year’s awards ceremony?

We have planned to hold the 2nd Bhojpuri Film Awards on February 16 at the Goregaon Sports Club, the same venue where the ceremony was held last year. This time we have hired a bigger ground while the last year’s venue has been hired as a parking place for all VIP vehicles.


What do you feel is the reason for the growth of Bhojpuri films?


According to me, Bhojpuri films got a boost with the release of Sasura Bada Paisewala and since then there has been no looking back for the Bhojpuri film industry. Moreover, the Bhojpuri audience which likes to see more of their own culture has been ever-growing. And to top it all most films released after that have been successful.


Last year you had Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu as your chief guests at the function. Who do you plan to bring in this year?

Last year we started the awards as we felt the need to do something to encourage the Bhojpuri film industry. It was indeed touching that Dilipsaab and Sairaji consented to be a part of the ceremony. I am indebted to them forever and I was not surprised when an impressed Sairaji launched a Bhojpuri film after that. As for the next guest, we are going to spring a surprise.

After Ganga, do you think Bhojpuri films will go big-budget?

Firstly, I would like to thank Deepak Sawant for producing a Bhojpuri film even though he is a Maharashtrian. Talking about the budget, I feel that filmmakers shouldn’t broaden their budget. For incresing the budget would give rise to several problems as faced by the Hindi film industry.

Why did you choose Govinda as your brand ambassador?

Govinda’s roots lies in the Bhojpuri belt. His mother Nirmala Devi hails from Varanasi. In most of his films, Govinda has mouthed a lot of Bhojpuri dialogues. I was delighted when he said that he would be available to us whenever we needed him and that he would leave no stone unturned to serve the industry to the best of his abilities. In short we selected Govinda so that the Bhojpuri industry gets a further boost.

How would a common man get access to the awards ceremony?

Very soon we will start with the publicity. We shall be putting up hoardings across the city. All one has to do is to go and collect their passes from nominated centres.

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