Pune to celebrate Shantaram's birth centenary

pune: noted film director yash chopra will inaugurate the v. shantaram birth centenary celebrations in the city, which are being organised by aashay film club and the pune municipal corporation (pmc), on monday. senior director shyam benegal will be the chief guest. addressing a press conference here on friday, aashay secretary virendra chitrao said audio-visual programmes on the legendary film-maker would be organised from august 13 to 21 in the city, to acknowledge the contribution of late shantaram, who based his career in pune.besides chopra and benegal, the inaugural function at balgandharva rang mandir will be attended by minister for education and culture ramkrishna more, mayor datta gaikwad, kiran v. shantaram and marathi film director ram gabale. a special musical programme, 'sangeet shantaram', based on songs from shantaram's films, will be held on august 14. clippings showing satyajit ray, ramesh sippy, govind nihalani, naushad and yash chopra recounting memories of v. shantaram will be shown during the programme. a festival of films directed by v. shantaram will be held at the national film archive theatre from august 15 to 21. these include navrang, do ankhe bara haath, dr. kotnis ki amar kahani, jhanak jhanak payal baaje, pinjra, kunku and amar bhupali. a documentary on v. shantaram, titled a portrait of a pioneer, made by madhura jasraj, will also be screened. the film festival is open to the public, while admission to the inaugural function and 'sangeet shantaram' programme will be only by invitation. these are available at the aashay film club's office in lic building near alka talkies.