Is Sunjay Dutt Sentence Appropiate

Do you think six years of jail for illegal possession of weapons pertaining to the '93 serial blasts for Sanjay Dutt is too harsh?
The only legal road ahead for Sanjay Dutt is to approach the Supreme Court. The actor will have to file an appeal against the conviction and sentencing and seek bail as soon as possible



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http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2007/08/01/india-sanjay-dutt-and-law/

Sunjay Dutt Verdict Stuns Bollywood

The entire film industry is stunned by the verdict on their beloved Sanjay Dutt, who enjoys tremendous goodwill among his colleagues.
Most of the stars feel that the sentence was too harsh.And keeping the sentiments aside, the A-list Bollywood star's time in jail will mean huge losses to the industry.At the Dutt neighbourhood in Pali Hil screen legends Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu are heartbroken"Dilip Kumar and I are heartbroken. We are very close to the Dutt family. I feel the punishment is too harsh. People have forgotten the circumstances of those times. We were getting repeated threats. We need police patrols at nights.What kind of justice is this? We don't have the strength to help Sanjay. Even Sunil Dutt is no more. Sanjay, I admire the way you are holding up," said Saira Bano.Not far away the usually outspoken director, producer Mahesh Bhatt struggles for words to express his sense of disappointment..It was in Mahesh Bhatt's Naam in 1986 that marked his successful return to Bollywood after a year-and-a-half in drug rehab."I am with Sanjay Dutt. Whatever he did was in his misguided youth. He will always have my support," said Bhatt.Many of Sanjay's close stars especially those from the cult Munnabhai series were too upset to speak to the media. Several of them even switched off their phones.
"It's too harsh. He has been through enough," said Kunal Kohli, director.
Subhash Ghai who was shooting in Switzerland sent in an SMS.
There is shock and grief the film industry. And there is also worry of financiers and producers of nearly Rs 50 crore that rides on Sanjay Dutt.

Fans of Sanjay Dutt demonstrate for him in Bhopal on Tuesday

Kaafila to open in India and Pakistan

Sunny Deol starrer Kaafila will become the first film in the history of Indian cinema to get a simultaneous India-Pakistan release on August 10.

Based on a true story about human trafficking, the buzz and expectations are rising for Kaafila leading to an increase in demand for the promos in Pakistan.

After a high court Pakistan that gave full clearance to the film, more than 20 promos are screened every day in Pakistani theatres from July 27.

"We are very happy that Kaafila, a film based on human trafficking, a global concern today, is being screened in India, Pakistan and the world over at the same time. We are looking at the film forging relationships between our countries further," said film director Amitoj Maan. Mann also plays an important role in the film.

Sunjay Dutt Gets 6yr in Imprisonment

Sanjay Dutt was on Tuseday(31-july-07)sentenced to six years in prison for illegal possession of arms in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.
->Dutt sentenced to six years in prison
->Dutt's bail cancelled; will be taken into custody right away
->Dutt asks judge to be allowed to call his sister, daughter
->Dutt asked to pay a fine of Rs 25,000
->Dutt can apply for bail later
->Yusuf Nullwala gets 5 years in jail
In his observation on Sanjay Dutt the judge said that acquisition of guns showed scant respect for law.The judge cancelled Dutt's bail and he will be taken into custody right away. He has been fined a sum of Rs 25,000.
However, Dutt's lawyers said that they will appeal in the Supreme Court
Soon after the verdict was pronounced Dutt asked the judge to be allowed to call his daughter and also pleaded for few days to surrender.
Earlier, the judge had refused the probation report of Dutt and other accused Yusuf Nullwala and Kersi Adajania.He also said that Dutt committed the offence and also made others do so. He further observed that Dutt made Nullwala an offender by making him destroy the weapon.Nullwala has been sentenced to five years in prison while Kersi gets two years in jail.One of the aides of Sanjay Dutt, Russi Mulla who was also accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case has been let off by the special TADA court.Mulla will be given probation on surety of Rs 1 lakh and will be under observation for a year.The trial in the Mumbai serial blasts case finally came to an end with all 100 convicted being sentenced. The serial blasts on March 12, 1993 had killed 257 people.

Cash Release Delayed by a week

Cash, starring Ajay Devgan, Zayed Khan and Riteish Deshmukh, was cleared by the censor board earlier this week with a UA certificate.However, the film can only be released as per the new schedule after the court's clearance.
Hassled and tired, director Anubhav Sinha said: "The last week has been an ordeal. We've been in and out of court trying to get Cash released on time. Unfortunately, we couldn't make it this Friday. Never mind. Next week we'll be on, and all the stress would be vindicated."
A financial and legal tussle between the producers of the Anubhav Sinha -directed Cash has taken its toll on the slick flick's release, delaying it by a week - from July 27 to August 3.One of the producers, Anish Ranjan, told IANS: "It's a big blow for us. We had selected July 27 because we had two clear weeks (advantage), what with Pritish Nandy Communications Bow Barracks Forever releasing on July 27 and Anil Kapoor's Gandhi My Father falling into an entirely different genre. Now with the film releasing on August 3, one precious week is lost. The publicity and posters for this Friday's release were on full throttle.

Partner heading for a huge Hit

Partner was always expected to get a big opening but the sort of business it has done till now is way above expectations. According to the producers, the film grossed 26 crore in India in its first three days.

The film did see usual drop in collections on Monday but nothing alarming and is expected to see the weekdays out with collections ranging from 45-65%.

As of now the film is certain to be a hit unless something very dramatic happens and collections just collapse which is unlikely. The next two weeks will determine whether the film becomes a superhit or better.


If the film can show the regular 50% fall in collections with Cash releasing on Friday then it may well be on to superhit status. That is a feat achieved by no film in the hindi film market this year except the Hollywood release Spiderman 3.

The overseas collections are well above expectations as the masala fare was not expected to do that well but as of now the film is heading for 17-20 crore run from that circuit as well.

The film has emerged the biggest success ever for Eros Multimedia Pvt Ltd since they started acquiring worldwide rights. At 30 crore the film has been a bargain acquisition for Eros.

Read : Weekly box office collections report of Partner

Amitabh turns Gambler

Amitabh Bachchan is all set to portray a gambler's role for director Leena Yadav's Teen Patti. The film also stars Arshad Warsi.

Yadav had earlier directed Bachchan's daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai in the rather unusual Shabd.

The Big B have to be adept at playing cards to essay his character.

"And I'm terrible with cards!" Bachchan exclaimed. He has earlier played a cards whiz in Shakti Samanta's The Great Gambler. But that was deacades ago.

So can his co-star Arshad help him here?

"Not at all!" chuckles Arshad. "I can't play cards ... nor do I gamble. But I can fake anything!"

But he sure is looking forward to working with the superstar.

"I've waited really long to do a film with Mr Bachchan. Though we've done an ad together we've never really shared screen space," he said.

Sholay renamed to Aag

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma’s much hyped remake of Sholay was re-titled as Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag. Delhi High court has approved the release of the remake of Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay by changing the title of the film.

Delhi High Court has approved his films new name and also ordered him to change all character names. The most popular character of the film Gabbar Singh will be called Babban Singh, Basanti renamed to Ghungroo, Veeru to Virendra Chavan, Radha to Devi and Jai to Jai Ranade. While the other characters from the original film like Soorma Bhopali and Sambha are changed to Rambhabhai and Tambhe.

Earlier, producer G. P. Sippy's grandson Sascha Sippy and Shan Uttam Singh had filed a lawsuit to permanently restrain Varma from releasing the film. The court has asked them to push their remaining claims in this matter after watching the film.

Sunny Deol to direct a Film

The success of the Deols' family-film Apne has given the sleeping lion Sunny Deol a chance to rise and shine as never before. Sunny has taken several hard decisions. One of them is to turn director with a film called Man.

"My Apne writer Neeraj Pathak narrated this subject and I instantly fell for it. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the project on the road because I got busy with Apne. Now that Apne has been accepted so warmly, I've gathered the courage to revive that project. And yes I'll be directing and producing Man along with Neeraj."

Neeraj will be billed as the co-director of Man. Explains Sunny, "We're working so closely on every aspect of the project, from script to casting, it'd be tough to draw a line between Neeraj's creative input and mine. Therefore, the credit titles will read our names as co-directors."

Interestingly, Sunny has given the film industry several talented directors including Raj Kumar Santoshi and Gurinder Chaddha(who made the aborted London for Sunny). "It's another matter that they've started with me and moved on," laughs Sunny mirthlessly.

Even more interestingly Sunny is the only star from his generation to have taken the plunge as a director. "I directed Dillagi with my brother Bobby and me in the lead eight years ago .I've always been interested in being behind the camera. I took keen interest in the scripting and other technicalities of my acting debut Betaab. Today I think I'm fully prepared to direct.


Earlier, Critics have highly acclaimed Sunn'y directorial debut Dillagi. People even compared him with Raj kapoor, to direct himself ina film. Lets see, what sunny has to offer in Man.

censor fee hiked

The central government of India has approved the proposal of Sharmila Tagore for a significant hike in film certification fees. She had demanded a hike of 300 per cent from the current fee and has got that and more.

It may be good news for the censor board and its chairperson Sharmila Tagore but it's bad tiding for the film industry at large.

Confirming the move, a senior Information and Broadcasting official said that before this the maximum amount taken from the producer of a feature film as cerification fee was Rs 4200.

The fee was earleir hiked in 1966 and 1983. According to the new guidlines, the average certification fee for a feature film will now be in the range of Rs 14,000 to Rs 20,000. In addition, producers will be charged a screening fee of about Rs 1,000 as well.

The decision will not only the feature film industry but also the small-budget regional and educational documentary film industry.

Tagore in her letter to the ministry had written about the poor financial condition of the censor board. She said that the fee collected by the censor board was so little that it hardly met the expenses to censor a particular film.

The certification process requires at least four members of the advisory panel board to watch a film before giving it an U, U/A or A certificate. A sum of Rs 500 is given to each member as sitting fee. If other expenses are added, the cost overshoots the fee charged by the board.

Three Foreign babes in Kaafila

Sunny Deol’s forthcoming movie Kaafila has three foreign heroines – one Bulgarian, one Afghani and one Pakistani.

It is not that the film’s director Ammtoje Mann wanted to create a casting coup and that is why he signed three non-Indian girls in his film that raises the issue of global illegal immigration.

Mann says the three actresses were chosen because they suited the characters that were part of the story.

Kaafila has actress Sana Nawaz playing a feisty Afghan girl who can ride horses, speak the local language Pashto and also fight the Taliban.

Then there is Bulgarian model Paulina Stoynova who plays a Russian girl. She is paired opposite Sunny Deol in the film.

The third heroine is Mona Lisa, a well-known Pakistani actress.

Ammtoje Mann describes Kaafila as an international film. The movie has been shot in Ladakh, Manali, Bulgaria, Ukraine, UK and USA.

Kaafila is set to release on July 27.

Mallika in 100 most beautiful list

Mallika Sherawat seems to be the hot favourite with the Chinese. First it was her role opposite Jackie Chan in The Myth, and then she walked the red carpet at Cannes on his arm and now this! One of Hong Kong's premier magazines has listed her as one of the 100 most beautiful women in Asia.

Cover, which is a leading fashion magazine of Hong Kong, feels their list of 100 most beautiful women in Asia, would not be complete without Mallika.
Besides Mallika, the magazine's list of beautiful women also includes actors, models and socialites and television presenters from all over Asia. The magazine now intends to do a special feature on Mallika in one of their forthcoming issues.

Source: msn.co.in