'Kaminey' faces ire of Jagannath priests

A day after priest of the famous Jagannath temple burnt posters protesting against hindi film "Kaminey " for containing ‘‘derogatory reference’’ to Orissa’s reigning deity, the local police on Monday filed a case against the producer of the film alleging blasphemy.

‘‘There’s a scene in the film in which a well-known Hindi phrase, Apna haath Jagannath (self-help is best) is written on the toilet door. A photograph of a scantily-clad woman is alongside. This desecrates the image of our revered god,’’ said Damodar Mahasuar, temple priest.

Police said Kalinga Sena, a Puri-based cultural outfit, had lodged an FIR, alleging blasphemy.

‘‘We have registered a case against the producer for hurting Hindu religious sentiments,’’ said Puri inspector Sudhakar Sahoo.

FIR against KAMINEY film producer UTV

A police complaint on Monday has been filed against UTV motion pictures for the controversial remark in the latest bollywood movie Kaminey.

According to sources, the FIR lodged by Jagannath Sena, has accused the makers of the movie for hurting the sentiments of thousands of devotees of Lord Jagannath. The Sena is actually protesting a particular comment in which the name of Lord Jagannath has been written on a wall, above a nude picture.

“FIR has been registered and our investigations are on,” Sudhakar Sahu, IIC town PS said.

“We have also submitted a memorandum seeking for a law so that nobody defames religion and God of others,” Priyadarshan Patnaik, Convener of Jagannath Sena said.

Earlier, the sevayats on Sunday burnt the posters of Sahid Kapur and Priyanka Chopra starer movie Kaminey.

Maheswar Mohanty, MLA Puri has also said to discuss the issue with the government. “ I will bring the issue to the notice of the government and ensure that the controversial comment is immediately deleted from the movie,” Mohanty said.

Following the state wide stir against the bollywood film, the authorities of Sruti theatre in Bhubaneswar deleted the controversial scene today.

“Following the stir we have deleted the scene for the film,” Ravi Moharana, manager of the theater said.

As per the authorities, they have also informed the concerned distributors in this regard. Meanwhile, the audiences have also welcomed the movie of the cinema hall owners.“ Being a devotee of Lord Jagannath, such kind of comment is not accepted by us,” Sangita, audience said.

Leader of Prince dance Group Met Orissa CM Patnaik

After scripting history, founder and member of Prince Dance Group, T. Krishna Mohan Reddy arrived in the state and met chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday.

Patnaik congratulated Reddy who enthralled the audiences’ world wide with their magical performance throughout the competition.

“The magician of Orissa has now returned home. The Prince Dance Group is like the, ‘Diwali ka anaar’ for the rest of the rest of the world and they have made us proud,” Patnaik said.

Patnaik also congratulated the entire group for the achievement. “The moment I watched them performing on Sare Jahan Se Acha, I thought that the act was of international standard. Since then we have been under the magical spell of Krishna and his group. The government is also planning something wonderful for the Prince Dance Group,” Patnaik added.

After the talks with Patnaik, Reddy expressed his gratitude towards the people of the state for love and support for Prince Dance Group. Moreover, Reddy has also informed that Patnaik has assured of all possible help for them.

“It was really nice to hear that CM has assured to assist us in our efforts,” Reddy told.

Reddy also thanked the OTV and other corporate houses for supporting them all throughout the show. Prince Dance Group on Sunday won India’s got talent reality show on channel Colors. With this victory, they have won Rs 50 lakh in cash and a Maruti Sukuzi Ritz car.

To a question on whether the group would continue to work as labourers, Reddy replied life is all set for a new beginning. “When we had left for the competition we had no money and now things have changed and we will continue our hard work and bring laurels for the state in international competitions as well,” Reddy said.

Meanwhile, other members of the group are expected to arrive at Berhampur tonight. The entire Ambabua village is also set to welcome their hero’s who have made the entire state proud.

Recession hits Orissa Tech. Education

Around 10,000 engineering seats out of 30,000 seats in the State are remaining vacant which forcing the authorities to go for second Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) on September 6.

As per the JEE authorities, though only two day are left for the counseling process to end, around 10,000 seats in various government and private engineering colleges are lying vacant.

Apart from engineering, 103 MMBS and 174 BDS seats out of the total 750 medical and dental seats are yet to be filled up. Surprisingly, only 400 pharmacy seats have been filled up against the capacity of 950 seats.

In a bid to complete the admissions to the vacant seats in medical (MBBSS and BDS courses), B.Tech, B.Pharm, MDA and MCA Courses, second joint entrance examination would be held on September 6.

Students can submit their applications from August 22 and the last date for submission of Online application form is August 29, 2009. The results would be published on September 11. Counselling would commence on September 15.

The all-conquering members of the Oriya dance troupe 'Prince' -- comprising daily wage earners -- may now justly expect a reception

Cinderella men: Two of the 'Prince' troupe's 24 members overcame polio; their leader is a self-taught choreographer.

fit for kings. Since the moment Bollywood star Rani Mukherjee announced that the dancers from far-flung Ganjam district in Orissa were the winners of the TV reality show, "India's Got Talent", everybody and his brother in the state is doing a jig.

And with good reason. The dancers are not just starry-eyed participants in a hotly contested programme where the ultimate prize was Rs 50 lakhand a Maruti Ritz. Nearly every member of the group of 24 has surmounted individual odds -- two of them have overcome polio -- and shown their unbeatable spirit.

Coming from different parts of Ganjam, the dancers displayed perfect symmetry of determination and talent to outperform groups from across India -- including an improbable 10 in the grand finale. Their winning submission was a performance based on 'Dashavatar' -- the 10 avataras of Lord Vishnu.

"We'd hoped to win. Now that we have achieved our mission, we're thrilled!" exclaimed troupe leader Krishna Mohan Reddy (26) on phone from Mumbai. The self-taught dancer-choreographer told TOI, "The prize money has come as a blessing as most of us were in dire need of it. Some needed to build houses, others have sisters to get married."

Krishna -- from a nondescript village Ambapua on the outskirts of Berhampur, Ganjam -- said he now plans to set up a dance academy. "We'll all contribute part of our prize money for the institute," he said.

The Berhampur-based troupe -- their story sounds a bit like the rags-to-riches tale of Jamal Malik in 'Slumdog Millionaire' -- has become a statewide obsession ever since its members startled everybody with their fleet-footed show. Such was "Prince's" impact that CM Naveen Patnaik declared his vote for the group. "Their performance has been magical and they have made Orissa proud," he said after congratulating Krishna and his boys.

'Prince' was formed four years ago. Two of its members, Padmanabha Sahu (24) and Telu Tarini (13), suffer from polio. Most dancers are wage earners in their teens or 20s. They practised in Ambapua and on Gopalpur beach, and have now left their footprints on the sands of time.

Source -Times of India

PRINCE DANCE GROUP - SA RE JHANSE ACHA

PRINCE DANCE GROUP - SOME MEMORIES