Fellowship Program Launched to Support Emerging Indian Filmmakers
With support from prominent names such as Guneet Monga, Payal Kapadia, Resul Pookutty, and Anjum Rajabali, the Screen Academy will work with top Indian film institutes to provide postgraduate fellowships to students nominated by their schools. These fellowships are intended for students with strong storytelling potential who lack financial resources to pursue formal film education.
The initiative is supported by Founding Patron Abhishek Lodha of the Lodha Foundation. Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Devendra Fadnavis welcomed the launch, emphasising Mumbai's close association with the film industry and the importance of nurturing filmmaking talent.
Anant Goenka, Executive Director of The Indian Express Group, described the Academy as a step toward institutionalising excellence in entertainment and culture. Abhishek Lodha noted the Academy's role in supporting India's soft power and its creative arts sector.
The Screen Academy Fellowships 2025 will provide full financial support for postgraduate studies at FTII Pune, Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute Kolkata, and Whistling Woods International Mumbai. The Academy also plans to expand to include more institutions across the country.
Alongside funding, fellows will receive mentorship from industry leaders, including access to masterclasses, internships, and professional guidance. The selection panel for the fellowship will be headed by Anjum Rajabali.
Leaders from participating institutes expressed support. FTII's Dhiraj Singh noted the value of collaboration with Screen. SRFTI's Samiran Dutta highlighted the relevance for students from diverse backgrounds, and Meghna Ghai Puri of Whistling Woods emphasised the importance of financial access to education.
The Screen Academy will also oversee the Screen Awards, with its members forming the voting body. A Resident Critics Panel has been set up to guide evaluation standards, comprising Dr Priya Jaikumar, Priyanka Sinha Jha, Shubra Gupta, Nikhil Taneja, and Anjum Rajabali.
Founded in 1951, Screen is one of India's oldest film publications. Re-acquired from Disney in 2024 by The Indian Express Group, it now operates in a digital-first format across four languages and reaches 40 million monthly users. It has also recently launched several video series under the Screen banner.
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Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Billionaire inheritance feud spotlights India's messy family succession
An Indian tycoon's sudden death in June has triggered a fierce inheritance battle at an Indian automotive giant. Sunjay Kapur, 53, suffered a heart attack on 12 June while playing polo in Surrey in the UK. He was an heir to Sona Comstar, a $3.6bn (£2.7bn) business empire he inherited from his father. The company, among India's top auto component makers, has a global footprint with 10 plants spread across India, China, Mexico and the US. A polo enthusiast, Kapur moved in the elite social circles of Indian capital Delhi, and reportedly shared a friendship with Prince William. He was married three times - first to designer Nandita Mahtani, then to 90s Bollywood star Karisma Kapoor, before marrying Priya Sachdev, a former model and entrepreneur, in 2017. But weeks after his death, the question of succession has made Kapur and his family the subject of media speculation. At the centre of it is Kapur's mother Rani Kapur, former chairperson of Sona Comstar. On 24 July, Rani Kapur sent a letter to the board of Sona Comstar, raising questions about her son's death and appointments made by the company after that. In the letter, which the BBC has seen, she alleged that Kapur's death was under "highly suspicious and unexplained circumstances". The coroner's office in Surrey told the BBC that after a postmortem, it had determined that Kapur died of natural causes. "The investigation has been closed," the office said. Rani Kapur also claims to have been coerced into signing key documents while under mental and emotional distress from her son's death. "It is unfortunate that while the family and I are still in mourning, some people have chosen this as an opportune time to wrest control and usurp the family legacy," she wrote. She also asked Sona Comstar's board to postpone its annual general meeting (AGM) - which was set for 25 July - to decide on a new director who would be a representative of the family. 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Public shareholders, including banks, mutual funds and financial institutions, hold 71.98% of Sona Comstar, which is listed on Indian exchanges as Sona BLW. The remaining 28.02% is held by promoters via a company called Aureus Investments Pvt Ltd. According to the company's filings, Sunjay Kapur was the sole beneficiary of the RK Family Trust, which controls the promoters' stake in Sona Comstar via Aureus Investments. "Looking at the company structure, at this point of time, Rani Kapur doesn't feature as a registered shareholder so won't have any voting rights. But there is the matter of the RK Family Trust and Aureus investments. We can't really know if Rani holds any direct interest there till the agreement is made public," says Tushar Kumar, a corporate litigator at India's Supreme Court. The Kapur family's feud isn't an isolated case. Some 90% of listed companies in India are family-controlled, yet only 63% have a formal succession plan in place, according to a PwC survey. Kavil Ramachandran of the Indian School of Business says most Indian family businesses operate with "significant ambiguity about specifics". "One such [area] is who owns how much and who inherits and when," he adds. Experts say family involvement without meritocracy and absence of formal agreements complicate matters. "On the demise of the patriarch (or even before), disputes arise, both on ownership and on management, and too much water would have flowed under the bridge for issues to be resolved amicably," said Ketan Dalal, who advises several Indian business families on ownership structures. India Inc. is strewn with bitter succession battles that repeatedly grab headlines. Mukesh Ambani, Asia's richest man, was once embroiled in a very public power struggle with his younger brother over the sprawling Reliance empire after their father Dhirubhai Ambani died in 2002 without leaving a will. It was their mother, Kokilaben, who brokered peace years later. 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Chicago Tribune
16 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Floating Museum lets the public walk through history with latest inflatable, ‘for Mecca'
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San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
The best new food at Outside Lands
When it comes to food, all other music festivals pale in comparison to Outside Lands. The only thing that might make La Russell's set better? A hot dog made with an octopus tentacle. Some of the Bay Area's finest cooking talents are on display every year, and for this weekend's festival, 20 new spots joined the roster. Among the high-profile newcomers are San Mateo Top 100 restaurant Kajiken and San Francisco high-end Indian spot Tiya. After zipping across Golden Gate Park and eating enough caviar to fill up a Mason jar, we've determined these are the best new food vendors at Outside Lands this year. Kajiken Kajiken, a popular Japan-born ramen chain on the Peninsula, is known for its brothless abura soba, but that wasn't our favorite item on the festival menu. It was actually the karaage ($15), a Japanese-style fried chicken with grated daikon, ponzu and green onion. The crispy, flavorful chicken is easy to eat with your hands — an ideal snack option for walking around the park. Location: Hellman Hollow Popup Michoz, normally stationed at a cafe in Berkeley, brought its trademark Peruvian cooking to the festivities. The stall offers a no-filler menu consisting of nachos topped with berbere-spiced beef ($16) and a choripan ($18) dripping with chimichurri. With hints of ginger and pepper heat, the former improves on the form, while the latter punches you in the face with pungent herbiness. Grab extra napkins, both can get messy. Location: Hellman Hollow Tiya This weekend, Tiya has ditched the multi-course tasting menu in favor of more approachable dishes. The best is the butter chicken bowl ($20), featuring basmati rice and thick thighs doused in a bright red tomato gravy. While some executions of butter chicken can feel extremely decadent, this version was surprisingly subtle with pleasant tang. Location: Hellman Hollow Provecho Provecho began as a Oaxacan popup, but for the festival it has shifted toward a menu of raw seafood and barbecue bento boxes. The limited-edition Sashimi Tostada ($30) was the most expensive item on the menu, topped with fish, charred green garlic labneh, cucumber, onion and caviar. It was almost a shame to ruin the beautiful assortment of colorful ingredients on top with a first bite, but the refreshing, tangy flavors made it easy to finish. Location: Hellman Hollow
