Kolkata,-Unhappy partners in a marriage
stepping out to establish new relationship has been dealt with
in countless films, but what if a happily-married woman
ventures into it, and that too with permission of her husband?
Award-winning Bengali filmmaker Subrata Sen deals with
the subject in his forthcoming film 'Nondinee'.
Is it a revolutionary new idea for Bengali films?
Sen thinks so: "In my view, the character of Nondinee
has so far not been dealt with in any Bengali film. She looks
beyond the relationship for a little more space. Don't we all
crave for this extra space?"
The protagonist's role will be played by prolific
actress Swastika Mukherjee who, Sen thinks, has given her
career-best performance in the movie.
Swastika, who has acted in such critically-acclaimed
films as Buddhadev Dasgupta's 'Janla', Raja Sen's
'Krishnakanter Will' and Anjan Datta's 'Byomkesh Bakshi',
says, "I am happy that Subrata Sen really liked my role. It's
true I did not portray such a nuanced character before."
Swastika, who has her feet firmly rooted in the world
of both potboilers and off-beat films, said she was happy that
the filmmaker had conceived the character from the perspective
of a woman.
Storytelling best medium to bring children
to literature
New Delhi,-Tales from a village in Ghana
told to children in Kerala by an Jamaican origin artiste now
based in the UK indicates the popularity of oral storytelling
in an age where movies and TV are a huge distraction.
Jan Blake, who has been a professional storyteller for
the past 25 years mesmerised children and adults alike at the
just concluded Hay Festival in Thiruvananthapuram.
Her story about a chicken who carried a fox, river and
fire in its basket to meet a king was met with giggles and
laughter. While she imitated a chicken (tukalaka, tukala...)
and the crackle of a fire, children sand and shouted along
with her.
"Storytelling is one of the best mediums to bring back
children to literature and I enjoy every bit of it," Blake
told here. Blake decided to join a community theatre as an 18 year
old after she failed her A levels and later moved on to
storytelling specialising in folktales from West Africa, North
Africa, the Arab world and the Caribbean.
"My stories are about the frailties, small events that
can bring a smile to people's faces and the condition of human
beings in their joys and sorrows. Everybody can take something
from my tales." she says.
Without the support of any props, Blake lets her sonorous
voice do the talking, modifying it to suit the characters and
mesmerise the audiences.
Blake who has grown up in the UK and now has an 18- year
old son says she has an Indian connection too. "My great-
grandmother was from India. Am not sure from which part of
India she is but she landed in Jamaica as a labourer in a
plantation there."
She says she loves movies from different parts of the
world. "I see them and on the constant look out for a tale. I
have seen movies by Satyajit Ray and loved it."
"I do not rehearse for my storytelling sessions but go
along with the flow. If there are children in the audience I
narrate a story suitable for them and for teenagers something
they would like to be told. My aim is to make a difference in
everyone's life but the idea is not to preach," says Blake.
Rihanna video banned in France
London, Singer Rihannas vidio, We Found Love, has been banned in France as it has been deemed too
raunchy for daytime viewers in the country.
Officials at the Supreme Audiovisual Council of France
have banned the gritty promo from airing on TV before the
watershed at 10pm due to its explicit content, reported
Contactmusic.
Authorities criticised Rihanna's "self-destructive"
behaviour in the video, which features the singer smoking
cigarettes, shoplifting and being spanked.
She is also cited for appearing in saucy scenes of
"pronounced suggestive" content with British boxer/model
Dudley O'Shaughnessy.
It is not the first time Rihanna's videos have caused
controversy - the clip for her provocative
single S|| Chr(38) ||M was
banned in more than 10 countries.
Parkinsons disease cured by deep
brain stimulation
Coimbatore,-A city hospital here today claimed
to have cured the parkinson's disease of a 59-year old man, by
successfully placing 'Deep Brain Stimulation,' (DBS).
Sundaram, a native of Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, has been
suffering from parkinson's, which he was suffering for the
last 15 years, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous
system.
Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (KMCH), where was admited
for the treatment cured it through a 14-hour surgery, Hospital
Chairman Dr Nalla G Palanisamy told reporters here today.
Parkinson's disease is a chronic disabling neurological
condition affecting normally people between 50-70 years, he
said.
DBS is placing of an electrode in the Sub Thalamic Nucleas,
which is adjacent to Thalamus, an important relay station of
the brain. The electrode sends continuous electronic pulses
through a battery which is atteched in the chest wall and can
be externally controlled through a remote control, Arul Selvan
said.
The surgery will cost around Rs seven lakh, with electrode
imported from USA alone costing about Rs 5. 5 lakh.
Berlusconi 'to release his latest album
of love songs
London,-Silvio Berlusconi is reportedly all
set to release his latest album of love songs, barely a week
after he stepped down as Italy's Prime Minister.
The 75-year-old billionaire businessman, who as a student
crooned on cruise ships in the Mediterranean, spent two years
writing the lyrics for the album, called "True Love", British
newspaper 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.
The 11 songs he penned are sung by Mariano Apicella, a
Neapolitan ballad singer who has collaborated with the former
Italian Premier on similar albums in the past. "The album will
be in the shops on Tuesday. Berlusconi wrote all the words and
I put them to music," Apicella was quoted as saying.
Cancer cells grow up using recycling
process: Study
London, -Scientists have found that protein
recycling in the body gets accelerated in several cancerous
cells, an "exciting" discovery which they say could lead to
the development of new class of drugs.
Researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of
Yeshiva University in the US found that protein recycling, a
normal process in the body, was accelerated in more than 30
types of cancerous cell.
When the scientists interrupted the process in laboratory
mice with cancer, the tumours began to shrink, BBC reported.
The results, they said, were "exciting" and could lead to
an anticancer drug by finding a chemical that could interfere
with the recycling process and mimic the effect the virus had.
The recycling process studied was "chaperone-mediated
autophagy" (CMA). It is a normal part of a cell's routine,
removing damaged goods and recycling the raw materials.
Study research Prof Ana Cuervo believes cancerous cells
are using this process in order to fuel their abnormally
rapidly growth.
"Cancer cells seem to have learned how to optimise this
system to obtain the energy they need," she said.
When they studied a variety of tissues, including lung,
breast and liver, they found the level of CMA activity was
higher in cancerous cells than normal ones.
The researchers then used a virus to infect cells with
short snippets of genetic material, which would turn off the
recycling process.
Using the virus slowed the growth of the tumours in mice
with human lung cancers. It resulted in "dramatic tumour
shrinkage and almost complete blockage of metastasis
[spreading]", Prof Cuervo said.
Experts have described the study as exciting and said CMA
inhibitors could be useful for cancer therapy, as they should
inhibit tumour growth and also reduce the ability of tumour
cells to metastasise.
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