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Attending the three day fest, Cinema beyond Boundaries in New York, filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar feels good with the international film dignities. He is exchanging notes with Hollywood directors, writers and music composers on understanding the global perspective in cinema. The director also said that Indian film industry and Hollywood can learn a lot from each other as the two industries seek to cater to the evolving nature of cinema.“There will be something that I take from them and they will take from us. While Hollywood has had a huge influence on the Indian industry, Bollywood and its actors too are garnering a lot of attention in the western film world,” said the filmmaker, who is well-known for his films like Chandni Bar, Page 3, Fashion and Heroine. The event would focus on the global influence of Indian cinema, forecast changes in the fast growing and rapidly evolving filmmaking industry. “Cinema has changed drastically over the years and films are now being made in different genres like commercial, edgy and radical to cater to the tastes of an evolving viewership,” he added.“Indian cinema is no more limited to audiences in India. We have viewers all around the world and hence understanding the global perspective is a must. Cinema Beyond Boundaries would get the viewers and the filmmakers together and would help us in serving them with good quality cinema,” Bhandarkar said. Well said Madhur Bhandarkar!

Veteran actress Shabana Azmi and her work would be honored at prestigious River To River film festival in Florence on November 22, 2013. She will be bestowed by Pegasus of the Region Tuscany Award by Cristina Scaletti, Tuscany's regional councilor of culture at the opening day of the fest.Other personalities and their films like Shyam Benegal’s Ankur, Mahesh Bhatt’s Arth, Vinay Shukla’s Godmother and Deepa Mehta’s Fire will also screen. Last year the River To River festival held a retrospective of Amitabh Bachchan's films.The 63-year-old actress said the Pegasus honour is big because when a state recognizes you, it's very heartening. “I'm honoured and humbled and grateful to the writers and directors who cast me in challenging roles. The Pegasus honour is big because when a state recognises you, it's very heartening.”As per the sources, “Encomiums and Shabana are good friends. In her career of 41 years she has collected awards, both National and popular, by the dozen and has made her presence felt at various film festivals.  Shabana has had many retrospective, such as the one at the New York Film Festival where she was the first actor ever to be thus honoured as till then they did retros only of directors.”Shabana Azami was also honored at Cinematheque in Paris, at the British Film Institute London, Avignon, and Winnipeg, Toronto and in Canada.

Tinseltown actor Robert Di Niro is seen playing memorable characters like The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. However, when he was quizzed about his real-life heroes, he named out Nelson Mandela, Indira Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi.Niro, 70, is presently in Goa, India, where he will be participating at the ongoing THiNK Fest 2013. Sharing his thoughts, he said, "I have many real life heroes as my inspiration. Mandela, Peres, James Dean, Marlon Brando and from India... Indira Gandhi and Mahatma Gandhi. They are strong people with a big heart," De Niro said on the sidelines of the festival. "I try to be more empathetic towards my characters. I try to understand its position by putting myself in their shoes. I feel I am lucky to get into these lives without having to pay a real price," he added. When confessed that he doesn’t remember his early film days, he said, "I really don't remember..." He also said that he has no idea why he wanted to be in cinema and he started his career at the age of 16. "I dropped out of school and enrolled in Stella Adler's acting school, to the surprise of my friends and family. When she (Stella) asked me why I joined this profession, I didn't have an answer. She answered on my behalf that since I wanted to express myself so I chose this profession. I nodded and repeated the same line," he said. Speaking of Indian trip, he added, "Indian people are very nice. I came here 35 years ago and promised that I will be back in couple of years. I got busy and even tried to come last year. But it didn't happen." Glad you came now!