Centenarian with royal link

SURROUNDED by royalty and visiting dignitaries, a Hampstead Garden Suburb resident celebrated her 100th birthday in style.
Champaben Vadgama, who lives with her daughter in St Edward’s Close, enjoyed a party at home thrown in her honour at home on Sunday.
Distinguished guests included Prince Ali of Hyderabad in India, Nusrat Hussain, the surviving wife of senior Indian diplomat Mohammad Husain, the Deputy Mayor of Barnet Cllr Hugh Rayner, and the Mayor of Redbridge Cllr Thomas Chan.
Daughter Dr Kusoom Vadgama, 77, said: “My mother had a fantastic time. She has so many cards and we haven’t had time to open them all yet.”
A red carpet was rolled out for Mrs Vadgama, with sitar players strumming the music of Tagore and guests reading poetry in a garden marquee. Son Pankaj Vagdama, his wife and three children were there as well as family friends from Chicago and the founder of the Asha Centre in Gloucestershire, Zerbanoo Gifford.
Dr Vadgama, a historian and optometrist, said: “My mother was absolutely delighted to receive her card from the Queen and enjoyed the speeches by the two mayors. She is in very good health, cooking, cleaning and practicing yoga every day.”
Mrs Vadgama attributes her long life to yoga and a special drink of hot water, honey, ginger and lemon taken every morning. She is a keen cook and is currently compiling a recipe book of traditional Gujarati dishes with her daughter.
Born in India, she can trace her ancestors back to eminent gold and silversmiths serving the Maharaja of Gujarat 150 years ago. After marrying her husband Maganlal at the age of 14 the couple moved to Nairobi in 1922, bringing up their family. They settled in Britain in 1955.
The celebrations will continue with the inauguration of a herb garden in her name at the Asha Centre, which promotes peace and understanding amongst diverse groups.

Mumbai: Sixty hours of terror

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/mumbai-sixty-hours-of-terror-and-chaos-1041646.html

Bollywood adaptations of Western novels and films – case studies

Sholay

The ultimate Bollywood epic, it drew heavily on the 1960 western The Magnificent Seven, itself a remake of the Japanese classic Shichinin no samurai (Seven Samurai). Billed as “The Greatest Story Ever Told” it managed to live up to its own hype by becoming a box-office phenomenon and India’s highest-grossing film of all time, earning the equivalent of US$60 million. Initially a commercial flop, word-of-mouth drove cinema-goers back to enjoy this tale of lawless bandits and small time-convicts, making it the biggest hit of Indian cinema to date, with many cinemas playing the film for several years.

Bride and Prejudice

Directed by Gurinder Chadha, the writer/director of Bend It Like Beckham, this was a successful Bollywood-style adaptation of the Jane Austen classic, filmed primarily using English dialogue. Starring supposedly India’s most beautiful woman Aishwarya Rai and Lost’s Naveen Andrews, the 2004 release received mixed reviews, with many critics claiming that although it was a valiant attempt to introduce Bollywood to the Western masses, it was a poor interpretation of the novel and the lead performances lacking in chemistry.

Black

Selected by Time Magazine (Europe) as fifth of the “10 Best Movies of the Year 2005”, this Hindi movie was partly based on Arthur Penn’s 1962 biographical film of Helen Keller, The Miracle Worker. Starring “The Big B” himself, India’s most-loved and prolific actor Amitabh Bachchan, the film won critical acclaim and broke records by winning eleven awards at the Hindi equivalent of the Oscars, the Filmfare Awards.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/bront235-gets-the-bollywood-treatment-1033804.html