DUBAI: Prominent Indian actor Irrfan Khan will receive an honorary award at the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) in recognition of his contribution to film throughout a career that began over 30 years ago,
Khan, the former Muhr AsiaAfrica Award winner for “Best Actor — Feature” for “The Lunchbox” in 2008, will return to DIFF to receive the honorary award on Dec. 13.
Khan began his acting career working in Indian cinema, starring in a number of TV series, and the Academy Award-nominated “Salaam Bombay!”
Khan first gained international acclaim for his role in “The Warrior” (2001), a film circa feudal India in the State of Rajasthan where Khan plays Lafcadia, a fierce warrior who abandons his tyrannical lord to seek peace in his village. Thereafter Khan starred in Asvin Kumar’s short film, “Road to Ladakh” (2003) which received warm reviews on the international festival circuit.
In the nineteen-time Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe winning smash hit, “Slumdog Millionaire” (2008), Khan played the police inspector and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance.
DIFF Chairman Abdulhamid Juma, said: “Irrfan Khan is one of the greats of acting and cinema, with an array of acting credits that are testament to his incredible talents and his adaptability to play varying roles across many genres.”
His dedication to acting and the film industry, his ascension from small roles in Indian cinema to blockbuster hits, and his award-winning acclaim are just some of the reasons why we at DIFF are delighted to present him with a DIFF honorary award at the festival’s 14th edition.”
Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan to be honored at Dubai film festival
Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan to be honored at Dubai film festival
Fans bid farewell to Japan’s only pandas
TOKYO: Panda lovers in Tokyo said goodbye on Sunday to a hugely popular pair of the bears that are set to return to China, leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century.
Loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy” program, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolized friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since the normalization of diplomatic ties in 1972.
Some visitors at Ueno Zoological Gardens were left teary-eyed as they watched Japan’s only two pandas Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao munch on bamboo.
The animals are expected to leave for China on Tuesday following a souring of relations between Asia’s two largest economies.
“I feel like seeing pandas can help create a connection with China too, so in that sense I really would like pandas to come back to Japan again,” said Gen Takahashi, 39, a Tokyo resident who visited the zoo with his wife and their two-year-old daughter.
“Kids love pandas as well, so if we could see them with our own eyes in Japan, I’d definitely want to go.”
The pandas’ abrupt return was announced last month after Japan’s conservative premier Sanae Takaichi hinted Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of any attack on Taiwan.
Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.
The 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery took turns viewing the four-year-old twins at Ueno zoo while others gathered nearby, many sporting panda-themed shirts, bags and dolls to celebrate the moment.
Mayuko Sumida traveled several hours from the central Aichi region in the hope of seeing them despite not winning the lottery.
“Even though it’s so big, its movements are really funny-sometimes it even acts kind of like a person,” she said, adding that she was “totally hooked.”
“Japan’s going to be left with zero pandas. It feels kind of sad,” she said.
Their departure might not be politically motivated, but if pandas return to Japan in the future it would symbolize warming relations, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and expert in East Asian international relations.
“In the future...if there are intentions of improving bilateral ties on both sides, it’s possible that (the return of) pandas will be on the table,” he told AFP.
