Pune, May 19 (IANS) Noted Marathi playwright Vijay Tendulkar died Monday at his residence here after prolonged illness. He was 80 years old.

Family sources said Tendulkar died at about 8 a.m. He had been unwell for the past two months.

A Padma Bhushan awardee, Tendulkar was best known for his plays “Ghashiram Kotwal” and “Sakharam Binder”. He was also awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for lifetime achievement.

In 1977, Tendulkar won the National Film Award for his screenplay of Shyam Benegal’s movie “Manthan”. He also wrote the screenplays for other critically acclaimed films like “Nishant”, “Akrosh” and “Ardh Satya”.

Parinda adds:

Vijay Tendulkar had been suffering from Myasthenia Gravis and been in hospital for five weeks. Vijay Tendulkar was father to television actress-social activist Priya Tendulkar who died in 2002.

Los Angeles, May 16: John Phillip Law, the strikingly handsome 1960s movie actor who portrayed an angel in the futuristic “Barbarella” and a lovesick Russian seaman in “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” has died. He was 70.

Law died Tuesday at his Los Angeles home, said his daughter Dawn Law. The cause of death was not announced.

With his vivid eyes, blond hair and imposing physique, Law was much in demand by filmmakers in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

He gained wide notice in 1966 with Alan Arkin, Carl Reiner and Theo Bikel in “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming,” Norman Jewison’s Cold War comedy in which a Soviet submarine runs aground off a peaceful New England island town.

He played the sweet Russian youth who falls in love with a local American girl in the film, which was nominated for four Oscars including best picture, actor (Arkin) and director.

French director Roger Vadim put Law’s looks to good use in his 1968 science fiction film, “Barbarella,” which starred Vadim’s wife at the time, Jane Fonda, as a sexy space traveler in the faraway future. Law wore wings to portray Pygar, a blind angel.

“I’ve had more kicks out of playing far-out things,” Law told the Los Angeles Times in 1966. “It’s like putting on a funny face and going out in front of people and going, ‘yaaaaaa.’”

Messages left Thursday for Fonda’s New York publicist were not returned.

Law was World War I ace Baron Manfred von Richtofen in the 1971 “The Red Baron” and Charlton Heston’s son in “The Hawaiians,” a 1970 sequel to “Hawaii,” based on James Michener’s sprawling novel.

In Otto Preminger’s 1967 film, “Hurry Sundown,” he was a war veteran struggling to preserve his farm against a land speculator played by Michael Caine. Fonda played Caine’s wife.

He continued his career in a variety of U.S. and foreign films and television over the past 30 years, including appearances in “The Young and the Restless” and “Murder, She Wrote.”

Law was a California native, born in 1937 to actress Phyllis Sallee, and her husband, a police officer. He told the Los Angeles Times he did some extra work in films as a child. He said he put acting ambitions aside in his teens, but his interest was renewed in a college drama class.

He worked in the theater in New York for a while before breaking into the movies, spending some time in the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center, whose directors included the great Elia Kazan.

Bureau Report

NEW DELHI: A 40-year-old woman was allegedly gangraped on Wednesday night in a moving car by four men, including a friend of her husband, in northeast Delhi.

The incident occurred at around 9 pm in Seelampur area when the woman was offered a lift by her husband’s friend Arif while she was returning from a nearby market, a police official said.

When she got into the car, she found three other men inside. She was then allegedly raped and dumped after an hour in nearby Seemapuri area, he added

The victim has been admitted to Guru Tegh Bahadur Hospital and her condition is said to be critical.

“We are verifying her claims. Teams have fanned out to arrest the accused,” the official said.

Somdev Mukherjee, father of Bollywood actress Kajol and Tanisha and the former husband of yesteryear actress Tanuja passed away in Mumbai today. He was 65.

Somdev Mukherjee, popularly known as Shomu Mukherjee in the film circles, had been aliling for sometime in the recent past. But he seemed to have fully got back to good health and his death in the wee hours of this morning has sent shock waves through his family members. The death occured due to a cardiac arrest.

Somdev Mukherjee is the founder of Filmalaya Studios and the youngest of three siblings. His brothers Deb and Joy were actors.

Tomorrow, April 11 is a very important day in the life of Shomu ji’s son-in-law Ajay Devgan because his debut directorial venture ‘U, Me Aur Hum’ is releasing all over tomorrow, starring Ajay and Kajol in the lead roles.

On this sad occasion IndiaGlitz expresses its deepest condolences to the bereaved family.

Gurgaon, (IANS) The Gurgaon district administration will Wednesday decide on an application of actress Soha Ali Khan seeking a personal hearing in a gun licensing case.

The district authorities sent her a notice seeking explanation about how the weapon for which she was licensed was used by her father to kill a black buck in Haryana in 2005.

Soha Ali Khan sent a letter to the district administration Monday, seeking a personal hearing, Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Gupta said.

She was issued the notice March 21 to explain how she obtained an arms licence despite being underage. The authorities also marked a probe into her original application file, which has gone missing from official records here.

Rakesh Gupta said the notice to Soha Ali, the actress-daughter of former cricketer Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi and actress Sharmila Tagore, has given her 15 days to send her reply.

District Magistrate Gupta also directed Additional Deputy Commissioner Abhay Singh Yadav to probe how she obtained the licence despite being underage and also how her original application file went “missing” from the official records here.

Soha Ali has been charged with obtaining an arms licence for her .22 bore rifle Nov 5, 1996 when she had not completed 21 years of age - a legal pre-requisite for possessing an arms licence.

The passport record of the actress put her year of birth at 1978 and in 1996 she was just 18 years old.

The weapon for which she was issued licence was used by her father Pataudi in a black buck poaching case in which he was arrested July 2005 by the Haryana police in Jhajjar district near here. The poaching case was registered June 5, 2005 and the weapon is still in possession of the Jhajjar police.

The poaching case is being tried in a wildlife and environment court in Faridabad town in Haryana.

Soha Ali was also asked to explain why, while moving a fresh application for renewal of her licence Sept 7, 2005 before the sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Gurgaon, she concealed the fact that the weapon was in the possession of the Jhajjar police.

Mumbai, Feb 26 (IANS) The legendary singer Mukesh’s wife Saral is

dead.

Saral, who had married Mukesh on July 22, 1946, passed away here

Monday, thereby drawing to a close a golden period in the history of

Hindi film music.

Neil Mukesh Mathur, who debuted in last year’s crime thriller “Johnny

Gaddaar”, was very close to his grandmother Saral and was

inconsolable.

“I spent a lot of time with my grandmother who lived in the same

building as my parents and I did,” he said.

“While we occupy the first floor, Daadee stayed on the seventh floor.

As a child I’d look forward to weekends. Every Friday my sister and I

would rush to her floor. And since there was no school on Saturdays

and Sundays we were allowed to sleep with her,” Neil said.

“She would tell us so many stories about my grandfather (Mukesh), his

friendship with Raj Uncle (Raj Kapoor). I’d stare at the pictures of my

grandfather and Raj Uncle and at the Filmfare trophies lined up on her

shelf, hoping that one day I’d get one too,” he said, remembering his

grandmother.

“It’s strange but I danced at the Filmfare award for the first time just

two days before Daadee died.”

Work is worship! Perhaps this is the most valuable lesson Mimoh Chakraborty has imbibed from his father Mithun Chakraborty. It was proved by an incident that happened on the sets of the debutant stars upcoming film recently.

Mimoh had to jump from a height for an action scene in Jimmy. Few know that the actor has a fear of heights, but being professional personified, Mimoh insisted that he’d perform the stunt scene himself.

The next thing that Mimoh knows that he suffered a severe muscle pull in the right leg even as he hit the ground with a thud! As a result, Mimoh had to be rushed to the hospital.

Though the x-rays revealed that the actor has not suffered torn ligaments or fractures, Mimoh was injected with anti-biotics to prevent infection.

When director Raj Sippy called Mithun to inform him about the incident, the veteran actor said that if Mimoh’s other leg was okay, then they should go ahead with the shooting. But the schedule should not be cancelled at any cost!

Mimoh shot the scene even though he was wreathing with pain! Well, Work is worship for the Chakraborty family, didn’t we just say!

New Delhi, March 25: Delhi Police’s encounter specialist Rajbir Singh, whose career had its share of both glory and controversy, was gunned down allegedly by a property dealer in Gurgaon on the outskirts of the national capital. 48-year-old Singh, who was ACP in Delhi Police’s Special Operations Squad and had been provided ‘Z’ category security cover, was shot twice in the head from point blank range last night allegedly by property dealer Vijay Bhardwaj.

The incident took place in Bhardwaj’s office near Sukhrali village in Gurgaon in Haryana at around 10:30 pm last night, Delhi Police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said. It was not immediately clear whether the men guarding him were present when he was shot.

Gurgaon Police Commissioner Mohinder Lal told PTI that Bhardwaj has surrendered and “confessed” to the crime.

“The accused has surrendered and confessed to the crime.

It appears that the dispute was over the profit both of them got in a property deal,” Lal said.

“He also said that he was trying to arrange the money to give to Singh for a long time and he could not,” he said.

Talking to reporters, Bhardwaj claimed he owed some money to Singh and that the officer had “threatened” to kill him.

“I wanted to commit suicide, but my family found the (suicide) letter and stopped me. Today was payment day and I could not put the money together. He said he would kill me,” he claimed.

Lal said Bhardwaj had allegedly procured the revolver three days back from Singh and used the weapon to kill him.

Singh, who had joined Delhi Police as a Sub-Inspector in 1982, had 56 encounter killings to his name, including the infamous Ansal Plaza operation in 2002 in which two terrorists were killed. However, questions were raised over some of his operations by human rights groups.

A winner of five medals, including the President’s Police Medal for Gallantry, Singh was involved in the investigations into the Parliament and Red Fort attack cases.

The Assistant Commissioner of Police was transferred from the Crime Branch to Delhi Armed Police after allegations of his involvement in an illegal land deal last year. There were also allegations of his links with drug traffickers, land mafia and bookies following telephone tappings.

The vigilance probe, however, gave him a clean chit and he returned to head the Special Operations Squad in November last year.

Delhi Police said it would work closely with Gurgaon Police in the investigation into the killing.

A Delhi Police team which went to verify details about the incident identified his body which has been sent to the civic hospital in Gurgoan for post-mortem.

Singh is survived by wife, son (14) and daughter (11).

New Delhi: A 10-year-old boy was burnt alive for demanding compensation from members of a wedding party who were travelling in a car that hit his bicycle. On Friday, the police suspected family rivalry behind the incident.

Villagers point to the spot where the boy was burnt

The incident occurred on Thursday evening in Sungapur village of Alipur area in north Delhi, when Sanjeev’s bicycle was hit by a Qualis car carrying the wedding party, according to villagers. The men were returning to Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, after attending a marriage. The boy too had attended that wedding.

When Sanjeev demanded that they pay for his damaged bicycle, the enraged men in the car first thrashed him and then dragged him 150-200 meters into a field.

The men, who were reportedly drunk, tied his legs and hands and then dumped the boy on a heap of cow-dung patties and set them all ablaze. The villagers spotted the flames and rushed to douse the fire.

They found the boy charred from his head to his ankles. Meanwhile, senior police officials said the boy was first strangled to death and it seems that in a bid to destroy evidence, the assailants torched him.

“Dragging the boy over 150 metres from the road to the field strongly suggests that an insider or people sharing enmity with him might be behind the act,” said a senior investigating official.

“We have registered a case of murder and have sent three teams to Meerut to locate the members of the wedding party. Five people have been detained and further investigations are under way,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police Dinesh Kumar.