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The Academy of Film and Media paid tribute to the great writer Rabindranath Tagore to mark his 146th birth anniversary through screening three films at its auditorium at Dhanmandi in Dhaka on Friday.
   The films — Ghore Baire and Teen Kanya directed by Satyajit Ray and Chokher Bali by Rituporno Ghosh —were screened.
   The films were based on the three novels of the Nobel laureate.
   It is to be noted here that around 70 films based on Tagore’s novels, short stories and plays have been made so far in the subcontinent. Most of them are in Bangla. However, there are a few films in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.
   The film Ghore Baire concerns the anti-British movement in the 20th century and the sociopolitical life in the Bangla speaking areas in India.
   It also tells about the experiences and the emotions of love stories.

Attention film producers: smoking may now be hazardous to your movies. The film industry group that rates US movies in terms of their suitability for children on Thursday unveiled new rules affecting tobacco use in films that would stop children from seeing movies that glorified on-screen smoking.
   The Motion Picture Association of America, or MPAA, said that in the past, illegal teen smoking has been just one factor in rating films, alongside other parental concerns such as sex, violence and adult language.
   But now smoking itself will be considered as a factor and depictions that glamorize smoking, or movies that feature pervasive smoking, may receive ratings that do not allow children into theaters to see them.
   The MPAA classifies movies suitable for all children as ‘G,’ whereas an ‘R’ rating restricts audiences to people 17 years or older, among its ratings.
   The industry group has long been under pressure from several health groups to ban children from seeing characters light up in movies, and the MPAA’s decision fell short of that goal.
   MPAA Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman said in a statement, ‘The rating board ... will now consider smoking as a factor, among many other factors, including violence, sexual situations and language, in the rating of films.
   ‘Clearly, smoking is increasingly an unacceptable behavior in our society. There is broad awareness of smoking as a unique public health concern due to nicotine’s highly addictive nature, and no parent wants their child to take up the habit. The appropriate response of the rating system is to give more information to parents on this issue.’
   Glickman said while some people have called for a ‘mandatory R’ rating on all films containing any smoking, the MPAA does not believe such a step would further its goal of getting more information to parents on this issue.
   The MPAA said films whose rating is impacted by tobacco use will now include phrases such as ‘glamorized smoking’ or ‘pervasive smoking’ in their description.

The Bulbul Lalitkala Academy held a discussion and cultural programme at Waizghat auditorium in the city on Friday, to mark the 146th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore.
   Secretary for the cultural affairs ministry, Nazmul Ahsan Chowdhury was present as chief guest. The event was chaired by Begum Shamsuz Jahan Noor, vice-chairman of the organisation. Principal of the organisation Rahiza Khanam Jhunu gave a welcome address.
   The teachers and students of the organisation perform in the cultural programme.

Veteran comedian Eddie Murphy is in negotiations to star in a big-screen remake of the long-running television show ‘Fantasy Island,’ it was reported on Thursday.
   Murphy, 46, who narrowly missed out on an Oscar earlier this year for his performance in hit film musical ‘Dreamgirls,’ will play several roles in the film simultaneously, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
   The television series, starring Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize, ran for six years between 1978 and 1984 and centerd around a magical island where guests could live out their dreams. The film will be made by Columbia Pictures.

A kiss from Simon Cowell turned out to be a kiss goodbye. A week after so impressing the cantankerous Cowell, that he kissed her, LaKisha Jones, was eliminated Wednesday on ‘American Idol’. The Fox talent show is down to its final three contestants.
   Performances of Barry Gibb songs the night before led to a particularly brutal week of Cowell criticism. ‘No kiss tonight, baby,’ Cowell had said to Jones.
   Jones, 27, grew up in Flint, Mich., and is the mother of a toddler. She began singing at age 5, has a passion for gospel but was formally trained in classical music. Tears streamed down her face as she said goodbye — but she stayed long enough to get a career kick-start from ‘American Idol.’
   Lewis, 25 and the only man left in the competition, overcame Cowell’s attack. The fashion police may not forgive his choice of a t-shirt with a painted-on bowtie Wednesday. Lewis is from Bothell, Wash.