Nirmala College in Muvattupuzha, is hosting the fifth Rain International Nature Film Festival (RINFF) this year on March 23-24. ‘The Heart of Baikal,’ a Russian film in the competition category will be the inaugural movie. It will be screened at 10 am on Thursday at the college auditorium after a function presided over by the college principal, Dr Thomas KV.

As many as 23 feature films will be screened in the competition section. The jury chairman of the international competition segment is noted filmmaker, Girish Kasaravalli. Actress-director Bijaya Jena, and director Kaviyoor Sivaprasad are the jury members.

Noted film journalist Dr Khalid Ali is the international programmer. The concluding film will be the movie selected for the Silver Elephant Prize for the best feature film. Apart from the international competition segment, a contest of short films and documentaries for school and college students is also being organised.

The best film by school students will be awarded the Golden Owl Prize and the best college movie will get Golden Hornbill Prize. Any movie that wins a special jury mention in this category will be awarded the Silver Butterfly Prize.

RINFF, organized by Birds Club International and Jayaraj Foundation is the international contest venue where movies aimed at spreading the message of nature conservation compete. This year’s ‘Prakriti Puraskar’, the Golden Elephant lifetime achievement award for the overall contribution towards the conservation of nature will be conferred on renowned environmentalist and writer Dr E Unnikrishnan, who is popularly known as Kavunni.

Noted actor-director-script writer Renji Panicker will be the chief guest. Ace national award-winning filmmaker Jayaraj, who is the festival director, will introduce the guests to the audience.

“This film festival aims to bring together ecologically aware filmmakers from around the world in order to showcase their works, facilitating an authentic platform for raising environmental awareness,” Jayaraj said in his message on the eve of the festival. As usual, this year too the winner of ‘Prakriti Puraskar’ will be inaugurating the festival.

Chennai: Environmentalists are up in arms against Dhanush-starrer ‘Captain Miller’, stating that the shooting of the movie was causing problems to wild animals in Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve (KTMR) in Tamil Nadu. C Rajeev, director, Centre for Policy and Development Studies, a think tank based out of Chennai, said: “It has to be properly looked into whether proper permissions have been taken for the shooting of the movie Captain Miller near the buffer zone near the KTMR tiger reserve. Local people have complained that the high beam lights are affecting the wildlife, including elephants and tigers besides other animals and environment ministry has to conduct a proper probe as to whether permission has been granted and if so, then how.”

A MDMK leader and Keezhavapur Union councillor Rama Udayakumar has already petitioned the district administration to take action against the movie unit.

A big set has been constructed on a private land adjacent to the KTMR and lighting and fireworks are used in the set. The shooting for the movie, produced by Satya Jyothi films, is likely to conclude in mid April.

When contacted, councillor Rama Udayakumar said that the movie unit has damaged the Chenkulam canal bank and filled it with soil. Udaykumar said: “This canal is the lifeline of 15 water tanks as it brings water to these tanks from Cottulam water falls. The forest department must immediately take action. The film crew is stating that they are close to the ruling dispensation.”

Local people have also complained to the district forest authorities of the presence of a single Tusker in farm land and said that the Tusker was not going to the forest due to the lighting and fireworks that drives the wild animals out of their habitats.

Tamil Nadu forest minister’s office told IANS that they were looking into the matter and will brief media after taking feedback from forest department authorities. The officials of Satya Films were unavailable for comment.

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu police have arrested superstar Rajinikanth’s daughter Aishwarya’s driver and domestic help on suspicion of stealing her jewellery. The arrest was made by the Teynampet police on Tuesday following a complaint lodged by the filmmaker.

According to police, the domestic help Eswari and the driver Venkatesan collided and stole the jewellery kept in a locker at the director’s residence.

Aishwarya had lodged a complaint with the Teynampet police recently stating that her ornaments including gold jewellery and diamonds, had been stolen from her flat and named three of her servants as suspects.

On interrogation, police found that Eswari had stolen 100 sovereigns of gold, 30 grams of diamond jewellery and 4 kg of silver.

The Greater Chennai Police, in a statement on Wednesday, said that the duo was arrested on Tuesday.

Eswari was working with Aishwarya for the past 18 years and knew where the key to the locker was kept. She had allegedly taken the jewellery, sold it and bought a house with the money.

The police said that she had stolen the jewellery over a period of time.

Documents related to the purchase of the house were recovered from Eswari’s residence.