Le Grand B du cinéma Indien

Source : BBC online

Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan has been awarded France's highest civilian honour, the Legion d'Honneur.

The award was presented to the actor at a function at the French embassy in the Indian capital, Delhi.

Ambassador Dominique Girard said it was in recognition of the "quality and height of his achievement".

Bachchan topped a 1999 BBC News website poll to find the greatest star of the millennium, beating the likes of Marlon Brando and Charlie Chaplin.

The actor's career spans almost 40 years. He has acted in more than 140 movies.

"It fills me with great pride," Bachchan said accepting the award. "It's not just an award for me, it's the recognition of the achievement of the Indian cinema. It's an award for the entire film industry," he said.

"India has arrived on the global cinema stage, the carping critics have been silenced, and the cynicism about the Hindi film industry has given way to world-wide appreciation," Bachchan said.

Describing him as a "towering Indian personality" and the "number-one actor of Indian cinema", Ambassador Girard said the award "brings him [Bachchan] into the international legion of world's greatest artistes".

Bachchan arrived at the function in Delhi with his wife and children in tow.

The son of a famous Hindi poet, Bachchan moved to Mumbai (Bombay) to make a career in films after quitting his job as a freight broker in Calcutta.

The actor debuted in 1969 with Saat Hindustani [Seven Indians] - in which he played one of the seven leads.

He made his name in the 1970s and 1980s as a film action hero and gave several hits like Zanjeer [Shackles], Sholay [Burning Embers], Deewar [Wall] and Don.

He also showed his talent for comedy in films like Chupke Chupke and Amar Akbar Anthony.

In recent years, he has done several critically-acclaimed films, including Black [in which he plays an old man stricken with Alzheimer's] and Sarkar [where he plays a role inspired by Marlon Brando's Godfather].

Bachchan also played the very popular host of Kaun Banega Carorepati - Indian version of the UK game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

He has also lent his voice to the Oscar winning French documentary, March of the Penguins, for the Indian market.

In 2000, Bachchan became the first Bollywood star to have a wax statue at Madame Tussaud's museum in London.

The Legion d'Honneur was instituted in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Among those who have received the award in the past are Hollywood director Steven Spielberg and French actor, Gerard Depardieu.

Well-known Indian film director Satyajit Ray and sitar maestro Ravi Shankar are two Indians who have also been awarded the honour.

Renault - Mahindra vont signer un accord pour une nouvelle usine

Source : Economic Times

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd will sign an agreement with the western state of Maharashtra on Tuesday for a new manufacturing plant, a source close to the development said. He declined to give details of the capacity or investment that would go into the plant.

Mahindra, India's top utility vehicle and tractor maker, has called a news conference at 0815 GMT.

The plant could be for Mahindra's joint venture with truck maker Navistar International Corp to make light, medium and heavy trucks and buses from 2007.

It could also be for the joint venture of Mahindra with France's Renault, announced last November, to assemble 500,000 cars a year in India, including the Logan sedan and its derivatives for the Indian market.

Renault has said it would also build a power train factory. Production will start by mid-2009 with an initial capacity of 300,000 cars a year.

Renault Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn had said at the time the investment would be much lower than a rumoured $1 billion.

Nissan Motor Co may also join the alliance.

Louis Vuitton sur Pondy

Source : Economic Times

Didn’t we say India rocks the world? The venerable French luxury goods giant Louis Vuitton, part of the $17-billion Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) group, is setting up its first manufacturing plant in Asia at Pondicherry through a joint venture, sources said.

LV — best known for its expensive and edgy bags — has identified the Dilip Kapur-owned Hidesign, the domestic high-end leather goods brand, as its JV partner. The greenfield venture, likely to be a 50:50 JV, is expected to come up in a 30-acre plot in the Union territory.

Following the visit of the senior board members late last year, LV decided on Pondicherry as the location for its manufacturing base in Asia (mostly for leather products). Sources said the toss-up for the plant location was either India or Vietnam. Unlike Prada or Gucci, LV has opted for India. It is learnt that LV is working towards putting the plant on stream within this year.

“We are looking at possibilities. Nothing is confirmed yet,” said Tikka Shatrujit Singh, brand advisor, LV, when contacted by ET. Sources at Hidesign also confirmed that parleys were on with LV.

The French brand’s arrival would significantly bolster Pondicherry’s profile as a manufacturing hub in the South-East Asian context. In fact, the LV plant is expected to come up near a Rs 2,700-crore Fashion City project, which is an integrated township offering manufacturing, design, education and warehousing for the fashion business.

Air Deccan and Paramount are already looking at connecting Pondicherry, and real estate prices are beginning to pick up as the news trickles in.

Sources said LV’s move was part of a global supply chain overhaul to keep pace with market growth. Last year, LV roped in McKinsey & Co to make its manufacturing operations more flexible in responding to the needs of the expanding store network.

The move to set up a production base in India is crucial. The company largely relied on Europe, and France in particular, as customers put top dollar on the brown and gold logo bags on account of the old-fashioned craftsmanship, besides the brand power built through high-profile advertising, fashion shows and star designer Marc Jacobs.

Hidesign also has placed a similar emphasis on artisan-driven, soft, supple leather designs in building a brand that is slowly expanding outside India.

LV, founded in 1854, accounts for a significant part of LVMH’s revenues and profits. Besides its clothing line, the brand mops up a bulk of its revenues from leather accessories like handbags, wallets and suitcases.