The Naga Viper is the latest claimant to the world’s-hottest-pepper title, beating its predecessor, the Bhoot Jolokia by more than 300,000 Scoville units of tongue-scorching chili hotness. Researchers at Warwick University testing the Naga Viper found that it measures 1,359,000 on the Scoville scale, which rates heat by tracking the presence of a chemical compound. In comparison, most varieties of jalapeño peppers measure in the 2,500 to 5,000 range. Bhoot Jolokia scored 1,000,000 Scoville units. But Naga Viper is not a produce of Nagaland. The new pepper is actually a creation of Gerald Fowler, a British chili farmer and pub owner, who crossed three of the hottest peppers known to man, including the Bhoot Jolokia.

All Free Screenings

Seats are available

Meet Seema Biswas in person

Details at www.NJISACF.org

Watch 16 films from 7 countries by 9 women filmmakers

Opening night film MIRCH starring Konkona Sen Sharma, Raima Sen, Boman Irani on October 29th at 8:00 PM

Festival Centerpiece LIFE GOES ON starring Sharmila Tagore, Soha Ali Khan, Om
Puri and Girish Karnad on October 30th at 2:15 PM

Closing night film COOKING WITH STELLA starring Seema Biswas co-written by
Deepa Mehta on October 30th at 8:20 PM.

YASMIN starring Emmy award-winning Archie Panjabi on October 30th at
Noon

ECTA has launched the pre-production work on their new play “Ekti Ganye Thaki” (We Live in a Village). The name of the play has been borrowed from one of Rabindranath Tagore’s famous poems, “Ek Ganye”. Currently the team is going through workshop sessions and theater games before delving into the rehearsal process that will start from March. The play will be staged during the months of June and July 2010.

Bidhyak Bhattacharya’s classic play “Tahar Namti Ranjana” was made into a famous radio play by the legendary duo Sambhu Mitra and Tripti Mitra. Now Listen to this wonderful drama online at the following link:

http://www.raaga.com/channels/bengali/moviedetail.asp?mid=B0000126

It is available in 3 parts.

Please join Urhalpool Magazine’s 2nd Annual Award Ceremony on Wednesday. January 27th @6:30PM in Collaboration with: Rabindranath Tagore center, ICCR & American Center, Kolkata

Shakti Chattopadhyay Lifetime Bengali Literary Achievement Award (Rs25,000):   Sunil Gangopadhyay
Nirmal Chandra Gangopadhyay Bengali Literary Award for an Young writer (Rs15,000):    Mandakranta Sen
Dr. Sishir Kumar Das Award for research in Bengali Literature: (Rs,20,000):  Dr. Sibaji Bandyopadhyay
Pushpa Little Magazine Award: (Rs10,000):    Bibhab

Urhalpool(www.urhalpool.com) January Issue, focusing on Mexican poets/writers has been released.

The October issue of the bilingual (Bengali/English) webzine Urhalpool is now online. The latest issue includes stories by Mandakranta Sen, Samaresh Majumdar, Nabanita Deb Sen, Alolika Mukherjee, Abul Bashar and others.  Serials by Sunil Ganguly and Taslima Nasreen are still ongoing. Special attraction would be the interview of Baichung Bhutia and  a memoir by Srikanta Acharya. I am sure you’ll enjoy this issue like the previous ones.

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Ninety-year-old playback legend Manna Dey – who belted out evergreen songs like “Ae mere pyaare watan” and “Zindagi kaisi hai paheli” – is being honoured with the Dadasaheb Phalke award, the highest honour in Indian cinema, his family said Wednesday.

Born as Prabodh Chandra Dey May 1, 1919 to Purna Chandra and Mahamaya Dey, the singer was a name to reckon with in the Hindi film industry from the 1950s to the 1970s. He has recorded more than 3,500 songs over the course of his career.