Saturday, January 20, 2007

Toronto in Mumbai


the premier of ontario,dalton mcguinty,is in india on a business visit and is also leading a 70 member strong business delegation. i attended a gala reception at the ncpa lawn on thursday night in his honour. david malone the high commissioner to india was the host. in cooperation with the toronto international film festival, a film called "away from her" was screened at the jamshed bhabha theatre. bollywood actor rahul bose was the master of the ceremony. in continuation, yesterday i saw "saint ralph".on the concluding day i.e. today two more films are being shown."la neuvaine" and "a simple curve". i shall post brief reviews of some of these movies soon.

the canadian leaders stressed how ontario is now a state having a muticultural society and that toronto alone has a population of half a million indians.mcguinty mentioned that the premiere of the "guru" at toronto indicated the tremendous interest that bollywood generated in toronto and that india and bollywood occupy an important place in their country.he said that toronto is canada's business engine and financial capital.and that the toronto film festival is the world's largest public film festival.he hoped that such interactions will futher improve bilateral relations and strengthen the bond between canada and india.he was very hopeful that just as india could gain from canada's expertise in modern technology,canada could also benefit from india software strengths. he gave an example of how 'blackberry', a product of canada , has revolutionised communications by turning imagination into innovation.there are about seven million users of 'blackberry' throughout the world he said. rahul bose did a competent job and introduced the visitors to all of us.

it was an enjoyable evening with plenty of wine and delicious snacks. we were presented with a cd containing songs of loreena mckennitt.

7 comments:

david mcmahon said...

Hi Gopal,
Next stop: Toronto.
Cheers
David

Lotus Reads said...

Hey gs!

You really do get to attend some of the coolest events! It was on the news here that Dalton McGuinty was visiting Bombay and they did mention that he would be viewing a very special Canadian film whilst there, so it's really nice to have a first hand account of the event,thank you so much!

And he is right about Toronto being one of the largest multicultural cities in the world and we're so proud of it! :)

Was very happy to see this post - thank you!

Unknown said...

All rounder!!!I am really dumbfounded to see your interests in varied fields.Nice to read about Toronto in Mumbai..Even we are planning once to visit Toronto

gs said...

hi david
actually, i have a long standing invitation from a doctor friend to visit toronto and stay with them for a few days.he is a great devotee of lord vishnu and participates in all the important functions of the temple.knowing my interest in this field,he has been asking me to come and see how they do it in their temple.one of these days i will visit toronto.cheers!

hi lr
i am lucky indeed.a family friend is very much into films and the couple visit cannes every year for the annual film festival.courtesy them,i got this invitation.and i enjoyed every bit of it.have you seen 'st ralph' and 'away from her'? many thanks for your commments.

hi hema
maybe i will travel to toronto via phil?

Lotus Reads said...

I just love all this talk about visiting Toronto! Folks, please don't forget to get in touch with me when you visit my city!

gs, what a wonderful opportunity to work so closely with someone who is so deep into temple duty. I would love to learn more some day. Ditto, your friends in the film industry. Cinema, I think, has never been bigger, it's great to know people in that line. To answer your question, no, I haven't seen either movie, but have heard of both. Of the two, I think I might prefer to see 'St. Ralph".

Unknown said...

wow that's great.Plan your trip fast and obviously you should come to Philly

david mcmahon said...

Hi Gopal and LR,
What's not to love about Toronto/ Tronno? Great city. Haven't been there for about a year now - but hope to be back there soon.
Gopal, don't forget to send me your caption for the temple pic, which I can then post on my site.
Cheers
David