Antique idols stolen from Bodhgaya temple seized

Uttar Pradesh police have busted an inter-state racket of idol smugglers after recovering 19 antique idols worth Rs.10 crore (one million) stolen from Bihar's Bodhgaya temple.

Three people have been arrested from a town in Chandauli district and police said they were going to Varanasi to sell the stolen idols to a person there.

'Acting on a tip-off, we intercepted a Tata Sumo late Tuesday in the Mugalsarai town and arrested the three smugglers along with 19 antique idols,' Chandauli Superintendent of Police M.D. Karndhar told. One of arrested hails from Bihar.link

Bhojpuri-Hindi film “Smiles” at Oscar

Indian enthusiasm for Oscars is not just limited to Slumdog Millionaire. Smile Pinki, a real world fairly tale, which celebrates the work of the plastic surgeon Dr Subodh Kumar Singh in providing free surgery to fix the cleft lip of poor young children, won the Oscar in the best documentary (short) category on Sunday night.

Smile Pinki is a 39-minute documentary that depicts the story of Pinki Sonkar, an eight-year-old girl from Mirzapur whose face cleft lip made her a social outcast.

Made in Bhojpuri and Hindi, the film has been directed by distinguished filmmaker Meg Mlyan, best known for her feature length documentary Lost Boys of Sudan which was shown in some 70 cities in North America.

Mylan thanked Pinki in her acceptance speech at the award ceremony in Hollywood.

“Thank you Pinki. Thank you for letting me tell your incredible story,” she said.

The film was shot entirely in Varanasi and villages of Uttar Pradesh.