First Quote Added
April 10, 2026
Latest Quote Added
"A very hardworking and studious one: I’m on my sixth film! For me being part of this jury is a gift fallen from heaven. When I was offered the opportunity to be one of the eight jury members of this 71st edition, I first thought it was a joke. I immediately accepted of course. Even today I still don’t understand why I was chosen! It’s a great honour and a great sign of respect since the Palme d’or is an important award in the life of a film and a director. I’m taking my role very seriously."
"I’ll defend emotions. It’s very important point common to all the members of this jury. I was asked not to judge the films on their technical merits but rather on two aspects that are very comprehensible to me: emotion and feelings. Of course, the technical criteria will then have to be used to decide between those works that touched us the most. This will be the time when the cinema professionals on the jury will have to express themselves."
"Yes, but nobody ever offered me anything! Right now would be the most appropriate time. In addition to Cannes, I’ve been invited to the Zanzibar Film Festival, which is being held in July. I believe that cinema is sending me a discreet invitation!"
"I don't want the European Union to act before the African Union. That would be a shame on the whole continent. The institution would be an empty box."
"It's too late for talking"
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.