Indian Films at MOMA New York June 5-19 2009

NeeliAankhen · May 20th, 2009, 10:11

At the Museum of Modern Art in New York, an amazing lineup of Indian films - it's called The New India, and the focus is on recent and non-Bollywood-style movies.

If you check out the schedule, note that many filmmakers and others associated with the films will be present.

http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/films/952

I have seen a lot of them, and I'll try to put some notes here about them, but not all of them right now.

The only true "Bollywood" one is Jodhaa Akbar, which I actually haven't seen because I was in India when it was released, and it was not shown in Jaipur, where I planned to see it, because of infuriating demonstrations, which nonetheless had to be taken seriously (gist of demos -"that wasn't her real name!!").

Jodhaa Akhbar is a lavishly produced historical movie, about the emperor Akbar (ever seen Mughul-e-Azam? that guy, but younger and better looking) whose marriage with a Rajasthani Hindu princess is, at least in legend, considered to have been effective in establishing a reign of religious tolerance.

Stars Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, wonderful to look at.

Music by AR Rahman, best known in the west for the Slumdog Millionaire music. Also - a thousand elephants. If anything is meant for the big screen rather than your home TV, it's this kind of thing.

http://www.jodhaaakbar.com/

collection of trailers includes one with English subtitles for "First Theatrical Trailer"

Hope you'll post if you've seen any, or want to ask me and everybody else about any of them.

NeeliAankhen · May 20th, 2009, 10:30

Children of the Pyre - beautiful, disturbing, impressive documentary about the boys who work on the burning ghats at Varanasi.

When I went to Varanasi last year, the existence of these people, the Dom, who work on the burning ghats made a huge impression on me, to be honest almost more of an impression than anything else about the place.

This filmmaker, Rajesh Jala, spent 18 months there and got to know seven boys who earn a living on the ghats well enough to make them the focus of this feature-length documentary. They earn for their families by stealing shrouds off of corpses, and selling them to people who clean them up and resell them.

The boys are lovely, the filmmaker respects them and presents them as the interesting individuals they are. The photography is mind-blowing, and do not take children to it. You get a good dose of what it's like to be more or less almost inside these fires, though only for 90 minutes instead of your whole life.

TRAILER:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/162216...railer_2 008/

Sama · May 20th, 2009, 10:40

that movie looks incredible!

NeeliAankhen · Jun 3rd, 2009, 00:39

More notes on films in this festival that I have seen or know a lot about:

Yes Madam, Sir is a documentary about Kiran Bedi, the highest-ranking woman in the Indian police department. She is an amazing person, and she will be there in person.

She has met with a lot of controversy and managed to have a huge impact nonetheless - for example, she was given a notoriously horrible prison to run, more or less as a punishment, and reformed its treatment of prisoners. She started one program worth a movie of its own - she knew that the prisoners lived lives dominated by vengeance, and to break them out of it she instituted intense Vipassana training.

She is a totally charming and charismatic person - hard o convey this but I hope you'll go see her for yourself. The story of the making of the movie is also worth hearing from her and the young woman director.

Quick Gun Muragun is a very funny parody of the "curry westerns" of South India, themselves owing a debt to spaghetti westerns.

Murugan himself is played by a film star of the South who is in his 50s and paunchy. He is on a mission to protect vegetarianism, generally through cartoonish violence.

namaste_cat · Jun 3rd, 2009, 00:50

Thank you for this info. I'm not too far from NYC, and I want my kids to watch movies about/from India esp someone like Kiran Bedi (for whom I have a great deal of admiration). Children of the Pyre looks very disturbing, raw, and interesting too; thanks for the link w/ the clip.

I'm going to try and make it up to MOMA for these non-Bollywood-style movies. Not a fan of Bollywood movies, so this is right up my alley.

NeeliAankhen · Jun 3rd, 2009, 01:16

A movie-lover's movie and a movie I LOVE - Luck By Chance. It's one to see on the big screen - I've seen it 3 times so far. Directed by Zoya Akhtar, from an intellectual Hindi cinema dynasty -- daughter of Javed (writer, lyricist) and sister of Farhan (director, actor), who is its appealing star.

It's a very appealing hybrid/new kind of movie. It is about people in the Bombay film world (Bollywood), but the acting is much more naturalistic/modern/international than "Bollywood" performance style.

Farhan and Konkona Sen Sharma are young actors looking to make it in Hindi movies - neither one has family connections. Good story about the drive for success, love, luck, and opportunism, and a glorious depiction of the world where it's happening. Most of the songs are from the movie-within-the-movie, and many big stars appear in cameos, playing characters who are and are not like themselves. My favorite might be Hrithik Roshan as a sort of sleaze-bag, lots of fun in relation to his good-guy real-life image.

And - the opening of the film, with very loving documentary footage of the people behind the scenes, is worth the price of 100 tickets - old men sewing sequinned costumes, catering guys, the parking lot man, etc.

NeeliAankhen · Jun 3rd, 2009, 08:33

@ Kitty - what a great idea, to take kids to see Kiran Bedi and that movie - they might even be able to say hello to her. If you go I hope you'll post a note about how it went and how you liked it.

I would not take kids under 16 to Children of the Pyre. There is a lot of footage of bodies burning.

Also - if you hate Bollywood I guess you won't like Jodhaa Akhbar, it has music in it, but I think it's as good as any other kind of historical drama for getting a (glamorized but apparently well-researched) feel for an historical time. Romance for the girls, armies of elephants for the guys.

NeeliAankhen · Jun 17th, 2009, 12:46

Reminder - Children of the Pyre is today, Wednesday, at 4pm.

I'm flogging it just because I liked it and admired it, and because I think it's an India Mike-r's kind of thing maybe!!

As far as I know, the director will be there to answer questions.
I met him at a film festival in CA, he's a nice accessible kind of guy.

namaste_cat · Jun 18th, 2009, 01:48

Hey NeeliAankhen, do tell us what you think of Children of the Pyre. I'm really bummed I'll miss it along w/ Kiran Bedi's one as well. We're leaving for Delhi in a few days, so had to drop the MOMA trip

I'm hoping I can catch some good movies in India that are harder to come by here. In prep for the visit, I usually get my kids to beef up their Hindi & Punjabi, so along w/ talking to them in just those languages, I got a few DVDs w/ Indian connections so to get us all primed. So far we've liked "Flavors" & "The Other End of the Line".

NeeliAankhen · Jun 18th, 2009, 01:57

I've seen Children of the Pyre - it's a terrific movie and a rare thing, a documentary about an Indian topic made by an Indian fimmaker, as you probably know there isn't much documentary filmmaking in India. Or hasn't been, I think it's changing.

Filmmaker got close to seven boys of different ages who work on the ghats and are from the group/caste that more or less has to do this. They are intelligent, articulate, brave, and moving, all of them. You get to know them and their circumstances, which means a good deal of footage of burning bodies and often a fire-filled screen, and the sound of fire from the theatre speakers.

The oldest works with the fire. The rest steal shrouds off of bodies and sell them to a business that cleans and re-sells them.

I find the film a valuable corrective to any sentimentality about ancient traditions, etc - ancient traditions fine but not if they require people to live in inescapable lifelong horrible conditions. The kids work 7 days a week, as do their fathers.

The filmmaker, Rajesh Jala, is involved in setting up a program with one of the good international children's organizations, to give these kids ways out of there and into other kinds of jobs.
Plan International, I think.

NeeliAankhen · Jun 18th, 2009, 02:04

PS let us know what you find in the way of movies in India.

I kind of have the impression that non-mainstream Indian movies are sometimes easier to find in NY and at film festivals than in India but will be very happy to find out I'm wrong. In any case my own Hindi is not at all good enough for me to be able to enjoy a movie without subtitles. Let alone of course the "regional" languages, in which I so often find real gems at film festivals!

May 20th, 2009, 10:11	#1
NeeliAankhen Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: New York, NY USA Posts: 338	Indian Films at MOMA New York June 5-19 2009 At the Museum of Modern Art in New York, an amazing lineup of Indian films - it's called The New India, and the focus is on recent and non-Bollywood-style movies. If you check out the schedule, note that many filmmakers and others associated with the films will be present. http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/films/952 I have seen a lot of them, and I'll try to put some notes here about them, but not all of them right now. The only true "Bollywood" one is Jodhaa Akbar, which I actually haven't seen because I was in India when it was released, and it was not shown in Jaipur, where I planned to see it, because of infuriating demonstrations, which nonetheless had to be taken seriously (gist of demos -"that wasn't her real name!!"). Jodhaa Akhbar is a lavishly produced historical movie, about the emperor Akbar (ever seen Mughul-e-Azam? that guy, but younger and better looking) whose marriage with a Rajasthani Hindu princess is, at least in legend, considered to have been effective in establishing a reign of religious tolerance. Stars Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, wonderful to look at. Music by AR Rahman, best known in the west for the Slumdog Millionaire music. Also - a thousand elephants. If anything is meant for the big screen rather than your home TV, it's this kind of thing. http://www.jodhaaakbar.com/ collection of trailers includes one with English subtitles for "First Theatrical Trailer" Hope you'll post if you've seen any, or want to ask me and everybody else about any of them. Last edited by NeeliAankhen : May 20th, 2009 at 10:37. Reason: add link to film website

May 20th, 2009, 10:40	#3
Sama a pain in the asana Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: the India inside my heart Posts: 6,425	that movie looks incredible! __________________ *MY INDIA, 2005-2008* "Once you have felt the Indian dust, you will never be free of it." (Rumer Godden, 1975)

Jun 3rd, 2009, 01:16	#6
NeeliAankhen Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: New York, NY USA Posts: 338	A movie-lover's movie and a movie I LOVE - Luck By Chance. It's one to see on the big screen - I've seen it 3 times so far. Directed by Zoya Akhtar, from an intellectual Hindi cinema dynasty -- daughter of Javed (writer, lyricist) and sister of Farhan (director, actor), who is its appealing star. It's a very appealing hybrid/new kind of movie. It is about people in the Bombay film world (Bollywood), but the acting is much more naturalistic/modern/international than "Bollywood" performance style. Farhan and Konkona Sen Sharma are young actors looking to make it in Hindi movies - neither one has family connections. Good story about the drive for success, love, luck, and opportunism, and a glorious depiction of the world where it's happening. Most of the songs are from the movie-within-the-movie, and many big stars appear in cameos, playing characters who are and are not like themselves. My favorite might be Hrithik Roshan as a sort of sleaze-bag, lots of fun in relation to his good-guy real-life image. And - the opening of the film, with very loving documentary footage of the people behind the scenes, is worth the price of 100 tickets - old men sewing sequinned costumes, catering guys, the parking lot man, etc. Last edited by NeeliAankhen : Jun 3rd, 2009 at 03:26.

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May 20th, 2009, 10:30	#2
NeeliAankhen Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: New York, NY USA Posts: 338	Children of the Pyre - beautiful, disturbing, impressive documentary about the boys who work on the burning ghats at Varanasi. When I went to Varanasi last year, the existence of these people, the Dom, who work on the burning ghats made a huge impression on me, to be honest almost more of an impression than anything else about the place. This filmmaker, Rajesh Jala, spent 18 months there and got to know seven boys who earn a living on the ghats well enough to make them the focus of this feature-length documentary. They earn for their families by stealing shrouds off of corpses, and selling them to people who clean them up and resell them. The boys are lovely, the filmmaker respects them and presents them as the interesting individuals they are. The photography is mind-blowing, and do not take children to it. You get a good dose of what it's like to be more or less almost inside these fires, though only for 90 minutes instead of your whole life. TRAILER: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/162216...railer_2 008/

Jun 3rd, 2009, 00:39	#4
NeeliAankhen Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: New York, NY USA Posts: 338	More notes on films in this festival that I have seen or know a lot about: Yes Madam, Sir is a documentary about Kiran Bedi, the highest-ranking woman in the Indian police department. She is an amazing person, and she will be there in person. She has met with a lot of controversy and managed to have a huge impact nonetheless - for example, she was given a notoriously horrible prison to run, more or less as a punishment, and reformed its treatment of prisoners. She started one program worth a movie of its own - she knew that the prisoners lived lives dominated by vengeance, and to break them out of it she instituted intense Vipassana training. She is a totally charming and charismatic person - hard o convey this but I hope you'll go see her for yourself. The story of the making of the movie is also worth hearing from her and the young woman director. Quick Gun Muragun is a very funny parody of the "curry westerns" of South India, themselves owing a debt to spaghetti westerns. Murugan himself is played by a film star of the South who is in his 50s and paunchy. He is on a mission to protect vegetarianism, generally through cartoonish violence.

Jun 3rd, 2009, 00:50	#5
namaste_cat Kashmiri-Punjabi Sherni Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Amreeka Posts: 940	Thank you for this info. I'm not too far from NYC, and I want my kids to watch movies about/from India esp someone like Kiran Bedi (for whom I have a great deal of admiration). Children of the Pyre looks very disturbing, raw, and interesting too; thanks for the link w/ the clip. I'm going to try and make it up to MOMA for these non-Bollywood-style movies. Not a fan of Bollywood movies, so this is right up my alley.

Jun 3rd, 2009, 08:33	#7
NeeliAankhen Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: New York, NY USA Posts: 338	@ Kitty - what a great idea, to take kids to see Kiran Bedi and that movie - they might even be able to say hello to her. If you go I hope you'll post a note about how it went and how you liked it. I would not take kids under 16 to Children of the Pyre. There is a lot of footage of bodies burning. Also - if you hate Bollywood I guess you won't like Jodhaa Akhbar, it has music in it, but I think it's as good as any other kind of historical drama for getting a (glamorized but apparently well-researched) feel for an historical time. Romance for the girls, armies of elephants for the guys.

Jun 17th, 2009, 12:46	#8
NeeliAankhen Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: New York, NY USA Posts: 338	Reminder - Children of the Pyre is today, Wednesday, at 4pm. I'm flogging it just because I liked it and admired it, and because I think it's an India Mike-r's kind of thing maybe!! As far as I know, the director will be there to answer questions. I met him at a film festival in CA, he's a nice accessible kind of guy.

Jun 18th, 2009, 01:48	#9
namaste_cat Kashmiri-Punjabi Sherni Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Amreeka Posts: 940	Hey NeeliAankhen, do tell us what you think of Children of the Pyre. I'm really bummed I'll miss it along w/ Kiran Bedi's one as well. We're leaving for Delhi in a few days, so had to drop the MOMA trip I'm hoping I can catch some good movies in India that are harder to come by here. In prep for the visit, I usually get my kids to beef up their Hindi & Punjabi, so along w/ talking to them in just those languages, I got a few DVDs w/ Indian connections so to get us all primed. So far we've liked "Flavors" & "The Other End of the Line".

Jun 18th, 2009, 01:57	#10
NeeliAankhen Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: New York, NY USA Posts: 338	I've seen Children of the Pyre - it's a terrific movie and a rare thing, a documentary about an Indian topic made by an Indian fimmaker, as you probably know there isn't much documentary filmmaking in India. Or hasn't been, I think it's changing. Filmmaker got close to seven boys of different ages who work on the ghats and are from the group/caste that more or less has to do this. They are intelligent, articulate, brave, and moving, all of them. You get to know them and their circumstances, which means a good deal of footage of burning bodies and often a fire-filled screen, and the sound of fire from the theatre speakers. The oldest works with the fire. The rest steal shrouds off of bodies and sell them to a business that cleans and re-sells them. I find the film a valuable corrective to any sentimentality about ancient traditions, etc - ancient traditions fine but not if they require people to live in inescapable lifelong horrible conditions. The kids work 7 days a week, as do their fathers. The filmmaker, Rajesh Jala, is involved in setting up a program with one of the good international children's organizations, to give these kids ways out of there and into other kinds of jobs. Plan International, I think.

Jun 18th, 2009, 02:04	#11
NeeliAankhen Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: New York, NY USA Posts: 338	PS let us know what you find in the way of movies in India. I kind of have the impression that non-mainstream Indian movies are sometimes easier to find in NY and at film festivals than in India but will be very happy to find out I'm wrong. In any case my own Hindi is not at all good enough for me to be able to enjoy a movie without subtitles. Let alone of course the "regional" languages, in which I so often find real gems at film festivals!