John Abraham, Farhan Akhtar, Boman Irani, Mira Nair, others - NYC Aug 28-30

NeeliAankhen

A film festival/conference sponsored by Engendered includes screenings of Dostana and Luck By Chance, with directors and stars present.

August 28-30, 2009, in Manhattan, at Lincoln Center and the Asia Society.

The organization and the festival focus on gender-related topics. This event is a week-end long film festival with an impressive and assorted roster of films, all dealing in some way with topics of gender and human rights.

Luck By Chance, directed by Zoya Akhtar and starring Farhan Akhtar -- both due to be present -- is a loving and entertaining movie about the Hindi film industry, and a story about a man and a woman newcomer and what they feel they have to do to succeed, as well as what "success" might really amount to. Farhan and Konkona Sen Sharma - don't think she's coming tho.

Dostana is a farce wrapped around a bit of digestible new viewpoint on homosexuality, in a story about two Indian guys in Miami who pretend to be gay, played by John Abraham and Abhishek Bachchan.

Shyam Benegal, probably India's most respected senior director, will be there with Mandi, a Shabana Azmi movie from the 70s or 80s about a woman who owns a brothel in a Muslim community undergoing some kind of change. Ashutosh Gowariker will be there, along with Kirron Kher, who stars in Bariwali, which I've heard is a great movie about [a widow - not!!] an unmarried middle-aged woman , and one in which she was given an opportunity to use her real acting skills, apparent but restricted in the many mother roles of the current chapter of her career.

Mira Nair too, and plenty of other stuff - the two mentioned above are the only Bollywood movies, the rest are no-singing/no dancing movies from India or Pakistan, assorted - documentary, drama, comedy.

I think the main events will sell out. And I trust this organization, they put on well-conceived, intellectually stimulating events.

All movies will be subtitled, though some of the trailer is not.

http://www.engendered.org/iviewfilm.html

Trailer for festival: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKlmS-ANJX8

nycank

I concur. They are good people.

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nayan

A very small nit-picking

Kirron Kher's role in Bariwali is that of an unmarried midle aged woman - not a widow.

NeeliAankhen

Oh, thank you!! I'm going to see if I can change my post.

I haven't seen the movie, and it's one that I keep hearing about. Something I read recently called her a widow - I remember actually being surprised when I read that as it hadn't stuck in my mind that way.

AND I'd rather see a movie about an unmarried middle-aged woman, it's more unusual, Indian-movie-wise!!!

I am hoping to see more stories in Indian cinema about women who aren't just romantic heroines or Mother India characters.

NeeliAankhen

Two things - heard a rumor that Kirron Kher might not make it, so check if that was the thing you wanted to see - and here's a nice article from Time Out New York about the gay/LGBT half of the program, which is on Saturday.

On Sunday, the films focus on women, with a similar mix of entertaining-blockbuster-with-a-a message (Luck By Chance), classic older movies - S Benegal's Mandi - and a mix of documentaries and shorter films.

So interesting to me that right now you can get access to this kind of mix of major Indian flim celebrities in the US, but not in India so readily, I think. Tho - correct me if I am wrong.

http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/...view-film-2009

NeeliAankhen

So - festival is over, and it was definitely just as exciting as I'd hoped it would be for me. If I ever finish my writeup of it I'll post a link, meanwhile this short excellent video really gives you a good glimpse of the whole thing - there is a well-chosen short clip from almost every film, plus some interview moments with John Abraham, Mira Nair, and other stars and directors:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikDbWG2qsrM

As I have written elsewhere I think, this is an interesting cultural moment, at least for me. Right now major get-togethers of Indian films - of all kinds, mainstream and otherwise, fictional and documentary -- and their "people" are happening outside of India, not inside of India. The diaspora supports and hosts these occasions, and I feel very lucky to be able to go to them.

More festivals coming up in NYC in the fall, though this one was special because of a combination of glamour, seriousness of purpose, and intimacy, I thought.