Any 'arthouse' cinemas in Delhi?

Or, just out of curiosity, ANYWHERE in India?

By arthouse I mean world cinema (European, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, whatever) that might play at the major film festivals - Cannes et al. A priori I'd find it hard to believe that a city as big and globally integrated as Delhi could not have a place showing small, non-blockbuster films that aspire to artistic merit. But searches have brought up nothing, and furthermore the money machine that churns out big Bollywood spectacles does seem to have a particularly tight grip on the Indian psyche, to the exclusion of what we'd call "independent" cinema in America.

For that matter, are there any "revival" cinemas here (while "revival" would technically mean showing a film again that had showed previously, here I mean a theater showing old films whether or not they played in India before)?

I'm sure some people on this forum are cinephiles of some degree or another. Should I put good cinema in the same category as tap water - something I have to wait until returning home to enjoy?

Regal Cinema in Mumbai's Colaba regularly shows non-dubbed foreign movies. I think it's more of the mainstream Hollywood fare, but one can always check it out.

The Nandan Complex in Kolkata is said to do the same, and I would expect more arthouse fare here (probably Indian, as well, and esp. Bengali cinema is renowned for this genre), it's a cultural center. I've not been there.

There was mention here of how the Alliance Française or somesuch in Chennai organizes screenings there.

In Delhi, I'm not aware of any such place, which doesn't mean there isn't one. I've never seen it positively answered here, either, though. Ah, look, the India Habitat Centre (nice complex, btw) does have a film club: http://www.indiahabitat.org/.

Between y'r standard Bollywood fare, India does of course also produce more serious stuff (some interesting cross-overs, as well). I'd often pick this up from ads on the ubiquitous hotel TV's these days, then just check the local cinema listings in the papers. Not speaking any of the languages, of course I can't understand them, but I don't mind every now & then just trying to follow the gist.

An attempt of mine at collecting some links on cultural life in India is here: Cultural events listings, nightlife, going out, calendars, schedules.

nick

Check out these 2 places which are closeby:-

http://www.indiahabitat.org/main.htm
http://www.iicdelhi.nic.in

Other than that you can check out Mandi House and delhievents site:-
http://www.delhievents.com/2007/12/mandi-house.html