Wednesday,
July 7 ~ Sunday,
July 11, 2004
Cinema India! Showcase 2004
 Indian
cinema is in a state of flux. The traditional musical entertainers
are still going strong, but there is also a new confidence amongst
young directors to flex their creative muscle and try out different
and dynamic hybrid forms.
Cinema
India!
Showcase 2004 features six films from India,
some path-breaking and others, huge commercial successes. From
an award-winning drama starring veteran actress Kiron Kher directed
by Rituparno Ghosh, to a sparkling Tollywood adaptation of Jane
Austen’s Sense and Sensibility starring Aishwarya
Rai, from a documentary charting the musical wizardry of Zakir
Hussain, to a moody Bollywood reworking of Macbeth with Irfan
Khan and Tabu, and from the influential blockbuster The
Braveheart Will Take the Bride --still going strong in
a Mumbai theater for over 425 weeks, to a fast-paced MTV meets
Bollywood meets Tarantino hybrid, the program offers an eclectic
mix of new trends and contemporary classics in Indian cinema.
 In
additional to the film screenings, we are proud to present a
concert by sitar and tabla artist Shafaatullah
Khan.
Cinema
India! is programmed by Radha Welt Vatsal and
is sponsored by The New York Times
Community Affairs Department and India Abroad. Please
click here
for more information about Cinema India!
Cinema
India! is locally sponsored by:
Local media sponsor:
Wednesday,
July 7 at 7:00
PM
The
Lady of the House (Bariwali)
dir.
Rituparno Ghosh,
India,
1999, 35mm, 150 mins, color, Bengali w/ English subtitles
A
lonely middle-aged spinster, Banolata, is forced by circumstances
to rent her  family’s
sprawling home to a film crew. While this is a momentous event
in Banolata’s secluded life, for the director and film crew,
she’s just a useful contact with a house they need for their
shoot. Widely compared to Satyajit Ray’s Charulata and
The Music Room, this award-winning film by one of India’s
leading arthouse filmmakers
has
rarely been screened in the U.S.
Thursday,
July 8 at 7:00
PM
The
Braveheart Will Take the Bride
(Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge)
dir.
Aditya Chopra,
India,
1995, 35mm, 189 mins, color, Hindi w/ English subtitles
 The
Braveheart Will Take the Bride
changed the face of Bollywood. It is the longest-running film
in the history of Indian cinema (over 425 weeks and still playing
in a Mumbai theater!), and is one of the earliest to deal with
the lives of Indians living abroad. Set in London, the European
continent and India, the film combines flashy European locations
with old-fashioned Indian family values. In London, wealthy
Raj falls in love with Simran, a shop-keeper’s daughter. But
Simran is engaged to a man of
her family’s choice back in
the
home-country. Raj follows Simran to India
in order to win her family’s consent
to
make her his bride.
Friday,
July 9 at 7:00 PM
I
Have Found It
(Kandukondain,
Kandukondain)
dir.
Rajiv Menon, India,
2000, 35mm, 159 mins, color, Tamil w/ English subtitles
Featuring
Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai and India's “indie” idol Tabu,
this delightful adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense &
Sensibility is a funny and self-referential primer on
the conventions of Indian commercial cinema. Set in contemporary
South India, I Have Found It wittily retells the story
of two attractive sisters and their three beaus: an aspiring
filmmaker educated in New York, an injured soldier, and a stock-market
whiz-kid. The spectacular song sequences move from Tamil Nadu
to Egypt and Scotland, and the memorable soundtrack is composed
by the legendary A.R. Rahman.
Saturday,
July 10 at 7:00 PM
Maqbool
dir.
Vishal Bharadwaj,
India,
2003, 35mm, 132 mins, color, Hindi w/ English subtitles
A
moody urban drama Bollywood-style, this adaptation of Macbeth
is 
set
in the underworld of contemporary Bombay.
Irfan Khan plays Maqbool, the loyal second-in-command in a crime
gang headed by Abbaji. Enter Nimmi, Abbaji’s beautiful young
mistress who can’t
take
her eyes off Maqbool and soon the two begin to plot to take
over the gang. Maqbool also features Naseeruddin Shah
and Om
Puri
as corrupt fortune-telling policemen.
Sunday,
July 11 at 1:00
PM
The
Speaking Hand: Zakir Hussain and the Art of the Indian Drum
dir.
Sumantra Ghosal,
India,
2003, 104 mins, color, Hindi w/ English subtitles
 A
must-see for fans of Zakir Hussain and Indian classical music,
The
Speaking Hand charts the life and work of India’s
leading tabla (drum) player. The first half of the film
explores Hussain’s early upbringing
and training, and the second half covers his musical career
in India
and the West – where he has performed, among others, with Mickey
Hart and Planet Drum. The film
includes fascinating footage in which Hussain demonstrates various
Indian and international drum techniques and sounds, as well
as exclusive concert footage with world-renowned exponents of
Indian classical music and dance, such as his father Ustad Alla
Rakha (tabla), Ravi Shankar (sitar), Birju Maharaj (kathak–dance),
Hariprasad Chaurasia (flute).
Sunday,
July 11 at 4:00
PM
Concert
by Shafaatullah
Khan 
Co-presented
by SRUTI, the India Muisc
and Dance Society
Join us for a classical
sitar and table concert, with accompanying vocals and sarangi
by Pandit Ramesh Mishra and Amit Das. Click
here for the full description on this fantastic concert!
Sunday,
July 11 at 7:00 PM
Anything
Can Happen (Waisa
Bhi Hota Hai)
dir.
Shashanka Ghosh,
India,
2003, 138 mins, color, Hindi w/ English subtitles
 Released
to rave reviews in India that praised the film as fresh, iconoclastic
and a stand-out example of the “new breed of Bollywood cinema,”
Anything Can Happen is
an innovative and contemporary blend of Indian and Western commercial
genres. Puneet (Arshad Warsi), an advertising copywriter, saves
a hitman’s life and ends up causing the downfall of Bombay’s
two top gang lords. The film features
a slew of idiosyncratic characters including a smoldering female
don, a fearless lady-cop, and a group of bawdy Sikh rappers
who highlight a distinctly Indian version of raucous masculinity.
With noir, gangster, musical and comic elements, as well as
a rich visualization of Bombay,
director Shashanka Ghosh
forges
a uniquely Bollywood hybrid for an MTV and Tarantino generation.
Film tickets are $6.00
general admission, $5.00 I House members, students
and
seniors; Concert tickets are $15.00 for general admission, $10.00
I House members, students and seniors; Film
and Concert tickets are $18.00 for general admission, $12.00
I House members,
students and seniors.
All
tickets available one hour before showtime at the International
House box office.
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