By LISA TSERING
India-West Staff Reporter
Mar. 21, 2008
Bollywood movie queen Madhuri Dixit will appear for an onstage Q&A and screenings of two films at this year's Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles, it was announced last week.
The sixth annual festival, which runs April 22-27, will once again take place at Hollywood's luxe Arclight Theater and is expected to include screenings of many hard-to-find films from India and the diaspora. Nearly 40 films, in-person appearances by nearly 50 filmmakers, and exciting opening and closing night festivities will promise to make it a memorable event.
The festival will open with "Amal," Canadian director Richie Mehta's feature about an honest autorickshaw driver from New Delhi (Rupinder Nagra) who is bequeathed a fortune by one of his fares (played by Naseeruddin Shah). It could be said that this film might not have been made without IFFLA — Mehta, who screened a short version of the film at the festival in 2005, had been dreaming about expanding the short into a feature, and had secretly hoped to cast Naseeruddin Shah in the film. There at the festival in 2005, when Shah was there for a tribute, the two met — and the film got off to its start.
This year, the festival will close with an unusual program of 10 short films called "Mumbai Cutting." Not only will the film have its world premiere at the fest, but all 10 of its directors will be there from India as well.
"They represent the new wave of Indian directors," festival founder and director Christina Marouda told India-West from Los Angeles Mar. 17. "Each one has a different view of the city — it's like a 'Paris, Je T'aime' of Bombay!"
Unlike "Dus Kahaniyan," a recent 10-short release from six directors put together by Bollywood's Sanjay Gupta, "Mumbai Cutting" takes an edgier approach, focusing on the people of India's most exciting metropolis through the lenses of cutting-edge filmmakers such as Manish Jha ("Matrubhoomi – A Nation Without Women").
The other filmmakers from "Mumbai Cutting" — all of whom get just 10 minutes to tell their stories — include Rituparno Ghosh ("The Last Lear"), Sudhir Mishra ("Khoya Khoya Chand"), Anurag Kashyap ("Black Friday"), Ruchi Narain (writer, "Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi"), Kundan Shah ("Ek Se Badhar Ek"), Revathy ("Phir Milenge"), Shashanka Ghosh ("Waisa Bhi Hota Hair II"), Rahul Dholakia ("Parzania") and Jahnu Barua ("Maine Gandhi Ko Nahin Mara").
Madhuri Dixit will be on hand April 25 for screenings of "Mrityudand" and "Dil To Pagal Hai" as well as for an onstage talk.
"This is Madhuri Dixit's comeback year," said Marouda. "She's ready to focus on her career again. The way we see the tribute is that every year, we highlight someone whose career is still ahead of that person — it's not a lifetime achievement recognition.
"In addition, Indian Americans from their 20s to their 80s love Madhuri Dixit. She's someone the whole community loves."
Awards will be presented closing night April 27 in Feature, Documentary and Short categories, both by jury selection and by a poll of audience favorites.
The full program will be announced Mar. 25 and tickets will go on sale April 3. For more information, visit www.indianfilmfestival.org.
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