Date: Fri, 29 Jan 1999 08:42:46 -0400
From: Shashwati Talukdar <shash-AT-astro.ocis.temple.edu>
Subject: Jubilee of Indian Cinema in Philadelphia


February Film Programs

"Jubilee of Indian Cinema, Part II"
February 19 - March 4

The success of the "Jubilee of Indian Cinema" held in October 1997 has
prompted a repeat performance!  In continuing recognition of the
fiftieth anniversary of India's independence, we have selected another
ten features for your enjoyment, spanning the 1950s to the 1990s.  The
collection represents some of the best of the B&W genre of Raj Kapoor,
Ritwik Ghatak and Guru Dutt.  The 1970s and early 1980s yielded films
which changed the face of Indian cinema.  The work of Shyam Benegal,
Girish Karnad, Mani Kaul, K. Vishwanath and Ketan Mehta represent some
of the best talent in this category, and in 1975 the world of commercial
cinema witnessed the release of the most successful Indian film of all
time, Flames of the Sun.  G. Aravindan's The Dispossessed, made in 1990,
rounds out this collection with its contemporary perspective on
transcending local traditions.

Curators for this series are K. Hariharan, Malti Sahai and Richard
Cohen, all of whom will be in attendance at screenings.  Special thanks
to the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting, Government of India, The Embassy of India, Washington, DC
and the South Asia Regional Studies Department, University of
Pennsylvania.

		FLAMES OF THE SUN/Sholay

		(Ramesh Sippy, India, 1975, 35mm, Color, Hindi w/
subtitles, 199 mins)

		Fri Feb 19, 7:30 pm
		Wed Feb 24, 7:30 pm

		India's best-known 'curry' western, Flames of the Sun is
patterned on Italian westerns with admixtures of romance, comedy, feudal
costume drama and musicals. The revenge plot features two adventurous
crooks, Veeru (Dharmendra) and Jaidev (Bachchan),  hired by ex-cop
Thakur Baldev Singh (Kumar) to hunt down the dreaded dacoit Gabbar
Singh, who massacred Thakur's family.  The kaleidoscopic approach to the
plot structure allows the filmmaker to highlight various genre
narratives and to combine them into a single film; a privilege usually
reserved for crazy comedies but here held together by an intensely
emotional current.

February Film Programs (cont.)

"Jubilee of Indian Cinema, Part II" (cont.)

		MASTER, MISTRESS, SERVANT/Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam

		(Guru Dutt, India, 1962, 35mm, B&W, Hindi Urdu w/
subtitles, 152 mins)

		Sat Feb 20, 3:30 pm
		Sun Feb 28, 4:45 pm

		Based on Bimal Mitras' classic Bengali novel, Dutt's
film is a commentary on Bengal's decaying feudalism; a nostalgic tale
about a bygone era, presenting the past and the future through the
contradictory attitudes of two female figures.  Set in the 19th century,
the story is seen through the eyes of the lower class but educated
Bhoothnath (Guru Dutt) who arrives in colonial Calcutta looking for
work.  Through a relative, Bhoothnath finds accommodation in the
Choudhury ancestral mansion while working at a sindoor factory. She
becomes fascinated with the lady of the house, Choti Bahu (Meena
Kumari), whose husband prefers the company of dancing girls and all
night drinking bouts.  As the long shadows of history invade the images,
Dutt's film gives way to a darker mood: the family gradually loses its
fortune and descends to ruin.

		THE JEWEL OF SHIVA/Shankarabharanam

		(Kasinadhuri Vishwanath, India, 1979, 35mm, Color,
Telugu w/ subtitles, 143 mins)

		Sat Feb 20, 7:00 pm

		Filmmaker Vishwanath's musical hit transformed the
Telugu film industry in the '80s.  It borrows extensively from classical
Carnatic music to tell the story of a relationship between a Carnatic
guru and a prostitute.  The prostitute, Ratnaprabha (Manju Bhargavi),
runs away from home and is reluctantly accepted as a student of Shankara
Sastry (J. V. Somayajulu).  The Jewel of Shiva is the first Telugu film
to attempt a redefinition of mass culture, using calendar art aesthetics
in several garish dance sequences by Bhargavi -- many in front of
temples.  The success of the film derives from its anti-Tamil and
anti-North view of an indigenist Telugu classicism.

February Film Programs (cont.)

"Jubilee of Indian Cinema, Part II"  (cont.)

		MIND OF CLAY/Mati Manas

		(Mani Kaul, India, 1984, 35mm, Color, Hindi w/
subtitles, 92 mins)

		Sun Feb 21, 3:00 pm

		Mind of Clay is an episodic film enacting several
legends associated with the ancient Indian tradition of terracotta
sculpture and pottery.  The first legend is of the Sariya Mata, or cat
mother, whose kittens remained safe in the interior of the baked pot, a
legend associated with Harappan sites which had human skeletons buried
in womb-like pots.  The second revolves around the Kala Gora
(Black-White) icon, and features the witch Gangli who transforms Gora
into a bull by day, making him work in her oil press, until finally Kala
beheads Gangli.  The third legend features Parashuram, who beheads his
own mother, Renuka, with his axe. Shot in central, south and eastern
India, the film deliberately suppresses its variety of locations to
achieve the idea of an integrated civilization endowed with a sense of
immortality through cultural (pro)creativity.


		THE CLOUD-CAPPED STAR/Meghe Dhaka Tara

		(Ritwik Ghatak, India, 1960, 35mm, B&W, Bengali w/
subtitles, 134 mins)

		Sun Feb 21, 5:00 pm
		Thu Feb 25, 8:45 pm

		A family of refugees from the partition of Bengal live
in a shanty town near Calcutta, surviving on the earnings of the eldest
daughter, Neeta (Supriya Choudhury).  One of Ghatak's most powerful and
innovative films, The Cloud-Capped Star draws on themes familiar to
Bengali melodrama.  Neeta delays her marriage to support the family and
pay for her older brother's education.  Her father and younger brother
experience accidents, keeping Neeta at the "head" of the household,
despite her falling ill to tuberculosis. Ghatak  simultaneously creates
a parallel theme by combining allusions to the goddess, Durga, through
the character of Neeta.  Thus the film moves towards myth, allowing the
characters to acquire epic dimensions while never losing their
individuality.






February Film Programs (cont.)

"Jubilee of Indian Cinema, Part II" (cont.)

		THE DISPOSSESSED/Vasthuhara

		(Govindan Aravindan, India, 1990, 35mm, Color, Malayalam
w/ subtitles,103 mins)

		Sun Feb 21, 8:00 pm
		Thu Feb 25, 6:30 pm

		Aravindan's last film makes an unprecedented and deeply
moving departure from a cinematic tradition that has always emphasized
regional identity by being set in Calcutta.  The story is about Venu
(Mohanlal), a Malayali officer in the rehabilitation ministry of the
Andaman Islands, who selects candidates for a refugee aid program.  He
meets an old Bengali widow (Mitra) who is not eligible for the program,
but discovering that she is the abandoned wife of his uncle from Kerala,
he re-establishes family ties and befriends her children.  From its
remarkable opening sequence, as the camera tracks through abandoned
refugee shelters built during the 1943 famine and partition, Aravindan
makes clear his intention to transcend a localized (and increasingly
cynical) view to move towards a national perspective on contemporary
issues.

		MR. 420/Shri 420

		(Raj Kapoor, India, 1955, 35mm, B&W, Hindi w/ subtitles,
177 mins)

		Fri Feb 26, 7:30 pm
		Sun Feb 28, 1:00 pm

		K. A. Abbas' filmscript of Bombay, contrasting the
corruption of the urban rich and the warm-hearted poor, provides the
context for Raj Kapoor's image of the vagabond village boy who comes to
the city to make his fortune.  Raju (Kapoor) falls in love with Vidya
(Nargis), a poor school teacher who has a paralyzed father.  Maya
(Nadira) is the femme fatale who lures Raju into a decadent life of
gambling and clubs (hence the title of the film: 420 is the law defining
criminal activity).  Filled with memorable songs, the film contains the
best known Kapoor Nargis duet, performed in the rain as they fall in
love.


February Film Programs (cont.)

"Jubilee of Indian Cinema, Part II" (cont.)

		THE MARKETPLACE/Mandi

		(Shyam Benegal, India, 1983, 35mm, Color, Hindi w/
subtitles, 167 mins)

		Sat Feb 27, 4:30 pm
		Wed Mar 3, 7:30 pm

		One of Benegal's few attempts at comedy, the film
explores religion and politics through the motif of prostitution.  A
brothel madam, Rukmini (Shabana Azmi), tries to make her "girls" conform
to the time honored traditions of the kotha where music and dance
flourish.  But the mischievous nature of the women forces the
establishment to find another home.

		CHILLY SPICE/Mirch Masala

		(Ketan Mehta, India, 1985, 35mm, Color, Hindi w/
subtitles, 128 mins)

		Sat Feb 27, 8:00 pm

		Mehta's best known film outside of India, Chilly Spice,
is an allegory of colonial oppression presented as a sex and violence
drama.  Set in pre-independence, a despotic tax collector (Naseeruddin
Shah) imposes his rule on a village.  The villagers attempt to satisfy
his every whim, except for the beautiful Sonbai (Smita Patil), who
instead takes refuge in the courtyard of a spice factory run entirely by
women.

		ONCE UPON A TIME/Ondanondu Kaladalli

		(Girish Karnad, India, 1978, 35mm, Color, Kannada w/
subtitles, 154 mins)

		Sun Feb 28, 8:15 pm
		Thu Mar 4, 7:30 pm

A tribute to Kurosawa's samurai stories, Once Upon a Time resurrects a
South Indian martial arts technique.  Set in 13th century Karnataka when
princelings fought each other for domination, the film focuses on the
war between two brothers, Kapardi (Anil Thakkar) and Maranayaka
(Vasantrao Nakkod), who had already disposed of their elder sibling.
The exuberant action consists mainly of swordplay, martial arts training
and duels. Karnad claims the film sets out to transcend the narrowly
anti-Brahmanical agenda of most Kannada New Cinema's independents at the
time.

Friday, February 19, 1998
7:30		film			Flames of the Sun
Jubilee of Indian Cinema

Saturday, February 20, 1998
3:30		film			Master, Mistress, Servant
Jubilee of Indian Cinema
7:00		film			Jewel of Shiva
Jubilee of Indian Cinema

Sunday, February 21, 1998
3:00		film			Mind of Clay
Jubilee of Indian Cinema
5:00		film			The Cloud-Capped Star
Jubilee of Indian Cinema
8:00		film			The Dispossesed
Jubilee of Indian Cinema

Tuesday, February 23, 1998
7:00		film			PIFVA Open Screen
Phila. Independent Film/Video Association

Wednesday, February 24, 1998
7:30		film			Flames of the Sun
Jubilee of Indian Cinema

Thursday, February 25, 1998
6:30		film			The Dispossesed
Jubilee of Indian Cinema
8:45		film			The Cloud-Capped Star
Jubilee of Indian Cinema

Thursday, February 25, 1998
7:30		film			Mr. 420
Jubilee of Indian Cinema

Saturday, February 27, 1998
9:30am - 5:00pm 	film			Surviving Independent
Film	Philadelphia Independent Film/Video Association
4:30		film			The Marketplace
Jubilee of Indian Cinema
8:00		film			Chilly Spice
Jubilee of Indian Cinema

Sunday, February 28, 1998
9:30am - 5:00pm 	film			Surviving Independent
Film	Philadelphia Independent Film/Video Association
1:00		film			Mr. 420
Jubilee of Indian Cinema
4:45		film			Jewel of Shiva
Jubilee of Indian Cinema
8:15		film			Once Upon a Time
Jubilee of Indian Cinema

Wednesday, March 3, 1998
7:30		film			The Marketplace
Jubilee of Indian Cinema

Thursday, March 4, 1998
7:30		film			Once Upon a Time
Jubilee of Indian Cinema



> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Shashwati Talukdar [SMTP:shash-AT-astro.ocis.temple.edu]
> Sent:	Tuesday, January 19, 1999 5:03 PM
> To:	filmproject
> Subject:	Re: Free Affliction from the Film Project
>
> David,
>
> Can you e-mail me a list of the Indian films?  I need to make advance
> plans
> so that I can come to all of it if possible, and other folks are
> interested.
>
> Also, when is "Loot" playing? I am gung-ho about going, and perhaps I
> can
> fit in other stuff I need to get done in NYC, also, I wonder if we
> need to
> buy advance tickets. Let me know.
>
> Shashwati
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --
>
> shash-AT-astro.temple.edu
> http://astro.temple.edu/~shash
>
>
> 2020 Fairmount Ave., Apt. B
> Philadelphia, PA 19130
Shashwati

------------------------------------------------------------------------

shash-AT-astro.temple.edu
http://astro.temple.edu/~shash


2020 Fairmount Ave., Apt. B
Philadelphia, PA 19130


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