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Monday Night India
Film Series, Spring 2008
Sponsored
by India Studies and the Department of Art and Art History.
Held on Mondays at 6:30 pm in the Department of Art and Art History,
Room 106. This series runs in conjunction with Indian Art and Popular Culture on Wednesdays 6-9 pm in Art History room 244. For more information contact: Professor Kathryn Myers.
February 4: "Yoga Unveiled", 137 minutes. Produced and directed by Gita and Mukesh Desai. Documentary film on the history and contemporary evolution of Yoga, featuring commentary from many scholars and practitioners.
February 18: "Rang De Basanti" (Paint it Saffron), 2006, 157 minutes. Directed by Reyakesh Omprakesh Mehra and starring Aamir Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Madhavan, Kunal Kapoor. A young British filmmaker comes to India to shoot a film, starring five friends, based on Indian revolutionaries mentioned in diaries she found by her grandfather who served in the British police force in India during the freedom struggle. Her friends, however, born in a consumer generation, would rather party than play patriots, but as the film progresses past and present begins to blur...Great soundtrack by A.R. Rahman.
March 3: "Bombay", 1995. Directed by Mani Rathnam. Starring Arvind Swamy, Manisha Koirala, Nasser, Arvind Khurana. A gripping film about a Hindu man falling in love with a Muslim woman from the village of Malampur. Due to family objections on both sides, they leave their homes and move to Bombay and lead happy lives raising their two sons. Horrific communal violence later rocks Bombay after the destruction of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in 1992 by Hindu extremists and in the confusion the boys get separated from their parents...
March 17: "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" (Something Happens), 1998, 177 minutes. This is the debut film of director Karan Johar starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol. The relationship of college peers Rahul and Anjulie stagnates though they truly love each other and yet behave like "best friends". Rahul eventually marries Tina (Rani Mukherjee) instead who dies in childbirth and leaves letters for her daughter to read so that she may find her father’s old college lover so that he can begin again...
March 31: "Mr. and Mrs. Iyer", 2002, 120 minutes. Directed by Aparna Sen and starring Konkona Sensharma and Rahul Bose. Music by Zakir Hussain. This subtle beautiful film won many film festival awards. A Tamil Brahmin woman from a very traditional family and young Muslim wildlife photographer are strangers on a bus journey home; yet he is asked by a mutual friend to look after her and her baby on the trip. The bus is suddenly stopped by an angry mob of Hindu extremists looking for Muslims...
April 21: "Bhaji on the Beach", 1993, 100 minutes. Directed by Gurinder Chadha. Described as "a serious comedy", this film was made by the director of "Bend it Like Beckham" and "Bride and Prejudice". A group of 9 Indian woman living in London from three generations take a weekend beach trip with an Indian feminist group. Each woman on the trip deals with their complex sexual, social and racial dilemmas, often in conflict, misunderstanding, and humor.
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