JOIN USCelebrating 100 glorious years of Indian cinema, a six-day festival in the City plans to feature not just a mix of classic and contemporary films but panel discussions, workshops and exhibitions with celebrated names in tow. The festival which was inaugurated at Siri Fort Auditorium last evening was followed by the screening of a silent film A Throw of Dice set to live music by Ustad Nishat Khan.
With films like Guru Dutt’s Baazi, Govind Nihalani’s Ardh Satya, Onir’s My Brother Nikhil, Nandita Das’ Firaaq and Ketan Mehta’s Bhavni Bhavai and Naresh and Rajesh Bedi’s The Ganges Gharial, the film festival traces the history and evolution of Indian cinema - cutting across genres and time frames and including gems from regional cinema like Satyajit Ray’s Charulata, Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Elipathayam, Jahnu Barua’s Halodhiya Choranye Baodhan Khai, A K Bir’s Lavanya Preeti, Mrinal Sen’s Kharij and Ghatashraddha by Girish Kasarvalli.
Sections of the festival are devoted solely to Satyajit Ray. Besides a full fledged exhibition on one of the greatest auteurs of world cinema and screenings of his features like Pather Panchali, Jalsaghar, Ghare Baire, Pratidhwandi and Sadgati, there will be panel discussions on The Oeuvre of Satyajit Ray by Dhritiman Chatterjee, Shantanu Ray Choudhury and Swati Joshi and A book Deep Focus - Reflections on Cinema, which compiles writings of the director, will also be released.
Documentaries are increasingly finding space and recogition alongside mainstream films now. For the first time perhaps, documentaries too will be screened alongwith landmark films. These include Shyam Benegal’s Ray, Bombay - Our City by Anand Patwardhan, Arrival by Mani Kaul, Lokesh Lalvani’s They Call Me Chamar, India 67 by Sukhdev, Rabindranath Tagore and Pikoo by Satyajit Ray, the 1967 classic The House that Ananda Built by Fali Billimoria and Pather Chujaeri by Pankaj Rishi
Kumar.
The panel discussions will see filmmakers speaking on issues such as “Depiction of Women in Indian Cinema” and “Celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema - The Road Ahead.” Definitely not a festival to be passed up.