<p>Celebrated Indian artists including Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Sharmila Tagore will attend the MIAAC (Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council) Film Festival that kicks off on Wednesday, with 47 screenings.<br />The show begins with 'Today's Special' staring Shah, Madhur Jaffrey and Daily Show actor/correspondent Asif Mandvi who plays a cook in a comedy about food and friendship set in Jackson Heights, which is a South Asian hub in the Queens borough.<br />"This is a story about an immigrant family who happen to be Indian and Muslim, and it's a story about a father and a son," Mandvi said.<br />"Even in America, people who don't know Indians know Indian food. The reality is that it's a great way in for people into the culture," she added.<br />Indian actress Deepti Naval, will make her directorial debut in 'Two Paise for Sunshine Four Annas for Rain', which brings together a struggling gay lyricist with an ageing prostitute played by Manisha Koirala and her 12-year-old son. <br /><br />MIAAC 09 also features five Bengali artists including Buddhadeb Dasgupta whose movie, 'The Window', is about Bimal and Meera, a young couple from Kolkata on the verge of getting married when Bimal decides to make a donation to his old school to rebuild an old window following which chaos ensues.<br />Star of 'Mississippi Masala' and 'Kamasutra', Sarita Chaudhary, will be introducing her new film called 'For Real' about women suffering from depression in the urban bourgeoisie classes of Indian cities.<br />"You think of India, you talk about poverty and other extreme things. You don't think of depression and boredom as a big problem," Chaudhary told PTI.<br />"These are problems that happen in every family but they don't seem to get put on film and its often those issues that people can relate to," she added.<br />Noted Lyricist, Javed Akhtar will host 'The State of the Indian Screenplay' a panel discussion on how the corporatisation and the emergence of Hollywood studios have impacted script writing in India.<br />Another topic Reframing Indian Cinema will be chaired by Shyam Benegal who will talk about competing terminologies from the evolving Indian cinema.<br />Another session called Queer Bollywood will discuss how media artists representing queer culture and issues during the changing times in India, in the backdrop of the Delhi High Court judgment.<br />The Indo-American Arts Council, founded in 1998, is a non-profit organisation that promotes Indian and cross-cultural arts forms in the US. The festival, this year, will also present several works by internationally acclaimed director Mira Nair.</p>
<p>Celebrated Indian artists including Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Sharmila Tagore will attend the MIAAC (Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council) Film Festival that kicks off on Wednesday, with 47 screenings.<br />The show begins with 'Today's Special' staring Shah, Madhur Jaffrey and Daily Show actor/correspondent Asif Mandvi who plays a cook in a comedy about food and friendship set in Jackson Heights, which is a South Asian hub in the Queens borough.<br />"This is a story about an immigrant family who happen to be Indian and Muslim, and it's a story about a father and a son," Mandvi said.<br />"Even in America, people who don't know Indians know Indian food. The reality is that it's a great way in for people into the culture," she added.<br />Indian actress Deepti Naval, will make her directorial debut in 'Two Paise for Sunshine Four Annas for Rain', which brings together a struggling gay lyricist with an ageing prostitute played by Manisha Koirala and her 12-year-old son. <br /><br />MIAAC 09 also features five Bengali artists including Buddhadeb Dasgupta whose movie, 'The Window', is about Bimal and Meera, a young couple from Kolkata on the verge of getting married when Bimal decides to make a donation to his old school to rebuild an old window following which chaos ensues.<br />Star of 'Mississippi Masala' and 'Kamasutra', Sarita Chaudhary, will be introducing her new film called 'For Real' about women suffering from depression in the urban bourgeoisie classes of Indian cities.<br />"You think of India, you talk about poverty and other extreme things. You don't think of depression and boredom as a big problem," Chaudhary told PTI.<br />"These are problems that happen in every family but they don't seem to get put on film and its often those issues that people can relate to," she added.<br />Noted Lyricist, Javed Akhtar will host 'The State of the Indian Screenplay' a panel discussion on how the corporatisation and the emergence of Hollywood studios have impacted script writing in India.<br />Another topic Reframing Indian Cinema will be chaired by Shyam Benegal who will talk about competing terminologies from the evolving Indian cinema.<br />Another session called Queer Bollywood will discuss how media artists representing queer culture and issues during the changing times in India, in the backdrop of the Delhi High Court judgment.<br />The Indo-American Arts Council, founded in 1998, is a non-profit organisation that promotes Indian and cross-cultural arts forms in the US. The festival, this year, will also present several works by internationally acclaimed director Mira Nair.</p>