ACF 2092: November lineup of BOLLYWOOD HITS ON DEMAND

 Bollywood Hits On Demand celebrates Diwali
with VOD premiere of Grand Masti 

2013 Blockbuster Comedy and dozens of other top titles offered

International Media Distribution (IMD) and Eros International has announced that the Bollywood Hits On Demand lineup for the month of November will include premieres of the blockbuster comedy Grand Masti, the hilarious sequel to the 2004 hit Masti and the action packed Shootout at Wadala based on the true story of the encounter between Mumbai police and the notorious gang leader Manya Surve.  Also included in the lineup is the 2013 thriller Warning and the 2011 hit Desi Boyz. 

Diwali, also known as the festival of lights is the most important holiday of the year for Indian families and takes place on November 3, 2013.

Bollywood Hits On Demand is available via Xfinity TV from Comcast, Cox, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Verizon FiOS TV, CenturyLink and RCN.  Customers can find it from their TV provider’s Video On Demand menu in the Premium Channels section. 

In celebration of Diwali, Verizon is offering its customers access to a selection of free Bollywood Hits On Demand content for a limited time, now through November 10.  Verizon FiOS TV customers can find the free selections in any of the following VOD sections: 

Free & Premium > Premium Channels > Premium Freeviews > Bollywood Music & Movies

Free & Premium > TV Shows > By Genre > Entertainment >Premium Freeviews > Bollywood Music & Movies

TV Shows > By Genre > Entertainment > Premium Freeviews > Bollywood Music & Movies 

To view the complete SVOD service and to order the Bollywood Hits On Demand monthly subscription package, Verizon FiOS customers can go to Free & Premium > Premium Channels > Bollywood Music & Movies. 

November highlights for Bollywood Hits On Demand include:

Shootout at Wadala 
Available Nov.1 – 28
The epic true story of the explosive face-off between Mumbai police and notorious gang member Manya Surve during a time when gang wars were rife in Bombay.

Desi Boyz 
Available Nov. 8 – Dec. 5
Two friends lose their jobs and become male escorts in order to make ends meet, but have trouble hiding their new jobs from their girlfriends.

Warning 
Available Nov. 15 – Dec. 12
Seven friends stranded in shark infested waters: the lucky ones will die first and the rest will experience the worst nightmares of their lives.

Grand Masti 
Available Nov. 29 – Dec. 26
The Masti boys are back!  Now married and hoping to have a good time at their college reunion, they just can’t seem to stay out of trouble.

ACF 1743: Bollywood Blockbusters from Eros Entertainment on Verizon FiOS

Bollywood Blockbusters from Eros Entertainment

Available A La Carte on Verizon FiOS;

New feature complements monthly subscription

option for Verizon FiOS TV customers

International Media Distribution, a leading provider of in-language and multi-ethnic programming in the U.S., and Eros International, the largest international distributor of Indian films worldwide, have announced that Verizon FiOS TV customers can now enjoy Bollywood Hits On Demand movie titles on an individual basis without a monthly subscription.

In April 2012, Verizon began offering Bollywood Hits On Demand to FiOS TV subscribers for $7.99 per month, with unlimited access to a variety of entertainment choices from Eros Entertainment. Starting this month, fans of the Hindi-language films and entertainment can order select movies a la carte, as part of FiOS TV Video On Demand. This additional service offers customers the alternative of ordering individual movies at $4.99 each for new releases and $2.99 each for library titles.  Each month, four titles are offered.

“Verizon FiOS customers who want to enjoy Bollywood movies from time to time can now do so without having to commit to a monthly package,” said Ken Naz, President North America, Eros International. “Eros and International Media Distribution are pleased to expand the availability and enjoyment of Bollywood blockbusters, including many new releases, to as wide an audience as possible in an unparalleled all-digital and on-demand TV experience.  We hope these films will find new audiences with mainstream viewers sampling the genre for the first time to discover the spectacular world of Bollywood at home.”

FiOS TV customers can find Bollywood Hits On Demand in the Premium Channels video-on-demand folder under Bollywood Music & Movies.  The a la carte offerings can be found in the Movies section by going to the International folder and selecting Bollywood.  Most of the new release titles are available before their DVD debut. 

Upcoming new releases available a la carte include:

Who's There

Starring Rajbeerr Singh and Kalpana Mathur, the film centers on a man haunted by the ghost of his wife's ex-boyfriend. Hindi, subtitled in English. Available now until December 6, 2012.

Cocktail

The relationship between three friends becomes complicated when friendship turns into lust and then leads to love, starring Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan. Hindi, subtitled in English. Available now until December 20, 2012.

 Additional library titles include:

Aakrosh

Three city students go missing in a small village and following pressure from the media, the government reluctantly launches an investigation into their disappearance. Hindi, subtitled in English. Available now until December 13, 2012.

Ek Shriman Ek Shrimati

Deepali is loved by two men, but one of them is not what he appears to be.  With the help of her uncle, the truth is exposed and she realizes who loves her truly. Hindi, subtitled in English. Available now until December 27, 2012.

To order, FiOS TV customers can access individual films for purchase or subscribe to Bollywood Hits On Demand’s monthly package right on the TV screen with their remote control.

ACF 1593: ALMS FOR A BLIND HORSE screening at MoMA NY

Image courtesy of National Film Development Corp., India

Alms for a Blind Horse / Anhey Ghohrey Da Daan

Directed by Gurvinder Singh

India, 2011, 112 minutes

In Punjabi with English subtitles

When: August 22 - 28, 2012 (see schedule below)

Where: The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, NYC

Map and directions 

Based on a Punjabi novel, Singh’s debut feature follows a small-town family that gets caught up in a power struggle when a neighbor’s home is demolished.

A cast of nonprofessional actors delivers intensely committed performances, and Singh makes use of evocative formal compositions and meditative stillness to dramatize his characters’ discontent and unfulfilled desires.

The film calls attention to the latent violence that resides in those who see no possibility for a better life. Singh follows the highly stylistic approach to storytelling pioneered by his mentor, Mani Kaul.

Schedules and tickets:

Wednesday, August 22, 2012, 7:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2

Thursday, August 23, 2012, 4:15 p.m., Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building

Friday, August 24, 2012, 7:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2

Saturday, August 25, 2012, 1:30 p.m., Theater 2, T2

Sunday, August 26, 2012, 5:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2

Monday, August 27, 2012, 4:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2

Tuesday, August 28, 2012, 7:00 p.m., Theater 2, T2

These screenings of Alms for a Blind Horse are part of MoMA's ongoing ContemporAsian film series which focuses on a different film each month.

ACF 1306: Raj Kapoor's MY NAME IS JOKER screening tonight and tomorrow at MoMA

Imaga courtesy Indian International Film Academy

 My Name Is Joker / Meera Nam Joker

Directed by Raj Kapoor

India, 1970, 224 minutes

When: Friday, January 13, 2012, 6:30 p.m.

and Saturday, January 14, 2012, 2:00 p.m.

Where: The Museum of Modern Art

Theater 3 (The Celeste Bartos Theater), mezzanine

The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building 

4 West Fifty-fourth Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, NYC

In Hindi with English subtitles

Kapoor’s legendary film maudit was condemned throughout the Indian film world as an exercise in self-pity. A colossal failure, its reputation has been gradually revived by Western critics, who saw in it echoes of Chaplin’s Limelight and proclaimed it a self-reflexive masterwork.

Here Kapoor completely undermines the tramp persona he had so carefully evolved over two decades, removing from it all traces of heroism and social justice: this tramp is a saccharine, mopey, love-obsessed clown whose one goal in life is to follow in his father’s footsteps as a trapeze artist so he can “make Jesus laugh.”

Joker mirrors the three-story, three-ages structure of Kapoor’s first film, Fire, tracing the clown’s trio of pathetically failed relationships. As a sign of love, he sends each a sad clown doll and, later in life, gathers them all together at a circus performance for a kind of send-off monologue that begins and ends the film. This is a compulsively watchable, astonishing train wreck of a film. 

These screenings of My Name Is Joker are part of MoMA's Raj Kapoor and the Golden Age of Indian Cinema film series, which runs through Sunday January 15th.

ACF 1302: Raj Kapoor's SHREE 420 at MoMA tomorrow and Sunday

Nargis (left) and Raj Kapoor (right). Image courtesy of University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive.

 SHREE 420

Directed by Raj Kapoor

India, 1955, 169 minutes

When: Thursday, January 12, 2012, 4:00 p.m.

and Sunday, January 15, 2012, 2:00 p.m.

Where: The Museum of Modern Art

Theater 3 (The Celeste Bartos Theater), mezzanine

The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building 

4 West Fifty-fourth Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, NYC

In Hindi with English subtitles

 
 "The film’s first half is decidedly Chaplin-esque: Raju is a wise fool, a variation on Chaplin’s underdog tramp. Its second half emphasizes the plight of the jolly have-nots, contrasted with the misdeeds of the evil rich, and is clearly influenced by Frank Capra’s social comedies of the 1930s” (Elliott Stein). Referring to the Indian penal code statute for fraud, Shree 420 is perhaps Kapoor’s most famous incarnation of his tramp persona.

Arriving in the big city to make his fortune, country bumpkin Raju (Kapoor) is soon introduced to the urban underworld. Wooing the honest schoolteacher Vidya (Nargis) while secretly dipping into a life of gambling and petty fraud, Raju is inexorably drawn into more dangerous criminal territory, and Vidya rejects him. As he finally rouses the poor into action against the rich parasites who prey off them, he reveals to Vidya that “he wears the mask of an entertainer to conceal his nerve endings, his pain and disappointments.”

The post-Partition changes to the major Indian cities loom large over the film’s tragicomic situations, with the teeming city streets a vivid backdrop for the film’s legendary musical numbers.

These screenings of SHREE 420 are part of MoMA's Raj Kapoor and the Golden Age of Indian Cinema film series, which runs through Sunday January 15th.

ACF 1300: WHERE THE GANGES FLOWS at MoMA

 Where the Ganges Flows /  Jis Desh Men Ganga Behti Hai

Directed by Radhu Karmakar

India, 1951, 167 minutes

When: Wednesday, January 11, 2012, 4:00 p.m.

and Saturday, January 14, 2012, 6:45 p.m.

Where: The Museum of Modern Art

The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building 

4 West Fifty-fourth Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, NYC

In Hindi with English subtitles

A controversial entry in the Kapoor canon, this film (nominally directed by Karmakar, the studio’s cinematographer-in-residence) marked Kapoor’s final direct incarnation of his tramp character, and the first time he was not paired with the actress Nargis. Raju, a pilgrim to the river Ganges, is lured from his religious observances by a tomboyish (yet scantily clad) female bandit. Ardently pursuing her, he bumbles into a bandit encampment, where he attempts to convert the brigands into latter-day Robin Hoods. Kapoor’s performance is a constant question mark: Is he indeed a fool or is it a put-on, an act to win the lady through charm? While expressed in borderline simplistic terms, Raju’s homilies reflect Gandhi’s teachings on bringing nonviolent change to the countryside. In any event, the film is hilarious, and it is Kapoor’s cleverest use of (often charmingly raunchy) double entendres.

ACF 1298: BOOT POLISH at MoMA

Bhola (left) and Belu

 Boot Polish

Directed by Prakash Arora

India, 1953, 149 minutes

When: Monday, January 9, 2012 at 7:45 PM

Where: The Museum of Modern Art

The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building
4 West Fifty-fourth Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, NYC

Today's second film in MoMA's Raj Kapoor and the Golden Age of Indian Cinema film series is Boot Polish. (Note that their are separate admission for Boot Polish and Barsaat, which is being shown at 4:00.) Prakash Arora, who was the second unit or assistant director on three earlier Kapoor films, is the director of record, but the film is widely thought of as having been primarily directed by Kapoor himself. (It is the only film listed at IMDb as having been directed by Arora.)

Whatever the case, the film is a real tear-jerker. Bhola (Rattan Kumar) and Belu (Kumari Naaz, billed as Baby Naaz) are left in the care of a heartless aunt after their mother has died and their father gone to prison. Forced by her to beg, they are encouraged to instead work for money by shining shoes.

The film is frequently compared to Vittorio De Sica's Shoeshine (1946), because both films center on two youngsters (both boys in Shoeshine) living in poverty who earn their keep by shining shoes. But that's really about as far as it goes. De Sica's film comes to focus on a mistaken belief of betrayal, while Boot Polish is a melodrama that centers on Indian leader Jawaharlal Nehru's campaign to help the poor find work, thereby not only improving their lot in life, but also their self-respect.

Raj Kapoor, whose R.K. Films studio produced the movie, has a brief cameo as himself in which he's asleep on a train that the children have boarded to ply their trade. Naaz, who was seven years old at the time of filming is a marvel to behold. Talented beyond her years, she is utterly guileless, a total delight to behold.

ACF 1297: BARSAAT at MoMA

Raj Kapoor and Nargis

Barsaat / Monsoon (a.k.a. The Monsoons)

Directed by Raj Kapoor

India, 1949, 171 minutes

When: Monday, January 9, 2012 at 4:00 PM

Where: The Museum of Modern Art

The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building
4 West Fifty-fourth Street, between Fifth and Sixth avenues, NYC

The Raj Kapoor film series at MoMA continues today with the second -- and final -- screenings of two films. (All screenings will be of newly struck 35 mm prints.) The first to be shown is Barsaat, Kapoor's first really big hit. In it he stars as Pran, a composer, musician and romantic idealist. Prem Nath is Gopal, his best friend who regards women solely as means to his own sensual gratification.

Kapoor at the piano in one of the many backlit scenes

The two travel through Kashmir in a huge American convertible. (Ah, for the good old days when the U.S. auto industry was the envy of the world. A remake today would almost certainly use an upscale Japanese or German car.) They become involved with two young local women, Pran with Reshma (single monikered actress Nargis), Gopal with Neela, who is played by 17-year-old Nimmi (again, just a single-named actress) in her first film role.

Nargis (left) and Prem Nath

The movie is historically significant for introducing the "whisper" to Indian commercial cinema, "a type of intimacy and emotional depth unknown at the time." The cinematography is marvelous, with dramatic lighting, often high-contrast and/or backlit. Editing utilizes well-thought out dissolves and cross-cutting. And the music is quite eclectic, including a variety of non-Indian sources.

The second film of the day will be Boot Polish, which I'll review in my next post, ACF 1298.

ACF 1290: THE VAGABOND leads off Raj Kapoor film series at MoMA

Raj Kapoor

The Vagabond / Awaara

Directed by Raj Kapoor

India, 1951, 193 minutes

In Hindi with English subtitles

Can't think of a better way to start off the New Year then to help put out the word about 2012's first Asian film series, at least in New York. That would be Raj Kapoor and the Golden Age of Indian Cinema, which will be taking place at the Museum of Modern Art from January 6th through the 16th.

Kapoor (1924–1988) was an actor, director and producer who was revered not only in India but throughout the former Soviet world, the Middle East, and beyond. However, aside from fans of South Asian descent, he is largely unknown in the United States. This series should make significant gains in correcting that situation, beginning this coming Friday evening with the first of two screenings of The Vagabond.

One of the greatest and most famous Indian films ever made, The Vagabond was a global (or at least Soviet and developing-world) sensation. Collaborating for the first time with star writer K.A. Abbas, Kapoor concocted a modern-day version of the tale of Rama’s banishment of Sita. A judge (Prithviraj Kapoor) rejects his pregnant wife after she is kidnapped and presumably raped by a criminal. Protesting her innocence, she raises her son Raju (Raj Kapoor) in poverty; after being expelled from school for not paying his fees, Raju is soon recruited into the same criminal’s gang.

When he is reunited with his childhood sweetheart Rita (Nargis), now a ward of the judge, he tries to extricate himself from the vicious circle of poverty and violence. The film’s extended dream sequence revolutionized Hindi cinema, and introduced the idea of externalizing characters’ inner conflicts though song-and-dance numbers. The film also marks the first appearance of the “tramp” persona that would make Kapoor famous.

The Vagabond will be shown twice:
- Friday, January 6, 2012, 6:30 p.m., Theater 1, T1 
- Sunday, January 8, 2012, 5:00 p.m., Theater 3, mezzanine, Education and Research Building

ACF 1277: Full info about RAJ KAPOOR retrospective now available

Aag (Fire). 1948. India. Directed by Raj Kapoor. Pictured: Kamini Kaushal (left) and Raj Kapoor (right).  Image courtesy of Indian International Film Academy.

As I indicated in Monday's post, MoMA will be hosting an eight film retrospective of the works of Indian actor, director, and mogul Raj Kapoor (1924–1988) from January 6 - 16, 2012. I was just notified that there is information available about the series at MoMA's website. For the schedule of the films to be shown, descriptions of each, and links to purchase tickets online, click here.

Largely unknown in North America—except, of course, to millions of fans of South Asian descent— Kapoor is revered not only in India but throughout the former Soviet world, the Middle East, and beyond for the films he made during the Golden Age of Indian cinema. This exhibition of eight legendary Kapoor films, presented in newly struck 35mm prints, offers an introduction to one of the most ravishing and influential periods of world cinema. Kapoor founded RK Films in 1948, and it became the most important Hindi studio of the post-Independence era—and the one most commonly associated with that nebulous and often misunderstood expression, “Bollywood.”

Fire (1948), Kapoor’s first film as producer and director, reflects German Expressionist influences, and established the modern-day, hyper-romantic style that would become his trademark—combining contemporary Hollywood melodrama with the moral lessons and metaphors of the “mythologicals”: special-effects-laden versions of tales from the Indian epics the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Kapoor took the latent romanticism of prewar Indian commercial cinema and made it frank, intense, and personal, creating a new idiom for the expression of emotion that had little place in traditional Indian literature and drama.

As Elliot Stein writes in Raj Kapoor: The Showman Auteur of Indian Cinema, “Kapoor’s singular and gargantuan talent subsumes a variety of influences and affinities—[Charles] Chaplin, Frank Capra, Orson Welles—with even a touch of Russ Meyer apparent in the later work. At times, his oeuvre recalls the work of a 19th-century European literary giant whose sympathy for the underdog, protean activity, inexhaustible energy and penchant for excess earned him fame and a national reputation as early in life as Kapoor. Yes, Raj Kapoor is—to a degree—the Victor Hugo of Indian cinema.”

ACF 1275: RAJ KAPOOR and the GOLDEN AGE of INDIAN CINEMA coming to MoMA in January 2012

Shree 420. 1955. India. Directed by Raj Kapoor. Pictured: Nargis (left) and Raj Kapoor (right). Image courtesy of University of California, Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive.

The Museum of Modern Art will be presenting Raj Kapoor and the Golden Age of Indian Cinema. This film series, which will run from from January 6 through 16, 2012, reveals through eight legendary films the work of actor, director, and mogul Raj Kapoor (1924-1988). Largely unknown in North America—except to filmgoers of South Asian descent—Kapoor is revered not only in India but also throughout the former Soviet world, the Middle East, and beyond for the films he made during the Golden Age of Indian cinema.

Presented in newly struck 35mm prints, Raj Kapoor and the Golden Age of Indian Cinema offers an introduction to one of the most ravishing and influential periods of world cinema. Kapoor founded RK Films in 1948, and it became the most important Hindi studio of the post-Independence era—and the one most commonly associated with the nebulous and often misunderstood expression "Bollywood."

The exhibition is curated by Noah Cowan, Artistic Director, TIFF Bell Lightbox, and organized by TIFF, IIFA, and RK Films, with the support of the Government of Ontario. It is organized for MoMA by Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art.

ACF will provide further information, including film descriptions, the complete schedule, and purchasing tickets, as soon as it's available in the near future.

ACF 1268: RA.ONE now available on Bollywood Hits On Demand

Bollywood's Biggest Fall Blockbuster Exclusively Available

On BOLLYWOOD HITS ON DEMAND Before Its DVD Release

Bollywood’s blockbuster hit Ra.One, starring international sensations Shah Rukh Khan (in dual roles) and Kareena Kapoor, is now available exclusively on Bollywood Hits On Demand, prior to its DVD release later this month, less than six weeks after it’s theatrical release.

Bollywood Hits on Demand, the subscription video on demand service featuring Bollywood blockbuster movies and music, is available to Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, Time Warner, CenturyLink and RCN cable customers in select areas in the U.S. market.  The movie will remain available on Bollywood Hits On Demand until January 5, 2012.  For Comcast and Cox customers, Ra.One will also be available to order on an a la carte basis for $4.99. 

“Ra.One had a record opening in the U.S., beating those of recent releases, and we’re thrilled to be able to offer this super blockbuster hit to cable platforms prior to its DVD release. We remain committed to offering the best of Bollywood movies and music to our on demand customers,” said Ken Naz, President of Eros International, USA. 

Ra. One was released theatrically on October 26, 2011, with astounding box office results, making it one of the most successful Diwali openings in Indian cinema by grossing more than $35 million worldwide. This Bollywood blockbuster is a sci-fi, action film filled with stunning visual effects directed by Anubhav Sinha and starring Shah Rukh Khan, Arjun Rampal and Kareena Kapoor.  The film also features a widely acclaimed soundtrack produced by Vishal & Shekhar, featuring Grammy award nominee Akon in the hit Bollywood song “Chamak Chalo.”

ACF 993: "Karma to Nirvana" doc to premiere at NY Indian Film Festival

“Karma to Nirvana,” the second installment in
Vikas Khanna’s HOLY KITCHENS documentary series,
set to premiere at the longest-running,
most prestigious Indian film festival in the U.S.

“God comes to the hungry in the form of food,” said the ‘Father of India’ Mahatma Gandhi. It is this philosophy which has compelled Chef Vikas Khanna to explore the symbiotic intersection of food and religion in his documentary series HOLY KITCHENS. “At any given time somewhere on Earth, people are gathering to share food in the name of God. This is spiritual sustenance, meant to bring us closer together and closer to the Creator,” says Khanna. “This is the story of Holy Kitchens.”

“Karma to Nirvana,” the second installment in the series which focuses specifically on Hinduism, Lord Krishna’s spiritual practices, and the principles of KARMA and NIRVANA as set forth in the Bhagavad- Gita, will premiere at the New York Indian Film Festival on Saturday, May 7, 2011, at 12:30 p.m. in Tribeca Cinemas’ Theater Two (54 Varick Street).

The film features interviews with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Arun Gandhi, Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, Shaunaka Rishi Das, Aroon Shivdasani, Lynn McGuire, Scott Carney and Anju Bhargava. It is written and narrated by Andrew Blackmore-Dobbyn, directed by Anubhav Bhardwaj, and co-directed by Francisco Aguila. “Karma to Nirvana” is a Junoon Hospitality presentation (TRT: 48 min).

Vikas Khanna’s journey in the documentary takes us right into the soup kitchens of Amma, Mata Amritanandamayi Devi’s ashram in Kerala, where Amma blesses thousands of people daily with motherly hugs and serves them meals with her own hands. “We have to help the hungry as best we can,” says Amma. “We have to see that feeding the hungry is no less than the worship of God.”

Subsequently, the documentary highlights the magnanimous charity work of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Delhi and other parts of the world. Their “Food for All” programs feed hundreds of thousands of hungry children and adults, and Khanna personally cooks in the ISKCON kitchens in London, as a way for him to give back.

ISKCON’s mid-day meal program in India provides free meals to children in schools, thereby helping them get an education and ensuring a brighter future for them, as well as for India. According to the Bhagavad-Gita, “sharing food is the highest form of Karma.” It is this selfless service to others that eventually leads Hindus to the path to higher spirituality and, thus, to Nirvana.

“True Business,” the first film in the HOLY KITCHENS series focused on the Sikh religion and how its temples provide free food through its kitchens, known as “langars,” to everyone who comes, regardless of their beliefs. With commentary by Dr. Deepak Chopra, the film played to a sold-out audience at New York’s Sikh International Film Festival in fall 2010. Next year’s film is titled “The Moon of Eïd” and will explore Ramadan in the Islamic faith from the Middle East to Europe and across the world.

“Our aim is to make people aware of this commonality of the world’s religious traditions and to illuminate the differences in a way that will engender mutual tolerance and respect,” says Khanna. “Taken together, these films are our offering to the dialog that is meant to create more peace and harmony in the world.”

For more information about the HOLY KITCHENS series, upcoming films, and screening schedules, please log on to www.holykitchens.com.

About Vikas: Vikas Khanna was raised in Amritsar, India, where he grew up surrounded by large family feasts, the seasonal produce fresh from the fields of Punjab, and of course, his grandmother’s traditional home cooking. It was at his grandmother’s side that he began to learn the intricacies of Indian cuisine. He started his own catering business, Lawrence Gardens, at the age of 17. Vikas has received rave reviews for his cooking in The New York Times and many other publications. His current restaurant work includes Junoon Restaurant, the Café at the Rubin Museum of Art, and Flavors and Feasts Catering. Upon his graduation from the Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Vikas went on to train under renowned chefs of Taj Group of Hotels, Oberoi, Leela Group, and many more.

He has authored several books including “The Spice Story of India” and “Modern Indian Cooking.” His next book, “Flavors First,” will be published in 2011 by Lake Isle Press. His following book is titled “Return to the Rivers: A Culinary Pilgrimage Through the Himalayas,” with a foreword by His Holiness, The Dalai Lama. Vikas has also been a guest judge and chef on Gordon Ramsay’s television shows for Fox, Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares, Food Network and the Martha Stewart Show among others. He is the recipient of numerous national and international awards and is also an honorary member of many foundations, including the World Peace Society. The full scope of Khanna’s activities can be found on www.vkhanna.com.

ACF 782: 10th Annual MIAAC Film Festival ends in New York with awards ceremony

10th Annual MIAAC Film Festival Wraps Up with Awards Ceremony
for Best Picture, Actors, and Director

Five days of sold-out feature, shorts, and documentary screenings, “Bhumika: The Roles of Smita Patil,” a retrospective of the late actress’ films, in partnership with the Film Society at Lincoln Center, nightly red-carpet events, film industry panels, and celebrity-packed after parties all came to a close on Sunday, November 14 with a prestigious awards ceremony at the SVA Theater in Manhattan, following the closing night film “Cooking with Stella." The longest-running, most prestigious Indian film festival in the country, the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council (MIAAC) Film Festival, recognized noteworthy directing, writing, and acting in the following categories:

* Best Picture – “The Well (Vihir)”
* Best Actor – Ajay Naidu, “Ashes”
* Best Actress – Seema Biswas, “Cooking with Stella”
* Best Director – Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK, “Shor”
* Best Screenplay – Rituparno Ghosh, “Memories in March”
* Best Documentary – “Ganesh, Boy Wonder,” Director Srinivas Krishna
* Best Short Film – “Charulata…A Sequel…of the Life Untold!” Director Sangeeta Padmanabhan
* NYU @ MIAAC: Mobile Bollywood – Directors: Anna South, Casey Knight, and Raymond Wei
* Special Achievement Award for Significant Contribution to the Globalization of Indian Music – presented to Oscar and Grammy-award winning composer A.R. Rahman and accepted by director Mani Ratnam

The jury comprised of some of the most well-known critics, actors, directors, and academics in world cinema including: Claus Mueller, Kathleen Carroll, Jerry Carlson, Madhur Jaffrey, Parag Amladi, Ashish Avikunthak, Vinay Chowdhry, Udayan Gupta, Poorna Jagannathan, Kavery Kaul, Joseph Mathew-Varghese, Zenobia Shroff, Ingrid Scheib-Rothbart, Parvez Sharma, Rahul Bose, Wayne Sharpe, and Nilita Vachani.

Celebrities who attended the 10th annual festival included: Mani Ratnam, Suhasini Maniratnam, Mira Nair, Dilip Mehta, Seema Biswas, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Madhur Jaffrey, Ekta Kapoor, Tusshar Kapoor, Padma Lakshmi, Rahul Bose, Salman Rushdie, Aasif Mandvi, Samrat Chakrabarti, Manu Narayan, Tannishtha Chatterjeee, Seema Biswas, Ajay Naidu, Arun Vaidyanathan, Sarita Choudhry, Sanjoy Nag, Srijit Mukherjee, and many others.

About the Indo-American Arts Council: The Indo-American Arts Council is a registered not-for-profit arts organization passionately dedicated to showcasing, building awareness, and celebrating artists of Indian origin in the performing, visual and literary arts. Annual festivals of art, dance, play writing and film are scheduled through the year, with several special events and book launches. For further information please visit www.iaac.us. The IAAC Film Festival was born in the aftermath of 9/11 in response to Mayor Giuliani’s call to New Yorkers to help rebuild a limping city. The First Annual film Festival opened its doors with Film Diaspora Godfather Ismail Merchant and closed with New York’s favorite Indian filmmaker Mira Nair. Four years ago, Mahindra & Mahindra joined forces with the IAAC Film Festival by becoming the lead sponsor, changing the name of the festival to The MIAAC Film Festival. For further information please visit www.miaacfilmfest.org.

About The Mahindra Group: Mahindra embarked on its journey in 1945 by assembling the Willys Jeep in India and is now a $7.1 billion Indian multi-national company. It employs more than 100,000 people across the globe and enjoys a leadership position in utility vehicles, tractors, and information technology, with a significant and growing presence in financial services, tourism, infrastructure development, and trade and logistics. Today, The Mahindra Group is an embodiment of global experience and enjoys a strong corporate brand image.

Mahindra is the only Indian company among the top tractor brands in the world. It is today a full-range player with a presence in almost every segment of the automobile industry, from two-wheelers to CVs, UVs, SUVs, and sedans. Mahindra recently acquired majority stake in REVA Electric Car Co. Ltd. (now called Mahindra REVA), strengthening its position in the Electric Vehicles domain.

The Mahindra Group expanded its IT portfolio when Tech Mahindra acquired the leading global business and information technology services company, Satyam Computer Services. The company is now known as Mahindra Satyam.

Mahindra is also one of the few Indian companies to receive an A+ GRI checked rating for its first Sustainability Report for the year 2007-08 and has also received the A+ GRI rating for the year 2008-09.

About The Film Society at Lincoln Center: The Film Society of Lincoln Center was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, to recognize and support new directors, and to enhance the awareness, accessibility and understanding of film. Advancing this mandate today, the Film Society hosts two distinguished festivals. The New York Film Festival annually premieres films from around the world and has introduced the likes of François Truffaut, R.W. Fassbinder, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodóvar, Martin Scorsese, and Wong Kar-Wai to the United States. New Directors/New Films, co-presented by the Museum of Modern Art, focuses on emerging film talents. Since 1972, when the Film Society honored Charles Chaplin, its annual Gala Tribute celebrates an actor or filmmaker who has helped distinguish cinema as an art form. Additionally, the Film Society presents a year-round calendar of programming at its Walter Reade Theater and offers insightful film writing to a worldwide audience through Film Comment magazine. For more information, visit: www.filmlinc.com

ACF 770: The Japanese Wife to be shown at School of Visual Arts on November 13, 2010

The Japanese Wife
Directed by Aparna Sen
With Rahul Bose, Raima Sen, Chigasu Takaku,
Mousumi Chatterjee, and Rudranil Ghosh
India, 2009, 105 minutes
NY Premiere
In English, Bengali, and Japanese (with English subtitles)
When: Saturday, November 13, 6:00 PM
Where: SVA Theatre 2 (Beatrice)
333 West 23rd Street, New York City

Director Aparna Sen and lead actor Rahul Bose will be in attendance.

A delicate – and improbable love story about three gentle and shy souls. Snehamoy, a school teacher in the beautiful Sunderbans, writes letters to Miyage, a sweet shy Japanese girl in Yokohama. Over these letters, they fall in love and get married despite having never met. Sandhya, a widow, takes refuge in Snehamoy’s home and is soon always by his side, bringing a piquant twist to this home in the Sunderbans, and the love between Snehamoy and Miyage. Will Sandhya find her solace with Snehamoy? Or will life finally unite Snehamoy and Miyage?

TICKETS
$15 / $12 Japan Society members.
PLEASE ENTER the following code to obtain the discount: MIAACBRK

To order tickets online, click here.

This screening is part of the 10th Annual Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival.

ACF 271: NY's FSLC presents Satyajit Ray retro April 15th thru 30th, 2009

First Light: Satyajit Ray from

the Apu Trilogy to the Calcutta Trilogy

“To have not seen the films of Ray is to have lived in the world without ever having seen the moon and the sun.” - Akira Kurosawa

One of the unfortunately all-too-rare retrospectives of the films of Indian master filmmaker Satyajit Ray begins tomorrow at the Walter Reade Theater of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. It will last 16 Days and offer over 20 films, many sporting new prints. The following two paragraphs from the FSLC sum the series up nicely:

"Little excuse is ever needed to re-examine the work of one of cinema’s greatest auteurs, but the recent spike of interest in India — from its propitious emergence as a major economic power to the worldwide success of Slumdog Millionaire — make this an especially apt moment to witness and celebrate the achievements of Ray.

Scene from "Charulata"

The series spans the Apu Trilogy in the 50s (Pather Panchali, Aparajito, The World of Apu) through the Calcutta Trilogy in the 70s (The Adversary, Company Limited, The Middleman) and features 1960’s Devi (“One of Satyajit Ray’s greatest early films” – Jonathan Rosenbaum), 1964’s Charulata (“Surpasses everything Ray has ever achieved before” – Richard Roud, NYFF) and many new 35mm prints: The Music Room (1958), The Expedition (1962), The Coward and the Holy Man (1965), The Hero (1966), and more."

Complete program info, including descriptions of each film, showtimes, and links to order tickets is available at the Film Society of New York website

Must reading: Terrence Rafferty's New York Times article

ACF 172: Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival in NYC 11.05-09.08

Bohman Irani and Zenobia Shroff in Sooni Taraporevala's Little Zizou

(Photo Credit: Aparna Jayakumar)

The 8th Annual Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council (MIAAC) Film Festival will bring Independent Indian and Diaspora Film Premieres to New York, Nov. 5-9.

Five special events will accompany the 32 films featured during the upcoming film festival. They include discussions, seminars, a live concert, and a special screening of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. Each event contributes to the MIAAC Film Festival’s mission to recognize and celebrate Indian Independent and Diaspora films in North America.

60x60 SECS
Wednesday, November 5–9, 10AM-6 PM
Aicon Gallery at 35 Great Jones Street

60x60 is the first project for 360degreesTV from Motiroti, the London-based international arts organization. It is comprised of sixty one-minute films by established and emerging artists from the South Asian Diaspora – twenty each from Britain, India and Pakistan. Shown daily as a single channel installation, the films uncover new voices and images, presenting comic, unsettling and arresting stories of everyday life and global events and focus on the meaning of ‘home and boundaries.’

BOMBAY/NY: AN EVENING WITH MIRA NAIR AND SUKETU MEHTA

Friday, November 7 at 7 PM
The Times Center, 242 W. 41st Street

Co-presented with the Museum of the Moving Image at The Times Center, and moderated by the Museum's Chief Curator, David Schwartz, Nair, the acclaimed director of The Namesake, Monsoon Wedding, and Salaam Bombay! who is collaborating on several film projects with Mehta, the author of Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, will discuss perspectives on the vibrant cultures of the two cities, accompanied by excerpts from Nair's films

THE FRONTIER GANDHI: BADSHAH KHAN, A TORCH FOR PEACE

Saturday, November 8 at 6 PM

Allen Room, Jazz at Lincoln Center

A special screening of Teri C. McLuhan's extraordinary story of the Muslim peacemaker who raised a 100,000 strong non-violent army in his fight alongside Mahatma Gandhi for Indian independence and religious tolerance. The screening will be followed by a concert for peace by the acclaimed composer who did the music score of the film, David Amram, and his musicians.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Saturday, November 8 at 8 PM

ImaginAsian Theater, 59th St at 1st Ave

The festival's centerpiece, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, is the latest film by Danny Boyle, the acclaimed director of 28 Days, Trainspotting and other films. This Dickensian dazzler, winner of the Audience Award at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival, is about a young man from the slums of Bombay whose earnings on the Hindi version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? begin to mount to unsettling and gigantic proportions. The event is sponsored by Filmi.

BOSE: THE FORGOTTEN HERO screening and discussion
Saturday, November 8, Noon
Asia Society

Still shrouded in controversy and mystery, the gripping story of Indian national hero "Netaji" Subhas Chandra Bose gets an epic treatment from veteran director Shyam Benegal. In his telling of a dramatic story that has all but disappeared from public memory, Benegal follows the leader who diverged from Gandhi (who once remarked that he had two political sons, Jawaharlal Nehru and "that mischievous Netaji") to meet with Adolf Hitler and General Hideki Tojo in his fight for Indian independence. Benegal follows the astonishing life of the man who created India's first national army that battled the Allied forces in the jungles of Burma, until his mysterious death in 1945. A discussion with Director Shyam Benegal will follow the screening.

Tickets to these special events and other films are available now. For a list of films, times, locations, and more, visit: http://www.iaac.us/MIAAC2008/film_details.htm.