NYIFF 2011 - Exciting Film Weekend of Fun Indian Movies

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Raj gives us the dish on the 2011 New York Indian Film Festival, the leading film festival for Indian films in the U.S.

by Raj S. Rangarajan

NEW YORK: It was all there: the trappings, the red carpet, the paparazzi, the fawning crowds, the actors and the wannabees. Its desis in New York, after all.

The event: The Eleventh Annual New York Indian Film Festival presented by the Indo-American Arts Council (IACC) that concluded Sunday. As usual, the festival featured a slew of movies but this time the banner headlines were reserved for films from Bengal ranging from Aparna Sen's Iti Mrinalini to a documentary called The Bengali Detective to Metropolis@Kolkata, directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay to the closing event: Noukadubi directed by Rituparno Ghosh that was set in the 1920s, based on a novel by Rabindranath Tagore, whose 150th birthday was celebrated on May 9 in India.

In the mix was the film (read Bollywood comedy, produced by Walt Disney Pictures, India) Do Dooni Chaar starring the Kapoor couple - Rishi and wife, Neetu - that debuted last Wednesday. At the end of the screening of Do Dooni Chaar, what was billed as a Q&A by newly-minted Festival Director of NYIFF, Aseem Chhabra, of the director, Habib Faisal and the star cast, turned out to be hilarious with Rishi's humorous banter and Neetu's friendly ebullience carrying the evening.

Also seen at the festival were films highlighting drama, touching regional films in Marathi, Bengali and Malayalam with English subtitles, and, adding variety was a documentary titled Bhopali (on the Union Carbide fiasco of 1984), a gangster-light film, Yeh Saali Zindagi starring Irffan Khan and Semshook (in Hindi and Tibetan).

Other films with name-recognition status were Shabana Azmi in A Decent Arrangement (about a side of India not commonly seen by western audiences); Jaya Bahaduri and Victor Banerjee in Meherjaan, directed by Rubaiyat Hossain: a touching 1971 story when Bangladesh got its independence from Pakistan and where Meher falls in love with a soldier from the enemy's side.

Geeta in Paradise, directed by Benny Mathews, is a comic meditation about Bollywood and the effect Indian cinema has on one particularly lonely, bored housewife from Waxahachie, a suburb of Dallas, Texas.

For the first time, we had a 3-D computer-animated retelling of The Legend of Rama made by Ketan Mehta and directed by Chetan Desai. Aimed at children, the film that showcased a landmark in Indian animation had a dedicated team of over 400 artists and technicians busy for two years. Aseem Chhabra says, "we had to make some tough choices on selection for showings, we had to review about 150 narratives, documentaries and shorts."

At many of the events it was "standing-room only" crowds, another indication that Indian films - whatever the language, theme or length - are always a popular draw, the demographics of the audience notwithstanding.

Capping the 5-day event were Awards handed out for Indian cinematic excellence:
Best Director: Aparna Sen, Iti Mrinalini

Best Actress: Konkona Sen Sharma, Iti Mrinalini
Director Aparna Sen, known for several hit movies, excelled herself in this movie with her daughter, Konkona, playing the younger Mrinalini, proving that she is a better actress than her mom, which she readily concedes: "Konkona and I are never in the same frame. My god, imagine that. Straightaway she'll steal the scene! The story is about an aging actress who plans to end her life and the colorful characters that enter and exit her life during her ride.

Best Actor: Rishi Kapoor, Do Dooni Chaar
Breezy comedy set in Delhi that brings out the best elements in a family of four and how the sole breadwinner, an ambitious but lowly-paid Math teacher and scooter-owner faces up to the unforgiving city's challenges and never loses his spirit.

Best Screenplay: Mohan Raghavan, T.D. Dasan Std. VI B (Malayalam)
(How a young boy who misses his father, corresponds with a person whom he has never met and the interesting after-effects. Imaginative powerful story.)

Best Documentary: Bhopali (Director Max Carlson talks about the survivors and how they continue to fight for justice against an American corporation.)

Best Short Film: Just That Sort Of A Day (Abhay Kumar)

Best Feature Film: Sthaniya Sambaad (Spring in the Colony), directed by Arjun Gourisaria & Moinak Biswas (Story dealt with the goings-on in a settlement of refugees from Bangladesh)