LONDON’s first ever Indian Film Festival gets ready to roll tomorrow (Thursday, 15 July 2005).


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Running until the 20th of July, the festival will showcase the best of India’s independent and alternative cinema. Opening in the West End at Cineworld, Haymarket then continuing at Barbican, Nehru Centre, Watermans and Genesis cinemas the Festival will premiere with Love, Sex Aur Dhokha’, (‘Love, Sex and Betrayal’) by director, Dibakar Banerjee. Through three intertwined tales, this controversial film explores sexuality, voyeurism, love and betrayal in modern India.

Other films to be screened include Mahesh Manjrekar’s City of Gold and Saeed Akhtar Mirza’s Last Chance Mumbai.

While we at LondonNet have a genuine fondness for the glamour and showtunes from Bollywood, we welcome the chance to get our teeth into the grittier end of Indian film.

Full listings will be repeated in our regular guide to London Cinema, however here’s the listing direct from the Festival organisers:

CENTRAL LONDON VENUE

Thursday 15 July Opening Night UK Premiere
Cineworld Haymarket
Tel: 0871 200 2000 www.cineworld.co.uk
Tickets: £9.50 (conc.: £7.50)
7.00pm Love, Sex Aur Dhokha (15)
Followed by Q&A with director, Dibakar Banerjee
Running time 104 mins approx, Release 2010
Hindi with English subtitles
Shocking and gripping, this international version of hit film Love, Sex Aur Dhokha pulls no punches as it introduces us to the surveillance crammed world of today’s mega-city India. Deftly told through 3 inter-twinned stories, Banerjee takes us on a roller coaster ride of twisted tales of young love, soaked in betrayal.

Friday 16 July
Nehru Centre, 8 South Audley Street, London W1K 1HF www.nehrucentre.org.uk
FREE but RSVP essential Email: [email protected] Tel: 020 7491 3567
3.00pm Satyajit Ray Foundation’s Short Film Award Nominated Short Films Screening at Nehru Centre

Tuesday 20 July
Cineworld Haymarket
Tel: 0871 200 2000 www.cineworld.co.uk
Tickets: £9.50 (conc.: £7.50)
7.00pm Satyajit Ray Foundation’s Short Film Award announced, followed by Closing Night film:
VIHIR (THE WELL) (12)
Q&A with director, Umesh Kulkarni and producer Girish Kulkarni after screening
Running Time (117 mins), Release 2010
Language: Marathi with English subtitles
A wonderfully moving coming of age tale, stunningly filmed amongst the grandeur of the rolling Indian plains. Two adolescent best friends inspire each other as they grow up, until one makes a fateful decision that will change the others life forever.

CITY

Saturday 17 July
Barbican Cinema
Tel: 020 7 638 8891 www.barbican.org.uk/film/festivals.asp
Tickets: Standard: £7.50 online (£9.50 full price)
Barbican Members: £6.50 online (£7.50 full price)
Concessions: £7.50
7.45pm Last Chance Mumbai (12)
Dir. Saeed Akhtar Mirza
Running time 120 mins approx, Release 2009
Hindi with English subtitles
‘Monsoon Wedding’ actor Vijay Raaz leads an impressive cast of characters in this multi-strand ensemble, set in the megalopolis of modern Mumbai, that explores the connected lives of the city’s varied inhabitants over the same 24 hour period. Raaz (a thief), sparks a sequence of events that bring all our characters lives into headlong collision.

Sunday 18 July
Eastern Eye Gala at Barbican
3.45pm Road to Sangam (12a)
Writer /Dir. Amit Rai
Running time (135 mins), Release 2010
Hindi with English subtitles
A last urn of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes are discovered and have to be taken to the confluence (Sangam) of the holy rivers. A Muslim mechanic is tasked to prepare Gandhi’s vehicle but inter-religious strife lead to him being torn between his morals. Featuring a cameo appearance by Tushar Gandhi (grandson of the Mahatma) with Indian cinema greats, Paresh Rawal and Om Puri (East is East).

EAST LONDON

Genesis Cinema
93-95 Mile End Road
London E1 4UJ
020 7780 2000 www.genesiscinema.co.uk
Ticket Prices
Mon-Thurs Full price £6.00, Student/ Concessions £5.00
Weekend Full price £7.50, Student/Concessions £5.00
Other ticket prices available for senior, children and families.
Friday 16 July 7.00pm City of Gold (15)
Sunday 18 July 7.00pm City of Gold (15)
Dir. Mahesh Manjrekar
Running Time (142 mins), Release April 2010, with Seema Biswas.
Hindi with English subtitles
This is a powerful tale about the untold story behind today’s Mumbai – regarded by many as the ‘City of Gold’. The Dhuri family of mill workers, headed by their strong-willed mother, played by Seema Biswas (Bandit Queen), live on the edge of the slums. They struggle to survive the abyss of poverty as Mumbai’s great mills are struck down by political corruption and commercial greed, to make way for glittering new shopping malls and five star hotels.

Monday 19 July
7.00pm Road to Sangam (12a)
Writer /Dir. Amit Rai
Running time (135 mins), Release 2010
Hindi with English subtitles
A last urn of Mahatma Gandhi’s ashes are discovered and have to be taken to the confluence (Sangam) of the holy rivers. A Moslem mechanic is tasked to prepare Gandhi’s vehicle but inter-religious strife lead to him being torn between his morals. Featuring a cameo appearance by Tushar Gandhi (grandson of the Mahatma) with Indian cinema greats, Paresh Rawal and Om Puri (East is East).

WEST LONDON
Watermans
40 High Street, Brentford, TW8 0DS www.watermans.org.uk
Box Office: 020 8232 1010
Tickets: £7.50 (£6.00 conc.)
Friday 16 July
8.00pm Dev D (15)
Dir. Anurag Kashyap / Script Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap / with Abhay Deol, Mahie Gill, Kalki Koechlin / 2009
Hindi with English subtitles
Trailblazer of a younger generation of Indian directors Anurag Kashyap brings a brilliant, luxuriantly visual re-telling to the classic story of Devdas, who treats his girlfriend in the wrong way and ends up the broken hearted lover.

Saturday 17 July
8.00pm Love Sex Aur Dhokha (18)
Running time 104 mins approx, Release 2010
Hindi with English sub-titles
Shocking and gripping, this international version of hit film Love, Sex Aur Dhokha pulls no punches as it introduces us to the surveillance crammed world of today’s mega-city India. Deftly told through 3 inter-twinned stories, Banerjee takes us on a roller coaster ride of twisted tales of young love, soaked in betrayal.

Sunday 18 July
7.00pm Last Chance Mumbai (Ek Tho Mumbai) (12)
Dir. Saeed Akhtar Mirza
Running time 120 mins approx, Release 2009
Hindi with English subtitles
‘Monsoon Wedding’ actor Vijay Raaz leads an impressive cast of characters in this multi-strand ensemble, set in the megalopolis of modern Mumbai, that explores the connected lives of the city’s varied inhabitants over the same 24 hour period. Raaz (a thief), sparks a sequence of events that bring all our characters lives into headlong collision.