Indian films to open and close South Asian film festival

New York, Oct 1 (IANS) "Loins of Punjab Presents", a comedy set in New Jersey, and the socially relevant "Dharm", are the opening and closing films at the fourth annual South Asian International Film Festival (SAIFF) here. The festival will showcase 50 features, short films and documentaries for a week from Oct 3.

The fare at the festival ranges from big-budget song-and-dance Bollywood to new wave avant-garde. Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal are represented in the festival. Quite a few of the offerings are from the South Asian diaspora.

"Dharm" is a meaningful film about religious tolerance. Set in Varanasi, it tells the story of a Brahmin priest who adopts an adopted child. The child fills his life with much joy and laughter until the day he learns that the four-year-old boy was born a Muslim. Directed by Bhavna Talwar, the film has won critical acclaim at this year's Cannes and Venice film festivals.

Talwar created a controversy recently when she filed a lawsuit questioning the selection of Vidhu Vinod Chopra's "Eklavya" as India's official Oscar entry in the foreign film category.

"Loins of Punjab Presents" is a crossover film about five Indian-Americans and one Jewish Indophile participating in the first edition of Desi Idol, a Bollywood-style singing contest. It is produced and directed by debutant Manish Acharya, who studied filmmaking in New York.

It stars actress-activist Shabana Azmi who is being honoured at SAIFF with a lifetime achievement award and a retrospective.

"It is SAIFF's mission to discover and promote up and coming independent South Asian filmmakers and we believe Manish Acharya is one to watch out for in the future," said Manjri Srivastava, the director of the festival.

There are other notables among the 50 films being screened at the festival.

"Dosar" (Companion), in Bengali, is about infidelity. It is directed by Rituparno Ghosh and stars Prosenjit Chatterjee and Konkona Sen Sharma.

"Chauraahein" (Crossroads) brings together similarly disconnected people in search of something to overcome the mundane reality. It stars Soha Ali Khan and Victor Banerjee.

"Rivaaz" (Tradition) by NRI director Ashok Kumar Nanda, is a hard-hitting film that denounces the practice of prostitution as a family profession in some parts of India.

John Jeffcoat's "Outsourced" is a modern day comedy of cross-cultural conflict and romance that girdles the globe. It stars Ayesha Dharker and Josh Hamilton.

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