A Semester of Bollywood!
Screenings open to all! Venue: CMC, Kravis 164, Wednesdays 6.30-9/9.30 pm
23rd Sept. Naya Daur (1957) [The New
Era], pro and dir. B. R. Chopra; music, O.P. Nayyar;
lyrics Sahir Ludhianvi
An epic, but also gentle, romantic story of the class
between industrialisation—the attempt to bring in
commercial bus services—and the way of village life,
with its horse carts. There is always more than just the
simple conflict!
30th Sept. Pather Pancali (1955) [Song of
the Road], pro. Government of W. Bengal, dir.
21st Oct. Rang de Basanti (2006) [Colour it
Saffron], dir. and pro, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.
Music A.R. Rehman; lyrics Prasoon Joshi
The making of a documentary film on Indian freedom
fighters a hundred years ago makes five young people in
today’s India wake up to the need to fight the collapse of
civil society around them.
28th Oct No screening. Music concert at
Harvey Mudd: sitar & tabla
Satyajit Ray, music Ravi Shankar
Director Satyajit Ray received an Oscar for Lifetime
Achievement, a lifetime that began with this film,
acclaimed all over the world. It is the story of an
ordinary family in a Bengal village, but full of everyday
pleasures alongside tensions.
7th Oct. Bhuvan Shome (1969), dir.and pro.,
4th Nov. Umrao Jaan (1981), dir. and pro.
Muzaffar Ali; music Khayyam; lyrics Shahryar
Based on an Urdu novel of a century ago on the life of a
real courtesan Umrao Jaan, the film does justice to the
period and the social relations it depicts, but most of all
to the internal turmoil of the courtesan.
Mrinal Sen
A Russian-style tale of a harsh bureaucrat transformed
by his contact with a simple villager, while his insistence
on the criminality of corruption also gets modified.
11th Nov. Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006)
[Carry on, Brother Munna], dir. Rajkumar
Hirani; pro. Vidhu Vinod Chopra; music Shantanu
Moitra; lyrics Swanand Kirkire
14th Oct. English Vinglish (2012), dir. Gauri
Shinde, pro. Sunil Lulla & others
The simple story of a non-English speaking housewife
coming into her own through the learning of English on
a visit to New York, is supplemented by underlying
commentary on gender and age relations within a middle
class Indian family.
Munna, the gangster, and his side-kick Circuit, keep us
engaged in their horrible, lovable pranks, as well as
revive in us an interest in the charisma of Gandhi. Has to
be seen to be believed!
18th Nov. Kahani (2012) [The Story], dir. and
9th Dec. Maachis (1996) [Matches], dir.
pro. Sujoy Ghosh
Gulzar; pro. R.V. Pandit; music Vishal Bhardwaj;
lyricist Gulzar
A contemporary mystery thriller, in which the mystery
will absorb some, but others might just enjoy the lovely
portrayal of Calcutta and the exploration of themes of
gender and motherhood.
25th Nov. No screening
2nd Dec. Dev D (2009), dir. Anurag Kashyap; pro.
Ronnie Screwala; music Amit Trivedi;
A very different take on the classic Devdas, written by
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyaya, filmed in three versions
over 60 years to huge acclaim each time! This version is
set, not in Bengal, but in contemporary Delhi and
Punjab, and presents the view of the three main
characters darkly and powerfully.
A boy next door gets transformed into a terrorist in the
1980s in Punjab. A moving, award-winning movie.