CPH PIX: Indian Indies by CPH Filmfestivals

FilmFestivAl

IndIan IndIes

Bollywood & Beyond 19. August – 16. september

INDIAN INDIES

BOLLYWOOD & BEYOND

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Programme: Jacob Neiiendam, Niels Lind Larsen, Jesper Andersen, Louise Højgaard Johansen Text: Niels Lind Larsen, Jesper Andersen, Louise Højgaard Johansen, Jacob Neiiendam, Patrick Frater, Amrit Gangar, Budhaditya Chattopadhyay, Thure Munkholm Guests/Events: Riina Spørring Zachariassen, Louise Højgaard Johansen, Ditte Drehn Translation: Simon Neubert-Luckner Layout: Maja Krog, Andreas Steinmann Graphic design: India / E-types CPH PIX is Jacob Neiiendam, Thure Munkholm, Riina Spørring Zachariassen, Louise Højgaard Johansen, Lars B. Frahm CPH PIX is a part of COPENHAGEN FILM FESTIVALS

INDIA TODAY - COPENHAGEN TOMORROW 17. 20. august12 – 13. januar 2013 India Today – Copenhagen Tomorrow er et kultur- og erhvervsfremstød, som har til formål at styrke båndet mellem Danmark og Indien. Det bliver det største arrangement om Indien til dato og fokuserer på kunst, mode, design, film, dans, politik, videnskab og erhverv. India Today – Copenhagen Tomorrow er en paraplybetegnelse for en række kulturelle og forretningsorienterede initiativer om det moderne Indien. Arrangementerne er initieret af Holck-Larsen Fonden og udviklet med samarbejdspartnere som ARKEN, CPH PIX, CPH:DOX, Det Kongelige Teater, Københavns Universitet, CBS, Aarhus Universitet, Dansk Industri, Asia House og Det Danske Kulturinstitut. Begivenheden er støttet af en lang række fonde og organisationer. Initiativtageren bag er advokat Steen Lassen, formand for Holck-Larsen Fonden.

PATANG (THE KITE)

VELKOMMEN TIL INDIA TODAY INDIEN ER VERDENS største filmland med flere årlige filmproduktioner end hele Europa til sammen. Men hvor godt kender vi egentlig indisk film? De heldige af os har måske nydt mødet med Bollywoods storslåede eskapisme, men de færreste har haft mulighed for at dykke ned i den umådelige filmverden, der udfolder sig fra New Delhi i nord til Bangalore i syd. Derfor er vi på CPH PIX begejstrede over at være en del af India Today – Copenhagen Tomorrow og således få mulighed for i samarbejde med Cinemateket at præsentere denne helt særlige festival dedikeret til ny indisk film med al dens sydende talent.

PROGRAMMET ER STRAKT ud over en hel måned, men filmfesten stopper ikke der, for DR K vil også vise en række nye indiske film i september, så folk i hele landet kan være med og opleve ‘Indian Indies’. GOD FORNØJELSE Jacob Neiiendam FESTIVALCHEF CPH PIX

FESTIVAL GUIDE ALLE FILMVISNINGER FOREGÅR I Cinemateket i Filmhuset, Gothersgade 55, med undtagelse af den gratis Open Air visning af ‘Om Shanti Om’ på Strøget/Nytorv.

ALL FILM SCREENINGS TAKE place at the Cinematheque in Filmhuset, Gothersgade 55, with the exception of the free Open Air screening of ‘Om Shanti Om’ at Strøget/Nytorv.

Billetter koster 65 kr. men film med en spilletid på mere end 120 minutter (2 timer) koster 75 kr.

Tickets cost 65 kr. but films with a total running time over 120 minutes (2 hrs) cost 75 kr.

Billetter kan bestilles og købes i Cinematekets billetsalg (33743412) eller på internettet via www. cphpix.dk eller www.cinemateket.dk.

Tickets can be purchased at the Cinematheque box office (+45 33743412) or online at www.cphpix.dk or www.cinemateket.dk.

Bemærk at Cinemateket er lukket om mandagen.

Note that the Cinematheque is closed on Mondays.

SULT, restauranten i Filmhuset, ryster under hele den indiske filmfestival krydderiposen og sætter blus under de indiske gryder. Det sker med en to-retters særmenu til 145 kr. bestående af en koriander-, spidskommen- og marsala-krydret salat med tomat og agurk som forret (tilbehør: naanbrød og bønnemos), og til hovedret kylling med ris i kokosmælk-sauce med figner, hokkaido-græskar og kanel – og hertil mango-chutney. SULT åbner desuden en ny indisk-inspireret juicebar.

FILM INDEX 7 Sins Forgiven Alms for a Blind Horse At the End of it All Ballad of Rustom Charulata (The Lonely Wife) Cinema of Prayoga I Cinema of Prayoga II Corrode Delhi Belly Gandu Gangs of Wasseypur I+II Greater Elephant

18 48 20 24 64 62 63 38 58 40 8 36

Om Shanti Om Paan Singh Tomar Patang (The Kite) Raavanan Road, Movie Rockstar The Temple The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project Udaan Valley of Saints Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

14 56 54 30 51 28 46 34 12 49 22

THE MOZART OF MADRAS 26

INDIA RISING, WOMEN ON TOP 16

INDIAN INDIES 6

DIY - DO IT YOURSELF 32

INDIAN INDIES INDIAN CINEMA’S WILD CHILD INDIA RISING, WOMEN ON TOP THE MOZART OF MADRAS DIY – DO IT YOURSELF ARTIST TALK & FILM – DIY ARTIST TALK & PERFORMANCE – SOUND OF INDIA CERTAIN OBSERVATIONS... CINEMA OF PRAYOGA THE LAST BOLLYWOOD BILLBOARD PAINTERS ANDRE AKTIVITETER SPILLEPLAN

6 11 17 26 32 42 43 44 60 66 70 82

INDIAN INDIES

INDIAN INDIES INDISK FILM FYLDER 100 år, og det er der al mulig grund til at kippe med sarien over. Mange af os forbinder nemlig indisk film med smægtende, grandiose Bollywood-melodramer, men verdens største filmland rummer meget andet, og efter at have kruset længe på overfladen rejser der sig netop nu en regulær bølge af indiske independentfilm. Ikke nødvendigvis som modvægt til Bollywood, men også som en nødvendig udvikling af filmindustrien. Film og cricket er indernes store passion, i en grad som man ikke oplever det andre steder. Men de nye generationer af det indiske filmpublikum, såvel som af indiske filmskabere, er også mere berejste, bedre uddannede og mere internationalt orienterede end deres forgængere. De stiller andre og flere krav til deres film, og det har så småt ændret produktionsmiljøet i indisk film, der har bevæget sig fra primært at være producentfokuseret omkring enkelte Bollywoodblockbusters til i højere grad at dyrke instruktører og manuskriptforfattere i lidt mindre voluminøse, men stærkere film. Der er ikke langt mellem de store eskapistiske dansedramaer - det kan der næsten ikke være i et land, der producerer omkring 1300 spillefilm hvert år - men der er blevet længere. Rent faktisk produceres 90 procent af alle indiske film udenfor Bollywood i

regionale filmindustrier på hele 18 forskellige sprog, og også her med voksende international bevågenhed. Indian Indies præsenterer de bedste og nyeste af de titler, der for alvor har været med til at give indisk independentfilm sit gennembrud. Fra den nye generation af Bollywood med ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ og ‘Rockstar’, over drengerøvskomedie i ‘Delhi Belly’, der i øvrigt har Kim Bodnia på rollelisten, til poetiske dramaer i Punjab og Kashmir, og tilbage til storbyerne med kontroversielle undergrundsfilm og DIY-energi i ‘Gandu’, ‘Corrode’ og ‘The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project’. Der er også mulighed for at møde flere af filmenes instruktører. Vi har artist talks om indisk undergrund og lyden i indisk film; en performance af en indisk lydkunstner live i Cinemateket; indiske billboard painters, der holder liv i en døende kunstart, når de håndmaler en gigantisk filmplakat; og et brag af en Open Air-visning på Strøget med Bollywoodklassikeren par excellence ‘Om Shanti Om’. Vi åbner med Anurag Kashyaps store gangsterepos ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, der vakte begejstring i Cannes. Et fem timers storslået gangsterepos, der demonstrerer al talentet og energien i ny indisk film.

INDIAN INDIES

VALLEY OF SAINTS

INDIAN FILM IS CELEBRATING its 100 years and there is plenty of reason for excitement. Many of us associate namely Indian film with soulful, grandiose Bollywood melodramas, but the world’s largest movie country offers much more; and after having only scratched the surface of traditional Indian films, we now see a big wave of Indian independent films. Not necessarily as a counterweight to Bollywood, but also as a necessary development in the film industry. Movies and cricket are the big Indian passions, to an extent that cannot be found elsewhere. But the new generations of Indian film audiences, as well as Indian filmmakers have also traveled more, are better educated and more internationally oriented than their predecessors. Today, there are other and higher demands on their films, and it has gradually changed the production environment in Indian cinema, which has moved from primarily being producer focused on individual Bollywood blockbusters, to increasingly growing directors and scriptwriters to make fewer, but stronger films. There is not much difference between the great escapist dance dramas - there hardly can be in a country which produces around 1.300 films every year - but greater differences are beginning to show. In fact 90 per cent of all Indian movies are produced outside Bollywood,

in the regional film industries in 18 different languages, and here too, with growing international interest. Indian Indies presents the best and newest of the titles, that really helped to give the Indian independent film its breakthrough. From new age Bollywood with ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ and ‘Rockstar’, the laddish comedy ‘Delhi Belly’, which incidentally includes Kim Bodnia, to the poetic dramas in Punjab and Kashmir, and back to the cities with controversial underground movies and DIY energy in the likes of ‘Gandu’, ‘Corrode’ and ‘The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project’. There is also an opportunity to meet several of the films’ directors. We have artist talks about Indian underground filmmaking and sound in Indian film; a special audiovisual concert event created for the festival, Indian billboard painters that are keeping a dying art form going, and will be painting a giant movie poster at Cinemateket, and lastly a blast of an open air movie, the Bollywood classic ‘Om Shanti Om’. We open with Anurag Kashyap’s epic gangster movie ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’, which caused much excitement in Cannes. A five-hour gangster movie that demonstrates all the talent and energy of new Indian films.

INDIAN INDIES

ANURAG KASHYAP

GANGS OF WASSEYPUR I + II DER ER DØMT EPOS og elegance uden sidestykke i dette højpotente hævndrama fra kulminerne i Wasseypur. Over tre generationer følger vi Khanfamiliens konstante - og ikke mindst kontante - kamp mod Singh-klanen. En 70 år lang blodfejde som spejler den magtkamp, der har raset i Indien efter selvstændigheden, og følger landets udvikling fra kolonimagt til moderne teknologisamfund. Første del ridser stridens forhistorie op, fra Shahid Khans fald fra magten, over hans liv som udskud i Singhs kulminer, til hans fortabte søns forsøg på at hævne ham og etablere sig som Godfather i Wasseypur. Men først i anden del øjner Khans sønnesøn muligheden for at ende den lange konflikt. Blodet flyder fyldigt, side om side med den sorte humor og det opdaterede Bollywood-soundtrack, der sikrer, at den forgrenede vej gennem det forkætrede familieemperium forbliver forførende som en stammedans - og det i samfulde fem timer. Som den væsensbeslægtede Tarantino er Kashyap opflasket på film, film og atter film - men han forstår at omforme inspirationen til et egenhændigt filmværk. ‘Gangs’ er et balstyrisk genrestykke, der placerer sig fermt blandt sine fornemme forbilleder - fra John Woos ekvilibristiske actionfilm til Coppolas, Scorseses og Melvilles cool atmosfæriske mafiafilm og samtidig formår at være helt sin egen.

EPIC AND UNPARALLELED ELEGANCE are key features in this highly potent revenge drama, taking place in the coal mines of Wasseypur. Over three generations, we follow the Khan family’s constant and hard struggle against the Singh clan. A 70-yearlong blood feud which reflects the power struggle, that has raged in India since the independence and follows its development from the colonial to the modern technological society. The beginning tells of the feud’s origin, from Shahid Khan’s fall from power, about his life as an outcast in Singh’s coal mines, to his prodigal son’s attempt to avenge him and establish him as Godfather of Wasseypur. But only in the second half, we see Khan’s grandson eyeing the possibility of how to end the long standing conflict. The blood flows thick, paired with the black humour and the updated Bollywood soundtrack, which ensures that the branching path through the heretical family emporium remains as seductive as a tribal dance - five hours in total. Like Tarantino, Kashyap was brought up on films, films and more films - but he knows how to reshape the inspiration into original film. ‘Gangs’ is an out of control genre piece, that deftly places itself among its distinguished role models - from John Woo’s equilibristic action movies to Coppola, Scorsese and Melville’s cool atmospheric mafia film - and simultaneously manages to be entirely its own.

INDIAN INDIES

Søndag 19. august Fredag 24. august

GANGS OF WASSEYPUR I + II India 2012, 320 min. Hindi med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Anurag Kashyap Manuscript: Anurag Kashyap, Sachin Ladia, Zeeshan Qadri Kamera: Rajeev Ravi Musik: Sneha Khanwalkar Producer: Anurag Kashyap, Sunil Bohra, Guneet Monga Medvirkende: Jaideep Ahlawat, Manoj Bajpayee, Reema Sen, Richa Chaddha, Tigmanshu Dhulia Distr.: Elle Driver

16:15 19:00

CINEMATEKET CINEMATEKET

Opening film 19. augustth! Meet the director, Anurag Kashyap, who will introduce the epic double feature!

FOTO: KRISTIAN AHRENST

INDIAN INDIES

ANURAG KASHYAP CPH PIX, APRIL 2012

INDIAN INDIES

INDIAN CINEMA’S WILD CHILD JACOB NEIIENDAM & AMRIT GANGAR

EVEN IF THE INDIAN film industry seems like a far off world of its own, with a completely different set of challenges than those facing filmmakers in Europe and the US, the reality is that you need the same entrepreneurial spirit to make it there as you do here - maybe even more so. One Indian filmmaker, who in a very short timespan, has come to personalize that spirit, and who today has the mixed blessing of carrying the hopes and expectations of the entire independent filmmaking community in his country - is Anurag Kashyap (b.1972). He has moved from screenwriting to directing to producing with critical as well as commercial success in just 10 years. Within the past two years alone he has produced 15 features, and he is working hard to open the independent Indian film community’s eyes to the world – and the world’s eyes to the thriving arthouse scene in India. But it wasn’t always like that. In 2001 Anurag Kashyap was ready with his directing debut ‘Paanch’, loosely based on the real story of a serial murder in the town of Pune - close to Mumbai. Unfortunately, the Central Board of Film Certification found several reasons (violence, excessive use of drugs, et al.) to prevent the film from being released - and they did. This year his two-part gangster epic ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ was hailed on the world’s most important film festival in Cannes where Variety called it ‘the love child of Bollywood and Hollywood... a brilliant collage of genres, by turns pulverizing and poetic in its depiction of violence.’

Anurag Kashyap has worked in a number of genres, from thrillers to animation, social issues to a new take on Bollywood. But his fascination with treading a new path in Indian cinema has been evident ever since he shot to fame for his script (along with Saurabh Shukla) for Ram Gopal Varma’s 1998 film ‘Satya’ (‘Truth’). The film about bloody gang wars in Mumbai was a huge commercial hit. And he has stayed on this path since, notably with ‘Black Friday’, which he wrote and directed in 2004 based on a book about the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai. Within its cinematographic ethos, the film interestingly integrates the element of realism and temporality. British director Danny Boyle has cited ‘Black Friday’ as an inspiration for his Oscar-winning ‘Slumdog Millionaire’. In 2010 Anurag Kashyap visited CPH PIX for the first time with his his radical reinterpretation of a Bollywood classic ‘Dev D’ starring (and co-written by) Abhay Deol. And in April this year he came back at the festival as producer of, and actor in, Michael Winterbottom’s ‘Trishna’. Now he is attending the opening of ‘Indian Indies - Bollwood & Beyond’ on 19. augustth with his new film ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ - a gangster myth indeed, but like Anurag Kashyap’s other films there ’s much more to it – political and social. Crime is not for crime sake, cinema is not for cinema sake. It thrills but it also thinks. It is gutsy but also cerebral. Anurag Kashyap is also behind ‘Udaan’ (page 12) as writter and producer and ‘That Girl in Yellow Boots’ as writer and director. The latter will be screened on Danish tv on the DR K channel (page 70).

INDIAN INDIES

VIKRAMADITYA MOTWANE

UDAAN GENERATIONSOPGØRENE RASER GENNEM DE asiatiske film i disse år. De nye internationalt orienterede tider krydser klinger med stolte, men aldrende traditioner og værdier, også i den indiske kultur og helt ned i familiers skød. ‘Udaan’ leverer et af de allerbedste og mest kontante faderopgør i historien om den 17-årige Rohan, der efter otte år på kostskole smides ud og vender hjem til sin i den grad autoritære far og en yngre halvbror, som han end ikke vidste eksisterede. Rohan bliver tvunget til at arbejde på farens stålfabrik og læse til ingeniør ved siden af, mens han drømmer om at slå vingerne ud og blive forfatter. To modstridende viljer og verdener på faretruende kollisionskurs. ‘Udaan’, der betyder flugt, er optaget on location i Jamshedpur, Indiens stålby, og det gnistrer bogstavlig talt både fra valseværker og billeder i det potente drama. Dialogen, skrevet af instruktør Vikramaditya Motwane og producent Anurag Kashyap, er knivskarp og skuespillet eminent, ikke mindst af Ronit Roy, som Rohans far.

IN THESE YEARS, GENERATIONAL differences are raging through the Asian film scene. These new internationally oriented times, sometimes strike sparks against the proud, but aging traditions and values; also in the Indian culture all the way down to the bosom of the Indian family. ‘Udaan’ delivers one of the best and most striking father and son clashes, in the story of the 17-year-old Rohan, who after eight years at boarding school, is thrown out and returns home to his very authoritarian father and a younger half-brother, he never knew existed. Rohan is forced to work at his father’s steel factory and studies engineering on the side, while he dreams of spreading his wings and becoming a writer. Two conflicting wills that are heading on a menacing collision course. ‘Udaan’ meaning flight, is recorded on location in Jamshedpur, India’s steel city, and it literally sparks from both steel foundries and the images in this potent drama. The dialogue, written by director Vikramaditya Motwane and producer Anurag Kashyap, is razor sharp and played brilliantly, especially by Ronit Roy, in the role of Rohan’s father.

INDIAN INDIES

Onsdag 22. august Lørdag 25. august

UDAAN India 2010, 137 min. Hindi med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Vikramaditya Motwane Manuscript: Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap Kamera: Mahendra J. Shetty Klip: Dipika Kalra Musik: Amit Trivedi Lyd: Kunal Sharma Producer: Sanjay Singh, Anurag Kashyap, Ronnie Screwvala Distr.: UTV Motion Pictures

18:45 16:30

CINEMATEKET CINEMATEKET

‘Udaan’ premiered at Un Certain Regard in Cannes 2010 and won no less than 7 awards at the Indian Film Fair 2011.

INDIAN INDIES

FARAH KHAN

OM SHANTI OM OPEN AIR STRØGET BOLLYWOODS HJERTEKNUSER PAR EXCELLENCE, megastjernen Shah Rukh Khan giver den gas som aldrig før i masala-hittet over dem alle, ‘Om Shanti Om’. Khan spiller rollen som Om, en aspirerende ung skuespiller i 1970’ernes Bollywood med en ukuelig drøm om at blive filmbyens største stjerne. Han er lidenskabeligt og urealistisk forelsket i periodens største starlet, skuespillerinden Shanti, der er gift med en styg, pengegrisk producer. Det højspændte trekantsdrama får fatale konsekvenser, men vupti reinkarneres Om, nu som 00’ernes superstjerne Om (Khan igen), der sætter sig for at afdække sandheden om sin tidligere død og genfinde sin Shanti. ‘Om Shanti Om’ blev udsendt i ikke færre end 2000 kopier i 2007 som den største Bollywoodrelease til dato og slog da også alle box office-rekorder. Det er kulørt glamour i slotsaftapning med gæsteoptræden af mere end 40 af tidens største Bollywoodstjerner, der alle gerne ville stille op for den kvindelige instruktør, Farah Khan, som har koreograferet legendariske dansescener i en lang række succeser. Den eneste rigtige film til at fejre Strøgets 50 års jubilæum med et ordentligt Bollywoodbrag - på 35mm film under åben himmel!

BOLLYWOOD HEARTTHROB, THE STAR of stars Shah Rukh Khan, pulls out all the stop signs in the masala hit movie ‘Om Shanti Om’. Khan plays the role of Om, an aspiring young actor in 1970s Bollywood, with an irrepressible dream, of becoming the city’s biggest movie star. He is passionately, but also unrealistically in love with the biggest starlet of the period, the actress Shanti, who is married to a malicious, moneygrubbing producer. The tense love triangle has fatal consequences but voilà, Om is reincarnated, now as the superstar Om of the noughties (also played by Khan) where he sets out to uncover the truth about his past death, and to regain his Shanti. ‘Om Shanti Om’ was released in no fewer than 2000 copies in 2007 as the largest Bollywood release to date, and also beat all box office records. It is colourful glamour at its best, with guest appearances by more than 40 of today’s biggest Bollywood stars. The only real film - projected on 35mm - to celebrate Strøget’s 50th anniversary with a big Bollywood bang!

INDIAN INDIES

Lørdag 1. september

OM SHANTI OM - OPEN AIR STRØGET India 2007, 168 min. Hindi, Urdu med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Farah Khan Manuscript: Mushtaq Sheikh, Khan, Mayur Puri Kamera: V. Manikandan Klip: Shirish Kunder Musik: Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani, Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma Produktion: Eros Producer: Gauri Khan Medvirkende: Shah Rukh Khan, Arjun Rampal, Kirron Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Deepika Padukone, Jawed Sheikh, Asawari Joshi, Bindu, Satish Shah, Nitish Pandey, Uvika Chaudhary, Shawar Ali. Distr.: Eros International Ltd.

20:30

STRØGET/NYTORV

Free Open Air screening at Nytorv, Strøget! The female star Deepika Padukone is born in Denmark.

7 SINS FORGIVEN

INDIAN INDIES

INDIA RISING, WOMEN ON TOP PATRICK FRATER

INDIA HAS FOR CENTURIES worshipped female deities. It was one of the first countries to have a woman prime minister and its hugely influential film industry has long revered its women stars. But it is only now that the position of women in film has become less one-dimensional. Indian cinema has traditionally been dominated by male stars, male producers and the strutting male ego. On screen, women were stereotypically portrayed either as sexy accessories, as marriage bait or as long-suffering devoted spouses. Now the industry has women in leading positions throughout. ‘New Age’ Indian film has women as on-screen protagonists, behind the camera (directors Kiran Rao and Zoya Akhtar (‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’)) and emerging as successful producers (Ekta Kapoor and Pooja Bhatt). Aditi Roy a graduate with a Honors in Political Science (Jadavpur University) realized her passion for cinema and has now great success with her first feature film ‘At the End of it All’, while Ajita Suchitra Veera, a graduate of Film and Television Institute of India is debuting as both director and producer with ‘Ballad of Rustoom’, shot in cinemascope on 35mm. “There has never been a better time to be a female lead in Bollywood,” says superstar Priyanka Chopra (star of ‘7 Sins Forgiven’), a former Miss World, who is now able to leverage her cachet to great financial effect and to become an investor and co-producer. Exactly when ‘New Age’ or ‘Hindie’ cinema – which does away with many of Bollywood’s song-and-dance and fantasy tropes and replaces then with greater attention to realism, story and characterisation – took off, is an

endless source of debate. But for some critics a key turning point for women in Indian cinema was the 2008 film ‘Fashion’, which offered its trio of female stars three very different outcomes, namely use of sexual power, a drug overdose and marriage to a gay man. Others point to India’s changing economics and demographics as the underlying catalyst. Today’s Indian women are better travelled and better educated than previous generations. As audiences, they are less likely to be satisfied with old Bollywood stereotypes. “I’m not driven by plot or excessive violence. It is the kind of perspective that films don’t often have. In that sense mine is a woman’s film,” says Kiran Rao, director of last year’s drama Mumbai Diaries (Dhobi Ghat). “It is supremely important that women are now making films,” says Shohini Ghosh, film critic and lecturer on gender issues. “Nowadays we have the luxury of not only talking about women’s lives. And our understanding of gender has moved ahead. Femininity not only belongs to women and masculinity is not only about men. Instead, we have characters that emerge as interesting regardless of whether they are men or women. “I don’t think that directors like Kiran get up in the morning and say ‘I’m going to make a woman’s film,’ but rather so much of what we have absorbed over the years is now finding its way into print and cinema.”

Patrick Frater is CEO of Film Business Asia Website: www.filmbiz.asia

INDIAN INDIES

VISHAL BHARDWAJ

7 SINS FORGIVEN VISHAL BHARDWAJ ER BLEVET kaldt Bollywoods Tarantino. Her leverer han med stor production value en meget underholdende, på alle måder kulørt historie om den smukke Susanna, der over en periode på 35 år gifter sig syv gange og tager livet af seks bizarre ægtemand med assistance fra trofaste tjenestefolk. Historien bliver fortalt i flashback af Arun, en tjenestedreng i Susannas fars hus. Den handicappede, arrogante major Edwin Rodrigues er Susannas første mand. Så snart hvedebrødsdagene er overstået, ryger romantikken ud af vinduet, og han terroriserer sin unge kone og hendes loyale tjenestefolk. Da han bliver helt uudholdelig, beslutter Susanna og hendes stab at skille sig af med ham ved en ‘ulykke’. Bedre går det ikke de øvrige ægtemænd, herunder en russisk dobbeltagent, en masochistisk forfatter og en viagra-slugende kriminalinspektør. Bollywoodstjernen Priyanka Chopra, der i starten fremstår charmerende og uskyldig og siden ubarmhjertig og uforsonlig, er et sandt fund i hovedrollen. Filmens sang- og dansenumre - ét for hver ægtemand - er lige så fremragende. Især den meget iørefaldende russisk inspirerede ‘Doosri Darling’ er blevet et stort hit.

VISHAL BHARDWAJ HAS BEEN called India’s Tarantino of Bollywood. With great production value he here delivers, a very entertaining and in all ways colourful story, of the beautiful Susanna, that over a period of 35 years, gets married seven times and kills off six of her bizarre husbands, with the help of her loyal servants. The story is told in flashbacks by Arun, a servant boy in Susanna’s father’s house. The handicapped arrogant major Edwin Rodrigues is Susanna’s first husband. Once the honeymoon is over, the romance flies out the window and he terrorizes his young wife and her loyal servants. When he becomes completely intolerable, Susanna and her staff decide to get rid of him by way of an “accident”. Her other husbands share a similar fate, including a Russian double agent, a masochistic writer and a Viagrapopping detective. Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra who initially appears charming and innocent, later portrayed as being relentless and unforgiving, is a true find for this leading role. The film’s song and dance numbers - one for each husband - are equally excellent. Especially the very catchy Russian inspired ‘Doosri Darling’ has become a big hit.

INDIAN INDIES

Søndag 26. august

7 KHOON MAAF India 2011, 137 min. Hindi med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Vishal Bhardwaj Manuscript: Ruskin Bond, Matthew Robbins, Vishal Bhardwaj Klip: A. Sreekar Prasad Musik: Vishal Bhardwaj Produktion: UTV Spotboy Producer: Vikas Bahl, Rekha Bhardwaj, Vishal Bhardwaj Medvirkende: Priyanka Chopra, John Abraham, Irrfan Khan, Neil Nitin Mukesh Distr.: UTV Motion Pictures

16:30

CINEMATEKET

Leading actress Priyanka Chopra was Miss World in 2000.

INDIAN INDIES

ADITI ROY

AT THE END OF IT ALL SIDEN HAN SOM SPÆD flyttede til San Fransisco med sin far, har Soumyo ikke sat sine ben i Indien. Da hans mor dør, må han dog nødtvunget vende tilbage for at gøre boet op, men hvad han forestiller sig som en ubekvem sviptur, ender med en rejse, der forandrer ham for bestandigt. For så vidt kunne ‘At the End of it All’ lyde som mangt en anden indisk film. Den unge eksil-inder, der møder sit moderland for første gang og bliver slået af sin egen kultur og historie, er et genkommende tema, ikke mindst i kulørte Bollywoodmelodramaer. Men den debuterende Aditi Roy fortæller med en indlevelse, realisme og elegance, der er både slående og raffineret. Lavmælt og fintfølende spinder hun os ind i et tredobbelt portræt af Soumyo og hans mor Suchismita - som kvinden han al for sent lærer at kende - og ikke mindst af byen Kolkata, der nærmest bliver en selvstændig karakter i filmen, levende og vibrerende i hvert et billede. Også musikken er unik og sikrede filmen prisen for bedste sangerinde ved Indiens National Film Awards.

SINCE HE MOVED TO San Francisco with his father as an infant, Soumyo has not set foot in India. When his mother dies, he reluctantly returns to finalize her estate, but what he envisions as an inconvenient detour, becomes a journey that changes him forever. In this way ‘At the End of it All’ is similar to many other Indian films. A young exiled Indian, who encounters his motherland for the first time and is taken aback by his own culture and history, is a recurring theme, especially in colourful Bollywood melodramas. But in her debut film, Aditi Roy portrays the story with sympathy and an elegance, that is both striking and refined. Subdued and delicate she creates a triple portrait of Soumyo and his mother Suchismita - the woman he much too late got to know - and not least the city of Kolkata, which almost takes on a separate character in the movie; alive and vibrant in every scene. The music too, is unique and secured the film a prize for best female singer at the Indian National Film Awards.’

INDIAN INDIES

Tirsdag 21. august Søndag 26. august

ABOSHESHEY India 2011, 118 min. Bengalsk med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Aditi Roy Manuscript: Neel B Mitra Kamera: Ranjan Palit Klip: Abhro Bannerjee Musik: Prabuddha Bannerjee Lyd: Shomi Chatterjee Producer: Anil B Dev Medvirkende: Roopa Ganguly, Ankur Khanna, Raima Sen Distr.: Deb’s Entertainment House, Neel B Mitra

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‘Abosheshey’ won the 2011 NETPAC award for Best Asian Film. Meet the director, Aditi Roy, for the screening on 21. august!

INDIAN INDIES

ZOYA AKHTAR

ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA ‘ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA’, der løst oversat betyder “grib dagen”, kaster os fra første klip ud i en frierscene mellem Kabir og Natasha. Men før brylluppet kommer bachelorfesten, og i Kabirs tilfælde er denne en drøm, der går i opfyldelse. Sammen med sine to bedste venner - forfatteren Imran og børsmægleren Arjun - rejser han til Europa for at udleve hver deres største drøm. Disse viser sig dog ofte på samme tid at være de andres værste mareridt og inkluderer bl.a. actionpræget dybvandsdykning, faldskærmsudspring og nærkontakt med langhornede tyre i Pamplonas gader. Turen bliver en prøvelse - ikke bare for Kabirs forhold til sin noget overbeskyttende forlovede, men i særdeleshed for forholdet mellem de tre venner, der gennem de seneste år er gået i hver deres ekstreme retning. Arjun er dybt fokuseret på sit arbejde og de hurtige millioner, han kan score på børsen, mens Imrans chillede kunstnertilværelse har givet ham anderledes bløde værdier, så de tre musketerer krydser klinger igen og igen. ‘Zindagi’ er en moderne Bollywoodfilm båret af billeder i dybe farver fra et Europa, som den kvindelige instruktør Zoya Akhtar skildrer langt mere eksotisk end vi er vant til at se i europæisk artfilm.

‘ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA’ which loosely translated means “seize the day”, throws the audience straight into a proposal scene between Kabir and Natasha. But before the wedding, comes the bachelor party, which in Kabir’s case, is a dream come true. Along with his two best friends - the author Imran and the stockbroker Arjun - he travels to Europe to live out their own dreams. These however often turn out to be the others’ worst nightmare and includes action-packed deep sea diving, parachuting and close encounters with long-horned bulls in the streets of Pamplona. The trip becomes a test - not just for Kabir’s relationship with his somewhat overprotective best man, but also for the relationship between all three friends, who over the years have gone in very different, opposite directions. Arjun is heavily focused on his work and how to make lots of money fast in the stock exchange, while Imran’s chilled artist life has given him a much different set of values’. Needless to say, the “three musketeers” cross blades again and again. ‘Zindagi’ is a modern Bollywood movie, characterized by pictures in deep colours from a Europe, that Zoya Akhtar depicts in a far more exotic way, than we normally see in European art film.

INDIAN INDIES

Lørdag 15. september

ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA India 2011, 155 min. Hindi med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Zoya Akhtar Manuscript: Farhan Akhtar, Zoya Akhta, Reema Kagti Kamera: Carlos Catalán Klip: Anand Subaya Musik: Shankar Mahadevan, Loy Mendonsa, Ehsaan Noorani Lyd: Vikram Biswas Produktion: Eros International Producer: Farhan Akhtar Medvirkende: Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar, Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Kalki Koechlin Distr.: Eros International Ltd.

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CINEMATEKET

Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Choreography at Filmfare Awards 2012.

INDIAN INDIES

AJITA SUCHITRA VEERA

BALLAD OF RUSTOM I ‘BALLAD OF RUSTOM’ er alt i bevægelse. Den unge mand Rustom arbejder som statsansat telefonoperatør i en lille by på landet. Han er altid på farten som omrejsende servicemand - ligesom hans bedste ven, den sødt naive Kapil, der sælger bøger på toget og konstant bliver tæsket af konduktøren for sin ulovlige mobile geschæft. ‘Ballad of Rustom’s billedunivers er inspireret af mestre som Tarkovskij og Weerasethakul; svale farver og slowmotion illustrerer Rustoms glæde over livet og hverdagens rutine - men indrammer også tingenes opløsning og landet, der langsomt tømmes for liv og lokalbefolkning. Den debuterende instruktør og manuskriptforfatter Ajita Suchitra Veera har just fået prisen som bedste instruktør på Osian Cine Film Festival i New Delhi. Filmen er efter sigende skudt i Coorg i Karnataka, men hun undlader regionsspecifikke tegn og bejler i stedet til en universalitet. ‘Ballad of Rustom’ er fuld af excentriske karakterer i forening med subtile politiske kommentarer til kastesystemet - og ikke mindst hamrende smukke billeder filmet og fremvist på rigtig celluloid.

IN ‘BALLAD OF RUSTOM’ everyone and everything is in motion. The young man Rustom, works as a state-employed telephone operator in a small country town. He is always on the move, as a travelling service engineer - just like his best friend, the sweetly naive Kapil, who sells books on the train and is constantly beaten up by the conductor, because of his illegal “mobile enterprise”. The visual universe in this film is inspired by masters like Tarkovsky and Weerasethakul; cool colours and slow motion illustrates Rustom’s joy of life and everyday routine - but also frames the dissolution of things and the land, that is slowly drained of life and local population. The first-time director and screenwriter Ajita Suchitra Veera, has just received the award as best director at the Osian Cine Film Festival in New Delhi. The film is reportedly shot in Coorg in Karnataka, but she opts out of being regionspecific and chooses instead universality. ‘Ballad of Rustom’ is full of eccentric characters, together with subtle political comments on the caste system - and exceedingly beautiful images, filmed and projected on real celluloid.

INDIAN INDIES

Lørdag 8. september 16:00 Tirsdag 11. september 16:30

BALLAD OF RUSTOM India 2012, 117 min. Hindi med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Ajita Suchitra Veera Manuscript: Ajita Suchitra Veera Kamera: Shanti Bhushan Roy Klip: Hemanti Sarkar, Ajita Suchitra Veera Musik: Lyd: Producer: Medvirkende: Distr.:

Andrew T. Mackay Boby John Mathai Ajita Suchitra Veera, Ranga Rao Gorantla Sunny Hnduja, Guarav Ghatnekar, Ashwath Bhatt IMAGINEM CINEMA PVT LTD

CINEMATEKET CINEMATEKET

INDIAN INDIES

THE MOZART OF MADRAS JESPER ANDERSEN

SINCE THE EARLIEST TALKING pictures, songs have been the heart and soul of Indian popular movies, and for the Indian audience too, a large part of the movie-going experience. Most Indian moviegoers are not as preoccupied with the story itself, as they are with the way the story is told. They largely accept being presented to the same themes and characters over and over again, but they expect the music, songs and dance moves to be original and innovative. The soundtrack for a new popular film from Bollywood (Mumbai), Kollywood (Chennai / Madras) - or one of the other production centres for “song & dance films” - are often marketed several months before the film has its premiere. It may have become a hit before the

movie even goes into distribution. The audience does not just buy tickets to see a new movie, but to see how the songs they already know, have been “picturized”. Song and dance sequences are included and used in different ways. After India’s independence in 1947, it was forbidden to show kissing on the mouth on screen. Today there are no provisions that directly prohibit kissing or intimate bodily contact, but both are considered taboo in Indian mainstream films. However, there is no lack of kiss references in song and dance numbers and moves are often very sexually explicit, not to mention “wet saree” songs, that are a whole genre of their own. In song and dance

INDIAN INDIES

ROCKSTAR

numbers, the director can “go further” than in the normal narrative. The most prominent contemporary Indian film composer, is undoubtedly the Tamil A. R. Rahman (b. 1966), who has been nicknamed “The Mozart of Madras” and has provided music for over 100 films. In his collaboration with Indian directors, the music and songs are not just used as erotic teasers. Rahman received two Oscars for his music for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ - for best score and best song (“Jai Ho”). He broke through to a wider audience with the music for Mani Ratnam’s film ‘The Rose’ (‘Roja’, 1992) and especially the song “Dil hai chota“ (“Little Desires”). It is a fine example of how Rahman combines classic Indian folk music and western rhythms and musical styles in his scores. Accompanied by a pan flute theme and reggae rhythms, (together with jazz, bebop and traditional Indian sitar) the main character Roja, moves around in an idyllic village in Tamil Nadu, while she sings a song with the chorus “This country is like heaven.” The song’s function is to characterize Roja as a person - an innocent village beauty, who later will have to go through much ado. Rahman has provided music for all Mani Ratnam’s later films, including ‘Bombay’ (‘Bumbai’, 1995) and ‘From the Heart’ (‘Dil se ...’, 1998). The song “Thaiya

Thaiya” shown at the beginning of ‘From the Heart’ was reportedly the number that prompted Andrew Lloyd Webber to hire Rahman to compose the music for the musical “Bombay Dreams”. An over-crowded train is traveling through beautiful mountain landscapes and tunnels, while mega-star Sharukh Khan and over 30 other dancers, are moving around on top of the train to Rahman’s catchy pop music. One of Rahman’s most recent great successes, is the beautiful award-winning music, which totally dominates Imitiaz Ali’s movie ‘Rockstar’ (2011), which is showing at the Indian Indies festival. Here, the songs are used not least to shorten periods of time - especially in the second half – but also to convey the main character’s emotional development. A. R. Rahman has naturally also provided the soundtrack to Mani Ratnam’s latest film ‘Raavanan’ (2011), which is also showing during the Indian film festival. The film includes four outstanding song and dance sequences, including “Thok de Killi”, where Raavan and his men are dancing in the rain and mud, among ancient ruins in the Indian jungle, to Rahman’s fantastic “world music”. This song and dance sequence, realized through equilibristic slow motion footage, contains everything that makes popular Indian films so pleasing to the eye and ear, and makes it a very special experience.

INDIAN INDIES

IMTIAZ ALI

ROCKSTAR JANARDAN JAKAR (RANBIR KAPOOR) er en kejtet nobody i kikset uldvest. Han går på college i Delhi men har ambitioner om at blive rockstjerne. Han får dog tidligt det råd, at kun hvis han oplever hjertesorg vil hans kunst blive dyb og skaffe ham succes. Janarkan ydmyger derfor sig selv i et kluntet forsøg på at nærme sig Heer (Nargis Fakri), den smukkeste og mest populære pige på campus. Hun er allerede forlovet med en usympatisk rigmand. Janarkan bliver i første opgang voldsomt til grin, men efterhånden udvikler der sig et platonisk venskab mellem Janarkan og Heer. Filmen gennemspiller det tilbagevendende Bollywood-tema: Helten er ude af stand til at udtrykke sine følelser for den elskede, også selv om det betyder, at han mister hende til en anden mand. For Heer gifter sig og bosætter sig med sin mand i Prag, hvor også et af filmens mest spektakulære sang- og dansenumre er koreograferet henover Karlsbroen. Men som årene går, forfiner Janarkan sin musik, der fylder hele hans liv, og som nyetableret megastjerne slår han vejen forbi Prag! Musikken bærer i mere end én forstand ‘Rockstar’, og A. R. Rahman modtog en række priser for filmens mange iørefaldende sange, der på klassisk vis booster handlingen og formidler indsigt i heltens følelsesmæssige udvikling.

JANARDAN JAKAR (RANBIR KAPOOR) is an awkward nobody in a nerdy-looking wool vest. He attends college in Delhi, but has ambitions of becoming a rock star. From an older friend he is advised that only if he has experienced heartache, will his music become deep and give him success. Janarkan therefore humiliates himself in a clumsy attempt, to approach Heer (Nargis Fakri), the prettiest and most popular girl on campus. She is already engaged to an insensitive millionaire. Initially Janarkan becomes a laughing-stock, but gradually a platonic friendship develops between Janarkan and Heer. It culminates when he attends her extravagant wedding in Kashmir. The film portrays a recurring Bollywood theme: the hero is unable to express his feelings toward the one he loves, even if it means that he loses her to another man. Heer settles down with her husband in Prague. Two years and many events after the wedding, Janarkan goes - now as a big rock star - to Prague for an international music competition. A.R. Rahman received a number of awards for the film’s many catchy songs, that boost the action and convey an insight into the hero’s emotional development.

INDIAN INDIES

Fredag 7. september

ROCKSTAR India 2011, 150 min. Hindi med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Imtiaz Ali Kamera: Anil Mehta Klip: Aarti Bajaj Musik: A. R. Rahman Lyd: Dileep Subramaniam Produktion: Eros International Producer: Shree Ashtavinayak Medvirkende: Ranbir Kapoor, Nargis Fakhri, Shammi Kapoor Distr.: Eros International Ltd.

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CINEMATEKET

Winner of six Awards of the International Indian Film Academy, amongst them for Best Music, Best actor and Star Plus Hottest Pair!

INDIAN INDIES

MANI RATNAM

RAAVANAN EN AF INDIENS STØRSTE instruktører af populærfilm, tamilske Mani Ratnam (‘Bombay’, ‘From the Heart’) og Bollywood-stjernen Aishwary Rai Bachan har igen fundet sammen i denne storfilm. Ratnam skildrer den moderne inkarnation af den mytiske dæmon Raavan i skikkelse af Beera (Vikram), der fremstår som en blanding af Robin Hood og oberst Kurtz i ‘Dommedag nu’. I indledningsscenens voldsomme skudopgør kidnapper Beera og hans mænd Ragina (Aishwary Rai), der er gift med politichefen Dev. Første halvdel af filmen følger politiets indædte forsøg på at opspore Beera (og Ragina) i den nordindiske jungle, og i sidste halvdel får vi i flashbacks forklaringen på Beeras had mod Dev. Plottet løftes gevaldigt af A. R. Rahmans suveræne soundtrack og de flotte, nytænkende sang- og dansenumre. Desuden overgår fotografen Santosh Sivans sig selv i de ekvilibristiske og overjordisk smukke optagelser - med underskønne Rai i centrum - fra maleriske landsbyer og tæt jungle med høje vandfald.

ONE OF INDIA’S GREATEST directors of popular movies, Tamil Mani Ratnam (‘Bombay’, ‘From the Heart’) and Bollywood’s’ “golden couple” Aishwary Rai Bachan and Abhishek Bachchan, have come together in this great movie. Ratnam portrays the modern incarnation of the mythical demon Raavan, in the guise of Beera (Abhishek Bachchan) who appears as a combination of Robin Hood and Colonel Kurtz from ‘Apocalypse Now’. In the opening scene’s dramatic shootout, Beera and his men kidnap Ragina (Aishwary Rai), wife of the Chief of Police Dev. The first half of the film follows the police’s dogged attempts to track down Beera (and Ragina) in the north Indian jungle, and in the second half, we see flashbacks that shed light on Beera’s hatred towards Dev. The plot is uplifted by A.R. Rahman’s superb soundtrack and the beautiful, innovative song and dance numbers. Moreover, the cinematographer Santosh Sivans surpasses himself, in the equilibrist and unearthly beautiful shots - with the gorgeous Rai in the centre, surrounded by picturesque villages and a dense jungle with tall waterfalls,

INDIAN INDIES

Tirsdag 4. september 21:00 Onsdag 12. september 19:00

RAAVANAN India 2010, 137 min. Tamil med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Mani Ratnam Manuscript: Mani Ratnam Kamera: Manikandan, Santosh Sivan Klip: A. Sreekar Prasad Musik: A.R. Rahman Lyd: Tappas Nayak Produktion: Madras Talkies Producer: Mani Ratnam, Sharada Trilok Medvirkende: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwary Rai Bachchan, Chiyaan Vikram Distr.: Reliance Big Pictures

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Mani Ratnam made two slightly different versions of this film: ‘Raavanan’ in Tamil, and ‘Raavan’ in Hindi. The Tamil version, here screened, is considered the better of the two.

INDIAN INDIES

DIY - DO IT YOURSELF NIELS LIND LARSEN

IT TAKES BLOOD, SWEAT, TEARS and a lot of luck, but ‘Gandu’, ‘Corrode’ and ‘The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project’ are living proofs, that even in a country with more than 1300 film productions a year it is possible to Do It Yourself. The DIY movement is rising in India. ‘Digital technology has finally freed cinema from the clutches of elitism’, says filmmaker Kaushik Mukherjee, who goes by the moniker Q, director of famed and banned ‘Gandu’. Making a film is so expensive it inevitably becomes more of a business proposition than an art form. This is true around the world, but not least in India, known for it’s heavily budgeted extravaganzas. But digital video cameras have given artists a tool to change that. However, there is a long way from picking up a Sony to making a full feature film. Just ask Q, Karan Gour or Srinivas Sunderrajan, who all have spent years of their lives in the all-consuming process of completing their first feature. “[The digital possibilities] doesn’t mean that you don’t have to know cinema. Only when you are aware of what you don’t have, can you really do what you want to with what you have”. Says Q, who planned the script and the production of ‘Gandu’ according to the resources available to him. He shot the film in monochrome black and white with a single Canon 7D, worked without a script, blurred the lines between director and actors, and improvised in every facet of the production. He never worked with a budget on the film and still doesn’t know the actual limited costs of it. Karan Gour does. It took him four years and and USD 10.000 to make his first feature film, ‘Corrode’. He borrowed from all his friends, swopped a car, his dad would give him, to cash. He made all of the preproduction himself, including building rigs for the camera. During the shoot, which mostly took place in the same borrowed flat, the only crew members were Gour and the director of photography Abhinay

Khoparzi. Four USD was the daily budget for lunch and necessities. Still there’s a bill to be paid though. “You can make a film with very little money only if you have a lot of time”, says Gour who spent three of the four years on post-production and ended up being the successful films director, producer, writer, editor, composer, music director and mixer. Srinivas Sunderrajan wore almost as many hats for his first film, ‘The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project’. Having written the script on a single sleepless night he approached the production with high ambitions, but ended up working guerrilla style, borrowing props and equipment, shooting without permissions - over 15 weekends as everyone had day jobs - and he incorporated the whole absorbing filming process in the film plot itself. The total budget for the whole project was USD 700. ‘The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project’ and ‘Corrode’ both had their theatrical release in India this summer via PVR Cinemas’ Director Rare banner, but only after they had become popular with film festivals around the world. However, ‘Gandu’ still hasn’t found mercy from the censors. For his second feature, ‘Greater Elephant’, Sunderrajan had a different approach. Produced by Q and made on a bigger budget than the KK project, but still on very DIY conditions and shot in only 10 days, ‘Greater Elephant’ has followed its predecessor at the festival circuit, but still hasn’t found a distributor, willing to take risks. “We broke our backs trying to make the film and now that it is complete, we realize that we need to crack our skull in order to raise the funds required to help this film see the light of day, or rather, the darkness of a cinema hall!”, states the filmmakers at Enter Guerrilla’s website. Therefore they have quite unusually started a crowdfunding - not to get the film made, but to get it distributed. The sky is the limit, if not for these guy’s pockets, indeed for their ideas and struggle to realize their artistic visions.

INDIAN INDIES

GANDU

INDIAN INDIES

SRINIVAS SUNDERRAJAN

THE UNTITLED KARTIK KRISHNAN PROJECT HOLD FAST: KARTIK KRISHNAN, en computerprogrammør og Tarantino-aficionado drømmer om at blive independent filmmager og realisere sine kærlighedsdrømme på celluloid. Han kontaker instruktøren Srinivas Sunderrajan (Vishwesh K), som modstræbende indvilliger i at instruere hans kortfilmsmanuskript. Men næppe er de begyndt at diskutere projektet, før de hjemsøges af bizarre begivenheder. Ganske håndgribeligt får de Systemet på nakken, og en legetøjsrobot dukker pludselig op i Kartiks lejlighed med urovækkende fremtidsvarsler. Nogle ting, som det at lave en film, er bare større end livet og logikken selv. ‘The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project’ er en vaskeægte DIY-film, indspillet for under 1000 USD og optaget guerrilla-style på location i Mumbai. Resultatet er både blevet kaldt Indiens første mumblecore-film og en asiatisk pendant til Jim Jarmusch. Under alle omstændigheder er det en skønt surrealistisk independentfilm, der med sin sort-hvide billeder og underspillede deadpan-humor ligger så langt fra Bollywood, som tænkes kan.

BRACE YOURSELF – KARTIK KRISHNAN, a computer programmer and Tarantino-aficionado dreams of becoming an independent filmmaker and to realize his romantic dreams on celluloid. He contacts the director Srinivas Sunderrajan (Vishwesh K), who reluctantly agrees to instruct his short film script. But hardly they have begun to discuss the project, before they are haunted by bizarre occurrences. Quite literally they get the system on their tail, and a toy robot shows up suddenly in Kartik’s apartment with alarming warnings about the future. Some things, like that of making a film, are just larger than life and logic itself. ‘The Untitled Kartik Krishna Project’ is a true DIY film, with a budget of under USD 1000 and guerrilla-style recording on location in Mumbai. The result has both been called India’s first mumblecore film and an Asian counterpart to Jim Jarmusch. In any event, it is a wonderful surreal independent film, with its black and white images and understated deadpan humour that is a far cry from the Bollywood norm.

INDIAN INDIES

Fredag 31. august 19:00 CINEMATEKET Lørdag 15. september 22:00 CINEMATEKET

THE UNTITLED KARTIK KRISHNAN PROJECT India 2010, 75 min. Hindi, English med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Srinivas Sunderrajan Manuscript: VIjesh Rajan, Srinivas Sunderrajan Kamera: Hashim Badani Klip: Srinivas Sunderrajan Produktion: Enter Guerrilla Producer: Srinivas Sunderrajan Medvirkende: Kartik Krishna, Swara Bashkar, D. Santos, Vishnesh K Distr.: Enter Guerrilla

Meet the director Srinivas Sunderrajan for an artist talk at the screening 31. august - and catch his second feature, ‘Greater Elephant’!

INDIAN INDIES

SRINIVAS SUNDERRAJAN

GREATER ELEPHANT EN ELEFANTFØRER HAR MISTET sin elefant. En teater-ejer har mistet sin gud. En gud har mistet sin identitet. En djævel har mistet sine hugtænder. En betjent har mistet sin tillid. En tesælger har mistet sin cykel. Og alle har de mistet forstanden i Srinivas Sunderrajans forrykte tragikomedie, hvor deres veje krydses, mens de alle leder efter det samme som os: En mening med galskaben. Som i Sunderrajans første film, ‘The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project’, er handlingen i ‘Greater Elephant’ metaforisk. Men hvad den er metafor for, er op til den enkelte, for et eller andet sted leder vi måske alle efter hver vores elefant. Filmen er optaget på blot ti dage, co-produceret af’Q - instruktøren af ‘Gandu’ - og fortalt med fandenivoldskhed og tungen godt begravet i kinden. Sunderrajans produktionsselskab, Enter Guerrilla, har ret utraditionelt startet en crowd funding efter filmens færdiggørelse for at sikre den distribution i Indien. Så har man lyst til at bidrage og sikre elefantjagten, så tjek CPH PIX’ webiste.

AN ELEPHANT DRIVER HAS lost his elephant. A theatre owner has lost his God. A God has lost his identity. The devil has lost his fangs. A policeman has lost his confidence. A tea seller has lost his bike. And all of them have lost their minds in Srinivas Sunderrajan’s crazed tragicomedy, where their paths cross, while they all look for the same as us: the meaning of it all. As in Sunderrajan’s first film, ‘The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project’, the plot in ‘Greater Elephant’ is metaphoric. But what it is metaphor for, is up to the individual, because in some way we might all be looking for each our elephant. The film was shot in just ten days, coproduced by Q - director of ‘Gandu’ - and told with rebellion and forcefulness. Sunderrajan’s production company, Enter Guerilla, has in a very non-traditional way started crowd funding after the film’s completion, to ensure the distribution in India. So if you want to contribute and ensure the elephant hunt, check out CPH PIX’s website.

INDIAN INDIES

Lørdag 25. august Torsdag 30. august

GREATER ELEPHANT India 2012, 90 min. Hindi med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Srinivas Sunderrajan Kamera: Varun Dutt Klip: Srinivas Sunderrajan Produktion: Enter Guerrilla Producer: Prerana Manker, Q, Ashwini Paranjpe, Pallavi Rohatgi, Srinivas Sunderrajan Medvirkende: Hussain Dalal, Naveen Kaushik, Saunskruti Kher, Rajiv Mishra, Shreyas Pandit Distr.: Enter Guerrilla

19:30 21:30

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Best Film Jury Award at the South Asian Intl. Film Festival. Srinivas Sunderrajan will introduce the screening on 30. august.

INDIAN INDIES

KARAN GOUR

CORRODE BESÆTTELSE ER OMDREJNINGSPUNKTET FOR denne indie fra den indiske undergrund, og parret med tomme lommer vokser besættelsen sig hurtigt til en art sindssyge. Chhaya og Arvind lever med trængt økonomi og problemer med at få børn. Et simpelt men ellers godt liv - indtil den dag Chhaya støder på en statue af frugtbarhedsgudinden Lakshmi og med det samme besættes af tanken om at eje den. Så meget at hendes hverdag og forhold begynder at gå i opløsning. Besættelsen af den smukke Lakshmi driver hende, i alt hvad hun gør, og sætter scenen for en film fuld af klaustrofobiske scenarier. Karan Gour etablerer med sit sort-hvide univers og nærportræt af en kvindes deroute en debutfilm, der uden at blinke kan gå for en indisk ‘Eraserhead’. ‘Corrode’ er skrevet, instrueret og klippet af Gour, der tilmed også har komponeret filmens score. Instruktøren har ladet sig inspirere af dogme-drengenes regel om naturlig belysning, og selvom dogmet nok er vokset ud af et manglende budget, en fire år lang produktion og et to mand stort crew bag kameraet, så virker ‘Corrode’ som om hver en detalje er skabt med overlæg.

OBSESSION IS THE FOCUS of this indie, from the Indian underground, and paired with empty pockets, the growing obsession soon becomes a kind of insanity. Chhaya and Arvind are living on a tight budget, and also have problems conceiving. A simple but otherwise relatively good life - until the day Chhaya sees a statue of the fertility goddess Lakshmi, and immediately becomes possessed by the idea of ‘owning it. So much so, that her life and relationships begin to disintegrate. The obsession with the beautiful Lakshmi is her driving force in everything she does and sets the stage for a film full of claustrophobic scenarios. In this debut film, Karan Gour establishes, with its black and white universe and portrait of a woman’s downfall, a film that without blinking can go for an Indian ‘Eraserhead’. ‘Corrode’ is written, directed and cut by Gour who, moreover also composed the film score. The director has been inspired by the rules of dogma by the use of natural light, and though dogma probably grew out of a lack of budget, a four-year production and a two-man crew behind the camera, every detail in ‘Corrode’ looks deliberately created.

INDIAN INDIES

Søndag 2. september 19:00 Fredag 14. september 21:30

KSHAY India 2011, 92 min. Hindi med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Karan Gour Manuscript: Karan Gour Kamera: Abhinay Khoparzi Klip: Karan Gour Musik: Karan Gour, Siddharth Bhatia Lyd: Karan Gour Produktion: Empatehia Films Producer: Karan Gour, Shaan Vyas Medvirkende: Rasika Dugal, Alekh Sangal, Sudhir Pednekar Distr.: Shaan Vyas

CINEMATEKET CINEMATEKET

‘Corrode’ won the title of the Best Feature Film at the Asian New Talent Award of the 15th Shanghai Film Festival 2012.

INDIAN INDIES

KAUSHIK ‘Q’ MUKHERJEE

GANDU ‘GANDU’ ER IN YA face. Bandlyst (i Indien) og berømmet for sin eksplosive energi og kunstneriske konsekvens i historien om misfitten Gandu - der betyder taber eller røvhul - som street-hustler sig gennem tilværelsen i skyggen af sin semiprostituerede mor og lever sin frustration ud gennem thrash metal rap. Kaushik ‘Q’ Mukherjee eller bare Q, som instruktøren konsekvent kalder sig, har skabt en direkte og arrig debut, der drives frem af Gandus gentagne verbalangreb mod omverden og mod kameraet. Q er selv musiker og valget af bandet Five Little Indians til filmens score skader heller ikke ‘Gandu’s tempo. Soundtracket bliver en dominerende del af filmens sprog og driver handlingen frem, som havde den en pitbull i hælene. ‘Gandu’ har rejst på alverdens festivaler med sine autentiske gademiljøer fra Kolkata og rå udtryk i form af stoffer og eksplicit sex. Den er et af de bedste eksempler på en ny tendens i indisk undergrundsfilm, hvor kunstnerne bevæger sig frit mellem film og musik. I mellem disse kunstformer kreerer de fornyende, energiske værker - med attitude i hver en sort-hvid frame - som skylder Bollywood absolut ingenting.

‘GANDU’ IS IN YA face! Banned (in India) and renowned for its explosive energy and artistic impact, in the story of the misfit Gandu - which means looser or asshole - who street-hustles through life, in the shadow of his semi prostitute mother and gets rid of his frustrations through thrash metal rap. Kaushik ‘Q’ Mukherjee or just Q, as the director consistently calls himself, has created a very direct and uncompromising debut, driven by Gandu’s repeated verbal attacks against the outside world and towards the camera. Q is himself a musician, and the choice of the band Five Little Indians for the film’s score compromises in no way the pace in the movie. The soundtrack becomes a dominant part of the film’s language and drives the action, as if it had a pitbull on its tail. ‘Gandu’ has travelled to festivals around the world with its authentic street environments from Kolkata and crude expressions in the form of drugs and explicit sex scenes. It is one of the best examples of a new trend in Indian underground films, where artists move freely between film and music. Between these art forms, they create innovative, energetic works - with attitude in every black and white frame - and absolutely nothing owed to Bollywood.

INDIAN INDIES

Fredag 7. september 21:45 Torsdag 13. september 19:00

GANDU India 2010, 89 min. Bengalsk med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Kaushik ‘Q’ Mukherjee Manuscript: Q Kamera: Q Klip: Manas Mittal, Surojit Sen, Q Musik: Five Little Indians Producer: Dipankar Chaki, Celine Loop Medvirkende: Anurbata Basu, Joyraj Bhattacharya, Rituparna Sen Distr.: Jinga Films Ltd.

CINEMATEKET CINEMATEKET

Q’s next film, ‘Tasher Desh’, will be a experimental electronica musical, already described as a Bengali ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’.

INDIAN INDIES

GREATER ELEPHANT

SRINIVAS SUNDERRAJAN

ARTIST TALK & FILM – DIY “THE SKY IS THE limit”. This is how Srinivas Sunderrajan describes his approach to his debut feature film ‘The Utitled Kartik Krishnan Project’, which he wrote one sleepless night in 2009. And although all plans for locations, cast and budget generally began with optimism, but soon had to be reduced, the energy remained intact. The Indian director had to manoeuvre the crew past regular conditions and work largely without permits, which is why the film was shot over 15 weekends, including shooting at the local bar at 5 am. Debut films like Q’s rap eruption ‘Gandu’, Karan Gour’s obsession drama ‘Corrode’ and Sunderrajan’s two films ‘The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project’ and ‘Greater Elephant’, are all showing during the festival, and Indians Indies has largely found its strength in India’s new Do It Yourself directors, who make a virtue out of the aesthetics and energy that grow from it. Come and meet the self-proclaimed DIY artist Srinivas Sunderrajan, who works as independent NBO (Non Bollywood Organization) – and hear about how you shoot a film, for the price of an iPhone. The Artist Talk is followed by Sunderrajan’s ‘The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project’.

Fredag 31. august

19:00

CINEMATEKET

Meet the independent, self-declared Do It Yourself director, producer, and heavy metal bass player Srinivas Sunderrajan, who will let you in on how to shoot a film for the price of an iPhone.

INDIAN INDIES

SRINIVAS SUNDERRAJAN & BUDHADITYA CHATTOPADHYAY

ARTIST TALK & PERFORMANCE – SOUND OF INDIA HAS THE SOUND OF India in Indian films been lost in dubbed Bollywood - or is there actually a solid rescue attempt underway, from the underground filmmakers?Come get the answer when we invite to artist talk and surround sound performance. Srinivas Sunderrajan (‘The Untitled Kartik Krishnan Project’, ‘Greater Elephant’), film and video director and producer, and also base player in the Mumbai-metal band Scribe, discuss wtih Budhaditya Chattopadhyay, who has a different approach to sound. With releases on Touch and Gruenrekorder, he moves between field recordings and musical meditation. Moreover Chattopadhyay researches Indian film sound at Copenhagen University. The day also includes Budhaditya Chattopadhyay’s works ‘Eye Contact with the City (17 min) and ‘The Well Tempered City Book I’ (18 min). He plays directly into the theatre’s 5.1 surround sound system, dissects and magnifies the audio visual, with his hypersensitive field recordings from the city of Bangalore. Tickets include both artist talk and live performance. The programme is presented in collaboration with Rytmisk Center. Tickets: 40 kr.

Lørdag 1. september

16:30

CINEMATEKET

Komposition til Film og Medie er et kursustilbud til komponister og lyddesignere, der ønsker at opkvalificere sig fagligt og få indblik i arbejdsgangene i forbindelse med at skabe musik og lyd til film og andre medier.

INDIAN INDIES

CERTAIN OBSERVATIONS ON THE EVOLUTION OF SOUND IN INDIAN CINEMA

THIS ESSAY TRACES THE TRAJECTORY OF SOUND PRACTICE IN INDIAN CINEMA IN A NUTSHELL. FROM THE ADVENT OF SOUND IN INDIAN CINEMA TOWARDS PRESENT-DAY PRACTICE WITH ‘SYNC’ RECORDING AND SURROUND SOUND.

INDIAN INDIES

BUDHADITYA CHATTOPADHYAY

IN THE LEGENDARY INDIAN FILM ‘Devdas’ (P. C. Barua, 1935), one can locate a birdcall in a particular sequence, which refers to a somewhat indoor location. The birdcall continues throughout the entire sequence in the background and disappears with the cut. The significance of this sound element lies in the direct recording of sound content from the very location where the film was shot. That off-screen sound of birdcall in ‘Devdas’ frames the distinct documentary evidence of cinematic space represented in the early mono-aural sound of Indian cinema. Similarly, ‘Pather Panchali’ (Satyajit Ray, 1955) realistically connects us to different locations of Boral where the film was shot. Satyajit Ray embraced the realist paradigm in cinema as an authorial choice; he preferred and continued to use sound as controlled documentation of reality. His predecessor filmmakers such as Shyam Benegal in North India and Adoor Gopalakrishnan in the South among others continued the tradition of naturalistic use of sound. On the contrary, younger generation of filmmakers such as Mrinal Sen initiated a New Indian Independent Cinema movement with assimilation of wider influences primarily consisting of European films. ‘Bhuban Shome’ (Mrinal Sen, 1969) illustrates a comical use of processed sounds, while Rittwik Ghatak’s emotive use of sound and music in ‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’ (Rittwik Ghatak, 1960) arguably emerges as a contribution to the upcoming Bollywood melodramas. During the 70’s, magnetic recording started to be extensively used in Indian cinema; the arrival of magnetic recording de-mystified sound in films and sound studios became popular for doing post-production of sound on a mass scale. As an outcome, film sound became increasingly distanced from recording sound on the location. Gradually, a synthetic technique of sound design emerged as the dominant mode. Dubbing and Foley as major technological advancements opened up possibilities of providing parallel resource of sound

reconstruction rather than dependence on ‘realist’ direct recording on location. However, with growing digitalization of film technology in the post-90’s, Indian cinema has found a revival of observational techniques. An emergent realization of authentic location and spatial evidence in films has suggested rediscovery of its realist birth-root. In the last ten years or so, the scenario with film sound has experienced a massive changeover from analogue to digital domain. It has initiated possibilities of translating the reality through intricate processes in spatial use of sound. Location ‘sync’ sound recording is a direct descendent of this trend. Since the success of ‘Lagaan’ (Ashutosh Gowariker, 2001), where ‘sync’ recording and Dolby digital technology were implemented after a large debate, ‘sync’ sound has been accepted as a highly precise, artistically demanding and skilled recording technique practiced by sound technicians whereby the actors’ original dialogues are used eliminating tedious processes of ‘dubbing’ in the post-production stages. If we analyze the experience of sound in recent Indian films such as ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ (Danny Boyle, 2008), ‘Delhi-6’ (Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, 2009), ‘Love Sex aur Dhokha’ (Dibakar Banerjee, 2010) and ‘Dhobi Ghat’ (Kiran Rao, 2011), we will find that, these films allow the audience to directly recognize the locale represented on the cinematic space by synchronized use of sound that conveys information, meaning and spatial qualities, emphasizing aesthetic incorporation of sound in cinema.

Budhaditya Chattopadhyay is an artist and researcher, currently working on his PhD in cinematic sound at University of Copenhagen. Website: www.budhaditya.org

INDIAN INDIES

UMESH VINAYAK KULKARNI

THE TEMPLE DEN ENFOLDIGE KESHAV (GIRISH Kulkarni, som modtog den indiske National Award for sin rolle) oplever, at hinduguden Dutta åbenbarer sig for ham under hans middagslur. Ikke alle i den lille landsby Mangrul er begejstret for nyheden. Lokalpolitikeren Bhau har fra højere sted fået ordre på at formidle budskabet om ‘udvikling’ til landsbybeboerne. Den religiøse glød blandt Mangruls indbyggere er dog stor: Planerne for opførelsen af et hospital bliver lagt på hylden, og i stedet bliver det besluttet at bygge et tempel på stedet, hvor Dutta har åbenbaret sig. Etableringen af templet bringer rindende vand og elektricitet til byen og omdanner stedet til en turistattraktion, men markerne ligger uopdyrkede hen, da landsbybeboerne har travlt med at tjene penge på de besøgende pilgrimme. ‘The Temple’, som er indspillet på marathi - det 14. største sprog i verden - er en fin politisk satire, der konfronterer flere tabuer i indisk udviklingspolitik og religiøs praksis. Filmen bæres af smukke detaljemættede billeder af landsbyliv i det indre Maharashtra. Læg også mærke til den meget charmerende og kreativt udtænkte credit-sekvens, udført som indisk ‘sandmaleri’.

DURING HIS AFTERNOON NAP, the simple Keshav (Girish Kulkarni, who received the Indian National Film Award for his role) sees the Hindu God Dutta revealed to him. Not everyone in the small village of Mangrul, is excited about the news. Local politician Bhau has from higher ground, had orders to spread the message of “development” to the villagers. However, the religious belief among the population of Mangrul is large: Plans for the construction of a hospital is laid aside, and it is instead decided to build a temple on the site where Dutta revealed himself. The establishment of the temple brings running water and electricity to the town and transforms the place into a tourist attraction. But the fields lie uncultivated, as the villagers are busy making money on the visiting pilgrims. ‘The Temple’, recorded in Marathi - the 14th largest language in the world - is a fine political satire which confronts more of the tabues in India’s development and religious practice. The film is uplifted by beautiful, detail-packed images of village life in the heart of Maharashtra. Also noteworthy is the very charming and creatively conceived credit sequence, made to look like Indian “sand painting”.

INDIAN INDIES

Tirsdag 21. august 16:30 Søndag 9. september 19:00

DEOOL India 2011, 135 min. Marathi med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni Manuscript: Girish Kulkarni Kamera: Sudhakar Reddy Yakkanti Klip: Abhijit Deshpande Musik: Mangesh Dhakde Lyd: Anthony Ruban Produktion: Devisha Films Producer: Abhijeet Gholap Medvirkende: Girish Kulkarni, Mohan Agashe, Vibhawari Deshpande, Hrishikesh Joshi Distr.: Devisha Films

CINEMATEKET CINEMATEKET

Best Film and Best Script, National Film Awards 2012. Meet the director for the screening on 21. august!

INDIAN INDIES

GURVINDER SINGH

ALMS FOR A BLIND HORSE DEN DEBUTERENDE GURVINDER SINGH tager os, med støtte fra den legendariske, nu afdøde instruktør Mani Kaul som kreativ producent, med til en sjældent set del af Indien i den moderne verdens landlige Punjab. En vintermorgen vågner en lille landsby af hyrder ved at et af deres huse bliver revet ned. Jordejeren vil have dem væk, og landsbyens ældste tager til byen for at kræve deres ret. I byen møder vi også landsbylederens søn, der arbejder som rickshaw-kuli, men efterlades såret på krop og sjæl efter en strejke. Singhs film er båret af enestående poetiske billeder og fortalt i en særdeles afdæmpet, registrerende tone, tæt beslægtet med traditionen fra iransk film. Det er en film, der giver sig tid og indbyder til det samme, men mens handlingen næsten står stille, får instruktørens fokus på sine personer, deres ansigter, deres gestik, deres usagte ord, det til at simre af desperation over den uholdbare uretfærdighed. ‘Alms for a Blind Horse’ er den første film på punjabi, der succesfuldt er blevet vist på en række internationale filmfestivaler.

IN HIS DEBUT FILM, Gurvinder Singh, supported by the legendary, now deceased director Mani Kaul as a creative producer, takes us to a seldom seen part of India, in the modern world’s rural Punjab. One winter’s morning a small village of shepherds are awoken, by one of their houses being demolished. The landowner wants them gone and the village elders take to town, to claim their rights. In town we also meet one of village leaders’ sons, who works as a rickshaw driver, but is left wounded in body and soul after a strike. Singh’s film stands out by the use of unique, poetic pictures and the story is told in a very subdued tone. It’s a film that takes its time and invites you to do the same, and while the action almost stands still, the director’s focus is on the people, their faces, their gestures, their unspoken words, that all simmer with desperation in their insufferable injustice. ‘Alms for a Blind Horse’ is the first film in Punjabi, which has been successfully shown at several international film festivals.

INDIAN INDIES

Tirsdag 28. august 21:30 Torsdag 6. september 19:00

ANHEY GHORHEY DA DAAN India 2011, 112 min. Punjabi med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Gurvinder Singh Manuscript: Gurvinder Singh Kamera: Satya Rai Nagpaul Klip: Ujjawal Chandra Musik: Catherine Lamb Lyd: Mandar Kulkarni Produktion: National Film Development Corporation Ltd. Producer: Neena Gupta, Vikramjit Roy Medvirkende: Samuel John, Sarbjeet Kaur, Dharminder Singh Distr.: National Film Development Corporation

CINEMATEKET CINEMATEKET

Gurvinder Singh won Best Director at National Film Awards 2012. The film also won Best Cinematography and Best Feature Film in Punjab.

INDIAN INDIES

MUSA SYEED

VALLEY OF SAINTS ‘VALLEY OF SAINTS’ ER en af ganske få film optaget i det uroplagede Kashmir, ved det engang så smukke og yndede turistmål Dal Lake, Indiens Venedig. Smukt er her stadigt, men krigen holder turisterne væk, fattigdommen og desperationen vokser og den enestående sø med dens flydende haver, omkransende Sufi-ruiner og husbådebyer er ved at forgå i forurening og forsømmelse. Desperationen har også ramt den unge gondolier Gulzar, der lever af at sejle turister rundt, men drømmer om at rejse til New Delhi med vennen Afzal. Et udgangsforbud forhaler imidlertid flugten, og strandet i den lille by møder Gulzar den tilrejsende biolog Asifa, der er i Dal for at undersøge det hensygnende økosystem. På den smukke men også forstemmende baggrund udspiller sig et lille, næsten blot antydet trekantsdrama, mens krigen buldrer i baggrunden. Alt spejler og betinger hinanden i Syeeds fint registrerede debut, der er filmet on location, spillet primært af amatører fra regionen og fortalt i en afdæmpet, næsten dokumentarisk tone. En unik og betagende film, der vandt Publikumsprisen på årets Sundance Film Festival.

‘VALLEY OF SAINTS’ IS one of very few movies recorded in the troubled Kashmir, at the once beautiful and popular tourist destination Dal Lake, India’s Venice. Though still beautiful, the war keeps the tourists away, poverty and desperation grows, and the unique lake with its floating gardens, the surrounding Sufi ruins and houseboat villages are about to perish in pollution and neglect. Desperation has also hit the young gondolier Gulzar, who makes his living by sailing tourists around, but dreams of traveling to New Delhi with his friend Afzal. A curfew halts his plans, and stranded in the small town, Gulzar meets the visiting biologist Asifa, who is in the valley to investigate the ailing ecosystem. On the beautiful, but depressing background a small, almost hinted love triangle unfolds, while the war rumbles on in the background. Everything mirrors and conditions each other in Syeed’s finely recorded debut. It is filmed on location, played mostly by amateurs from the region and told in a subdued, almost documentary form. A unique and breathtaking film, which won the Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

INDIAN INDIES

Lørdag 8. september 21:30 Fredag 14. september 19:00

VALLEY OF SAINTS India, US 2012, 82 min. Kashmiri med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Musa Syeed Manuscript: Musa Syeed Kamera: Yoni Brook Klip: Ray Hubley, Mary Manhardt Musik: Mubashir Mohi-Ud-Din Lyd: Michael Feuser, Andrea Bella, Jamal Rehman Produktion: Peerwar Pictures Producer: Nick Bruckman Medvirkende: Gulzar Ahmad Butt, Mohammed Afzal Sofi, Neelofar Hamid Distr.: The Film Collaborative

CINEMATEKET CINEMATEKET

Winner of Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize and the Audience Award at Sundance 2012.

INDIAN INDIES

DEV BENEGAL

ROAD, MOVIE DEN SELVCENTREDE CITY BOY Vishnu (spillet af den unge stjerne Abhay Deol, som også kan ses i ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’) er tiltænkt en karriere i sin fars håroliefirma, men da den unge mand får tilbudt at køre en gammel lastbil over ørkenen til kysten, hvor den skal udstilles på et automobilmuseum, slår han til. Allerede efter få kilometer bryder køretøjet dog sammen, og Vishnu må have hjælp af en 11-årig dreng, der sælger te ved vejsiden. Den udrangerede, farverige lastbil viser sig i virkeligheden at være en rejsebiograf, udstyret med to gamle 35 mm-kinomaskiner, et stort lærred og en bizar samling ældre Bollywood-film, som Vishnu og hans voksende følge begynder at vise i de landsbyer, de passerer undervejs. ‘Road, Movie’ indeholder en række smukke ‘Cinema Paradiso’øjeblikke og er båret af vittig dialog og fin komisk timing. Ikke mindst sekvenserne med en korrupt politimand og en mafiabande, der har monopoliseret områdets vandforsyning, er forrygende. Filmen er betagende smukt fotograferet af Michel Amathieu, der får det maksimale ud af de storslåede ørkenlandskaber og de farverige landsbyer.

THE SELF-CENTRED CITY BOY Vishnu (played by the young star Abhay Deol, who can also be seen in ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’), is set for a career in his father’s hair oil company. But when the young man is offered to drive an old lorry across the desert to the coast, where it will be put on display in a car museum, he jumps at the chance. Already after a few miles, the vehicle breaks down and Vishnu must acquire help of an 11-year-old boy, who sells tea by the roadside. The colourful, old-timer lorry, turns out to be a traveling cinema, equipped with two old 35 mm movie projectors, a large canvas and a bizarre collection of old Bollywood movies, that Vishnu and his growing entourage begin showing in the villages they pass along the way. ‘Road, Movie’ contains a number of beautiful ‘Cinema Paradiso’ moments, and is uplifted by humorous dialogue and excellent comic timing. Especially the sequences with a corrupt policeman and a mafia gang, that has monopolized the area’s water supply, are terrific. The film has been breathtakingly and beautifully photographed by Michel Amathieu, who gets the most out of the magnificent desert landscapes and the colourful villages.’

INDIAN INDIES

Tirsdag 21. august 19:00 Onsdag 5. september 19:00

ROAD, MOVIE India 2009, 95 min. Hindi med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Dev Benegal Manuscript: Dev Benegal Kamera: Michel Amathieu Klip: Yaniv Dabach Musik: Michael Brook Produktion: August Entertainment Producer: Susan B. Landau, Ross Katz, Dev Benegal Medvirkende: Abhay Deol, Satish Kaushik, Tannishtha Chatterjee Distr.: Fortissimo Film Sales

CINEMATEKET CINEMATEKET

Abhay Deol, the lead actor in ‘Road, Movie’ is considered one of Bollywood’s rising stars. He also stars in ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’.

INDIAN INDIES

PRASHANT BHARGAVA

PATANG (THE KITE) JAYESH, EN VELHAVENDE FORRETNINGSMAND fra Delhi, vender sammen med sin voksne datter tilbage til sit barndomshjem i Ahmedabad (Gujarat) for at deltage i byens årlige dragefestival. Her møder han sin mor, sin svigerinde og sin nevø, der er søn af Jayeshs afdøde bror. Jayehs forslag til ændringer og forandringer i familien skaber snart dybtgående konflikter og generationsmodsætninger. ‘Patang’ ligner en cinema-verité dokumentar om denne indiske familie, omgivet af den smukke gamle by og dragefestivalen. Vi ser himlen over Ahmedabad fyldt med tusindvis af dansende, duellerende drager, og mange mennesker befinder sig på byens tage. Gaderne nedenunder fremstår som et kaos af mennesker, musikorkestre og madboder. Fotografen Shanker Raman udnytter i lange håndholdte indstillinger de farvestrålende drager og de smukke gamle bygninger, og resultatet er et fornemt kalejdoskopisk indblik i det moderne indiske samfund. ‘The film is joyous, but more than that: It’s lovely in its construction….It flies as free and colorfully as a kite’, skrev kritiker-ikonet Roger Ebert.

JAYESH, A WEALTHY BUSINESSMAN from Delhi, returns with his grown up daughter, to his childhood home in Ahmedabad (Gujarat), to participate in the town’s annual kite festival. Here he meets his mother, his sister-in-law and his nephew, the son of Jayesh’s deceased brother. Jayesh’s suggestions for alterations and changes in the family, soon creates profound conflicts and generational differences of opinion. ‘Patang’ is similar to a Cinema Verité documentary about this Indian family, surrounded by the beautiful old town and the kite festival. We see the sky over Ahmedabad, filled with thousands of dancing, duelling kites and all the people on the rooftops. The streets below appear like a chaos of people, music bands and food stalls. The photographer Shanker Raman, exploits the long handheld settings in a brilliant way, portraying the colourful kites and the beautiful old buildings; and the result is an elegant kaleidoscopic glimpse of modern Indian society. “The film is joyous, but more than that: It’s lovely in its construction... It flies as free and colourfully as a kite”, wrote the critic Roger Ebert.

INDIAN INDIES

Torsdag 23. august Onsdag 29. august

PATANG India, US 2011, 93 min. Hindi, Gujarati, English med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Prashant Bhargava Manuscript: Prashant Bhargava, James Townsend Kamera: Shanker Raman Klip: Prashant Bhargava Musik: Mario Grigorov Producer: Jaideep Punjabi Medvirkende: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Mukkund Shukla, Seema Biswas Distr.: Media Luna New Films UG

19:15 19:15

CINEMATEKET CINEMATEKET

Six years in the making ‘The Kite’ is a film from Chicago based director Prashant Bhargava, who started out as a graffiti artist.

INDIAN INDIES

TIGMANSHU DHULIA

PAAN SINGH TOMAR ‘PAAN SINGH TOMAR’ HAR været en stor succes i Indien, og den har da også alt, hvad man kan ønske sig af drama, spænding og sport - i disse OL-tider - samt en vaskeægte indisk helt. Titlens Paan Singh Tomar var en bondesøn, hvis talent for at løbe blev opdaget i hæren. Han vandt som soldat det indiske mesterskab i forhindringsløb hele syv gange i 50’erne og 60’erne, men endte sine dage med at blive skudt af politiet som oprører. Filmen begynder, da en journalist får foretræde for den notirisk berygtede oprørsleder Tomar, der er eftersøgt for drab på ni personer. I flashback får vi oprullet hele den dramatiske historie om atleten, der fra berømmelsens tinder blev tvunget ud i lovløsheden, i forsvar for sin familie og i kamp mod myndighedernes korruption. ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ er produceret for et ganske lille budget, men det mærkes hverken i det udførlige tidsbillede eller den udtryksfulde fotografering. Tigmanshu Dhulia instruerer med seriøsitet, overskud og konsekvens, og holder - efter indisk films målestok - følelserne i kort snor.

‘PAAN SINGH TOMAR’ HAS been a huge success in India and has in fact everything you could want from a drama - excitement and sports, in these Olympic times, and a real Indian hero. The title’s Paan Singh Tomar was a farmer’s boy, whose talent for running was discovered in the army. As a soldier he won the Indian steeplechase championship seven times in the 50s and 60s, but ended his days by being shot as a rebel by the police. The film begins when a journalist gets the chance to meet the notorious rebel leader Tomar, who is wanted for killing nine people. In flashbacks we roll across the dramatic story of the athlete, from peak of fame, then forced into lawlessness in defence of his family and the struggle against corruption. ‘Paan Singh Tomar’ is produced on a very tight budget, but this is felt neither in its detailed portrayal of its time, nor the expressive photography. Tigmanshu Dhulia directs with dedication, energy and consistency and by Indian film standards, he keeps emotions on a tight leash.

INDIAN INDIES

Lørdag 1. september

PAAN SINGH TOMAR India 2011, 135 min. Hindi med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Tigmanshu Dhulia Manuscript: Sanjay Chouhan, Tigmanshu Dhulia Kamera: Aseem Mishra Klip: Aarti Bajaj Musik: Abhishek Ray Lyd: Rakesh Ranjan Producer: Ronnie Schrewvala Medvirkende: Irrfan Khan, Vipin Sharma, Mahie Gill Distr.: UTV Motion Pictures

16:45

CINEMATEKET

You might know leading actor, Irrfan Khan, from ‘The Amazing Spiderman’, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and ‘The Darjeeling Limited’. Khan can also be seen in ‘7 Sins Forgiven’.

INDIAN INDIES

ABHINAY DEO

DELHI BELLY DEN INTERNATIONALE INSPIRATION LADER sig ikke fornægte i ‘Delhi Belly’, der er en vaskeægte, vovet og særdeles underholdende drengerøvskomedie ‘Delhi Belly’, indspillet på de unge inderes streetengelsk, også kaldet hinglish, og med fuld smæk på attituden. I indisk film er det ikke hverdag at sige ‘fuck’, men det revancerer de tre unge døgenigte, der deler en lejlighed i Delhi og med ét får deres slacker-tilværelse vendt op og ned, da de tilfældigvis kommer i besiddelse af en sending smuglerdiamanter. Pludselig må de flygte fra skydegale gangstere, emsige politibetjente, jaloux kærester og den fæle omgang myllerbæ, der har givet filmen sin titel. Det er ikke løjer for sarte maver, men når alt kommer til alt er det ganske harmløst. Og sjovt. Abhinay Deo væver elegant et virvar af vanvittige historietråde ind i hinanden, inklusive en række overdådigt kitchede Bollywooddansenumre. Filmens diamantsmugler spilles i øvrig af vores egen Kim Bodnia, der også ender med at få røven på komedie. Og det helt bogstavligt!

THE INTERNATIONAL INSPIRATION CANNOT be denied in ‘Delhi Belly’, a genuine, daring and highly entertaining laddish comedy. The film is recorded in the young Indians’ street English, also called Hinglish; and it’s full of attitude. In Indian cinema, it is not every day you hear the word “fuck”, but for the three boys who share a flat in Delhi, it’s all part of a normal day. Their slacker existence is turned upside down, when they happen to come into possession of a shipment of smuggled diamonds. Suddenly, they must flee from trigger-happy gangsters, bossy policemen, jealous girlfriends and a bad case of upset stomach, hence the title of the film. It’s not fun for delicate stomachs, but all in all, it is quite harmless; and funny. Abhinay Deo weaves an elegant carpet of crazy story threads into one another, including a series of lavishly kitschy Bollywood dance numbers. The film’s diamond smuggler is incidentally played by the Dane Kim Bodnia, who also ends up getting his ass kicked... quite literally!

INDIAN INDIES

Lørdag 8. september 19:00 Lørdag 15. september 16:30

DELHI BELLY India 2011, 103 min. Hindi, Hinglish med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Abhinay Deo Manuscript: Akshat Verma Kamera: Jason West Klip: Huzefa Lokhandwala Producer: Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao, Ronnie Screwvala Medvirkende: Imran Khan, Vir Das, Kunaal Roy Rapur, Kim Bodnia Distr.: UTV Motion Pictures

CINEMATEKET CINEMATEKET

‘Delhi Belly’ was one of the most successful movies at the Indian box office in 2011, but there are still no plans for a ‘Belly 2’. Director Abhinay Deo is currently working on an Indian version of the American TV series ‘24’.

INDIAN INDIES

CINEMA OF PRAYOGA BESIDES BOTH BOLLYWOOD AND REGIONAL FILMS, India offers a strong tradition for experimental film. Mumbai-based independent writer, film theorist, curator and historian, Amrit Gangar, has been working in the field of cinema in various capacities for over three decades. He has developed and curated programs around Indian Experimental Films, or in his own term Cinema Prayoga, and Gangar will present two Prayoga programmes at the festival.

AMRIT GANGAR

IT WAS DURING ‘EXPERIMENTA 2005’ in Mumbai, I thought of creating the new concept of Cinema of Prayoga (or CinemaPrayoga), as an alternative to the generally accepted term ‘Experimental Film’ and its synonyms, if any. And since then I have presented the concept along with some of the films (both celluloid and digital) by Indian filmmakers, which basically distinguish themselves for their temporal sense, according to my perception and that of many others. The loosely equivalent word for the English ‘experiment’ in Sanskrit is prayoga, which has several different connotations, including design, contrivance, device, plan; application, employment (esp. of drugs and magic); use, practice, experiment (opp. Theory), exhibition (of dance), representation (of drama), recitation, delivery; prayog rtha means ‘having a sense of prayoga’. If we deconstruct the word Prayoga, we get Pra + Yoga, where the prefix ‘pra’ in a way becomes a forward looking engine. As a prefix to verbs, it means ‘forward’, ‘forth’, ‘in front’, ‘onward’, ‘before’. In other words, it carries the sense of vanguard. With adjectives, it means ‘very’, ‘excessively’, and with nouns, whether derived from verbs or not, it is used in various senses including, commencement; power, intensity, source or origin, completion, perfectness, excellence, purity, etc. depending on what noun it is prefixed to. Among its many interpretations, yoga also means uniting, combination, contact, touch, employment, application,

use, charm, spell, incantation, magic, magical art, substance, deep and abstract meditation, concentration of mind, contemplation of Supreme Spirit. Unlike avantgarde, prayoga is a non-military word; it is, in fact, artistic and meditative. Cinema of Prayoga is a conceptual framework that locates the history of experimental film in India within an ancient history of pre-modern tradition of innovation – of prayoga. A theory of filmic practice, Cinema of Prayoga challenges the dominant forms of filmic expression in contemporary India, including the allpervading Bollywood or social realism of the Indian New Wave. Cinema of Prayoga celebrates a cinematographic idiom that is deeply located in the polyphony of Indian philosophy and cultural imagination. In fact, it locates itself within kaal (time) in continuum without dissecting it into pr chin (ancient or pre-modern), arv chin (modern) or anu-arv chin (post-modern) since the so-called post – prefixes keep shifting in the locus of quintessential time, and space. It employs cinematography to inaugurate anew a conversation with idiosyncratic heterogeneity of Indian traditions. As a radical gesture in the history of Indian cinema, Cinema of Prayoga also attempts to reconfigure the generally accepted notion of the so-called experimental and the avant-garde in Indian cinema by conjuring the term ‘Prayoga’ from Indian philosophical thought. Amen.

CINEMA OF PRAYOGA CINEMA OF PRAYOGA

INDIAN INDIES

INTRODUCED BY CURATOR AMRIT GANGAR

CINEMA OF PRAYOGA I D.G. PHALKE, WHO MADE India’s first silent feature film was a true prayoga-spirit as he remained restless about the form of his cinematography and mixed mythological time (and space) with the contemporary. That spirit still lingers on somewhere in some creative minds in India. While Phalke was more spatial, Cinema of Prayoga emphasizes temporality in its practice which is evident in the works that are being shown in this program. ‘Kalighat Fetish’ by Ashish Avikunthak, for example is contemplation on two ideas - transgression and morbidity. But as Avikunthak says, filmmaking is directly an attempt at playing with Avikunthak’s cinema can be described as figurative as he uses human bodies. Shambhavi Kaul’s nonfigurative films are temporal too, while Vipin Vijay’s ‘Video Game’ blurs the boundaries in time. In his later works Vipin Vijay seems to be pushing his idea of exploring the relationship between technology and mythology.

Søndag 2. september

16:30

CINEMATEKET

CINEMA OF PRAYOGA I India, 85 min. Med engelske undertekster Introductory film: ‘The Pioneer’ (15 min) ‘Video Game’, Vipin Vijay, 2006 (30 min) ‘Kalighat Fetish’, Ashish Avikunthak, 1999 (22 min) ‘Dancing Othello’, Ashish Avikunthak, 2002 (18 min)

INDIAN INDIES

INTRODUCED BY CURATOR AMRIT GANGAR

CINEMA OF PRAYOGA II MANI KAUL HAS BEEN a master in harnessing temporality for cinematography, blurring the dichotomy between the fiction and the non-fiction and gracing cinematography in its pure form. ‘Before My Eyes’ is a mesmerizing filmscape on the Kashmir valley. Avikunthak’s short film ‘End Note’ adapts Samuel Beckett’s short play ‘End Note’ into time and space in his figurative cinema. Some critics thought this was one of Beckett’s most perfect plays. Amit Dutta is one of the most important young filmmakers from India, whose cinematography is unlike anything else in Indian cinema. In his films (particularly the early works, ‘Kramasha’, included), Dutta explores ‘memory’ in its micro and macro states within the narratives, that he evokes. Shambhavi Kaul’s films, deeply and in their brevity, invoke temporality crucial to the Cinema of Prayoga. The two Cinema of Prayoga programmes provide a unique glance at the Indian cinema in its robust self, beyond Bollywood.

Tirsdag 4. september

19:00

CINEMATEKET

CINEMA OF PRAYOGA II India, 85 min. Med engelske undertekster Introductory film: ‘The Pioneer’ (15 min) ‘and now i feel i don’t know anything’, Kabir Mohanty, 2001 (35 min) ‘Scene 32’, Shambhavi Kaul, 2010 (10 min) ‘Place for Landing’, Shambhavi Kaul, 2010 (6 min) ‘Kramasha’, Amit Dutta, 2007 (22 min)

INDIAN INDIES

SATYAJIT RAY

CHARULATA (THE LONELY WIFE) INDIAN INDIES ER EN præsentation af de allernyeste film og tendenser i den levende og alsidige indiske filmindustri. Men indisk independent film er naturligvis ikke en ny opfindelse. Allerede i 50’erne blomstrede Indiens New Wave eller Parallel Cinema, der med en række realistiske og sociopolitiske dramaer skabte indisk films første guldalder og løftede en håndfuld instruktører til international berømmelse. Den største af disse, ja en af største instruktører i 50’erne og 60’erne overhovedet, var Satyajit Ray, hvis film gik deres sejrsgang på filmfestivalerne i Cannes, Venedig og Berlin. Som en anerkendelse af Rays betydning, og en hyldest til såvel indisk films 100 år som den nobelprisvindende store indiske forfatter Rabindranath Tagores 150 år i år, viser vi Rays storslåede ‘Charulata’, eller på engelsk ‘The Lonely Wife’, baseret på Tagores novelle ‘Nastanirh’. Det intense drama om en forsømt hustru i 1870’ernes Calcutta er et must for alle, der har den til gode, og vises i en helt nyrestaureret kopi.

INDIAN INDIES IS A presentation of the newest movies and trends in the vibrant and versatile Indian film industry. But the Indian independent film, is obviously not a new invention. Already in the 50s, India’s NewWave or Parallel Cinema flourished, with a number of realistic and socio-political dramas creating the first golden age of Indian cinema, and lifted a handful of directors to international fame. The biggest of these, indeed one of the greatest directors of the 50s and 60s, was Satyajit Ray, whose films were triumphant at the Cannes Film Festival, Venice and Berlin. As an acknowledgment of Ray’s significance, and as a tribute to both Indian film’s 100 years and the Nobel Prize winning Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore’s 150 years this year, we’re showing Ray’s magnificent ‘Charulata’, or in English ‘The Lonely Wife’, based on Tagore’s novella ‘Nastanirh’. The intense drama, about a neglected wife in the 1870s Kolkata, is a must for anyone who has not seen it, and it will be shown in a fully restored version.

INDIAN INDIES

Søndag 16. september 16:30

CHARULATA India 1964, 117 min. Bengalsk med engelske undertekster Instruktør: Satyajit Ray Manuscript: Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray Kamera: Subrata Mitra Klip: Dulal Dutta Musik: Satyajit Ray Produktion: R.D.Banshal & Co. Producer: R.D. Bansal Medvirkende: Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Shailen Mukherjee Distr.: RDB ENTERTAINMENTS

CINEMATEKET

Satyajit Ray won 1965 Berlin Silver Bear for Best Director with ‘Charulata’. In 1992 Ray received an Honary Oscar for his rare mastery of the art of motion pictures and for his profound humanitarian outlook, which has had an indelible influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world. Restored by the Satyajit Ray Preservation Project through a collaboration of the Academy Film Archive, the Merchant-Ivory Foundation and the Film Foundation. Print courtesy of Academy Film Archive. Copyright RDB Entertainments, INDIA.

INDIAN INDIES

THE LAST BOLLYWOOD BILLBOARD PAINTERS AMRIT GANGAR & JESPER ANDERSEN

Hand-painted billboards are a vanishing phenomenon in Bombay (now Mumbai), the home of Bollywood. And that spells the death of kitsch on the skyline of the city, the kitsch that made this metropolis vibrant, with Bollywood stars staring straight into your eyes on streets, road junctions, highways and railway platforms.

Those kitschy figures in garish colours have a unique charm. Ranging in size between 3.60 x 2.40 and 24 x 6 meters, they are elaborate messengers foretelling new releases, excitement and adventure. So visually overwhelming were they, that law prohibited them from being erected close to airports, for fear of

INDIAN INDIES

FOTO: JESPER ANDERSEN

distracting pilots when they approach the runway. In Mumbai, billboards are called “banners” and billboard studios “departments”. Some departments were attached to cinema and film studios, and many painters were hired on a contract basis. All these departments and studios have now been closed down and only a few painters, the last of their kind, are still around. One of them is the 71-year-old master artist Balkrishna Laxman Vaidya. He started as an assistant artist in 1952 and opened his own studio in 1969. The 1970s was the big decade for hand painted billboards. “There were 30 major studios in Mumbai back then and we had a staff of 35 people”, says Balkrishna on our visit to Mumbai. The many assistant artists were engaged in everything from creating frames, to mixing colours, drawing actors and developing characters. “When about 50 per cent of the film was finished, the producer would visit our studio to discuss the design of the posters, which had to be completed one month before the premiere. At the same time, things like how much space the hero should have on the billboard were discussed“, explains Balkrishna. “If a film featured a superstar like Amitabh Bachchan, the spatial and compositional emphasis changed”. It was not uncommon for a new Bollywood film to

premiere in 20 theatres, and therefore 20 unique billboards would have to be created. Billboards were sent to cinemas on handcarts around midnight, since congested streets hamper their transportation during the day. “When the movie had had its final showing and the billboards were taken down, many ended up on the roofs of shelters for the homeless”, tells Balkrishna. Around the year 2000, most of the major studios closed, as the hand-painted billboards were replaced by vinyl posters. In one of the oldest cinemas in Mumbai’s red light district, you can still meet the billboard painter Sheikh Abdul Rehman (68), and be insured that the hand-painted billboards have an entirely different depth and colour richness than vinyl posters. Balkrishna closed his studio in 2006. One of his last jobs was eight posters for Oscar-winner ‘Lagaan’. Now he is working with one of his assistants in a small apartment above the street, where the Indian scenes for Susanne Bier’s ‘After the Wedding’ was recorded. They deal mostly with arranging workshops and making small billboards, commissioned by Indians living abroad. Meet the master artist Balkrishna Laxman Vaidya in the foyer of Cinemateket from 28 August to 1 September. Here he and two of his Indian assistants, will paint a poster of 3 by 7 meters to the Bollywood movie ‘Om Shanti Om’ that will be shown open air at Nytorv (Strøget) on 1. september.

INDIAN INDIES

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INDIA TODAY

THAT GIRL IN YELLOW BOOTS

INDISKE FILM PÅ DR K DR K og CPH PIX samarbejder nu om at vise hele Danmark indiske film. I forbindelse med Indian Indies viser DR K nemlig hele seks film. Fire af titlerne kommer også på festivalen, mens ‘That Girl in Yellow Boots’ og ‘Peepli Live’ kun bliver vist på tv. DR Ks serie indledes med bravour lørdag 1. september med Bollywood-klassikeren over dem alle ‘Om Shanti Om’, parallelt med live-visningen af filmen på Strøget. Herefter veksles mellem mere traditionelle Bollywood-film samt nye og anderledes bud på, hvad den gigantiske indiske filmindustri kan præstere. For DR K er det lidt af et scoop, at det er et af de allerstørste navne i indisk film, Anurag Kashyap, som står bag ‘That Girl in Yellow Boots’, en historie om en indisk-britisk kvindes rejse gennem Mumbais prostitutionsmiljø i forsøget på at finde sin far. Hvis man tror, at indiske film kun er glade danseoptrin og overklasse-glimmer, er denne film et must. ‘Peepli Live’ er en tragikomisk beretning om en fattig bonde, der i afmagt vil begå selvmord, og derved bliver centrum i et større mediehysteri - samspillet mellem det politiske system, bankerne og den sociale ulighed behandles elegant og overraskende. I løbet af efteråret vil DR K også sende en række dokumentarfilm om indisk kultur og det fragmenterede lands spændende historie.

OM SHANTI OM Dato: 1. september Tid: 20.00

THAT GIRL IN YELLOW BOOTS Dato: 6. september Tid: 21.30

UDAAN Dato: 13. september Tid: 21.30

ROCKSTAR Dato: 22. september Tid: 20.00

PEEPLI LIVE Dato: 27. september Tid: 21.30

ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA Dato: 29. september Tid: 20.00

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FIGURA ENSEMBLE MED PRAKASH SONTAKKE, ADARSH SHENOY OG SIGNE ASMUSSEN DEN INDISKE MUSIKER OG sanger Prakash Sontakke mødes i en kulturudveksling uden lige, sammen med det danske ensemble FIGURA og den danske sopran Signe Asmussen. Forestillingen er et samarbejdsprojekt og musikken er komponeret i fællesskab af Prakash Sontakke, samt Peter Bruun og Anders Brødsgaard fra FIGURA. Deltagelsen af FIGURA Ensemble i India Today/Copenhagen Tomorrow bunder i en nysgerrighed omkring at fusionere moderne indisk musik med vores egne vestlige traditioner. FIGURA Ensemble har i mange år arbejdet med både improvisation og musik baseret på verdslige traditioner, såsom arabisk og kinesisk, så denne koncert falder lige i deres smag.

Dato: 27. november Tid: 20.00 Sted: Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Den Sorte Diamant, “Dronningesalen” Billetpriser: kr. 140 Diamantklub: kr. 120 Studerende: kr. 95 Billetsalg: www.billetlugen.dk og i receptionen i Den Sorte Diamant

INDIA TODAY

BLUE LOTUS MED SHASHANK SUBRAMANYAM, PATRI SATISH KUMAR OG MARILYN MAZUR JAZZ MØDER TRADITIONEL INDISK musik i et spændende kulturmøde, når Blue Lotus går på scenen sammen med den anerkendte Shashank på bambusfløjte og de to anerkendte indiske perkussionister Patri Satish Kumar og Marilyn Mazur. Koncerten er et samarbejdsprojekt mellem de danske og indiske musikere, der tilsammen har komponeret musikken til denne særlige koncert. Blue Lotus er en dansk trio bestående af guitaristen Mikkel Nordsø, Tine Rehling på harpe og Ole Theill på trommer og tabla. En usædvanlig trio, der blander lyden af ‘tabla, harpe og den akustiske guitar, alle inspireret af deres respektive erfaringer fra Sydamerika, Indien, kammermusik og selvfølgelig - Skandinavien. De spiller hele to koncerter, dog er Marilyn Mazur ikke med til koncerten på ARKEN.

Dato: 21. september Sted: Copenhagen Jazzhouse Billetsalg: www.jazzhouse.dk

Dato: 21. oktober Tid: 14.00 Sted: ARKEN Billetpriser: Entré til museet koster 95 kr. Gratis adgang for klubmedlemmer. Billetsalg: www.arken.dk

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CO-CREATE NOW KONFERENCE OG DIALOG WWW.COCREATENOW.ORG OG KONKURRENCE DIALOGPROGRAMMET igangsættes 13.-14. september med 2 store konferencer på ARKEN og Copenhagen Business School med deltagelse af en række fremtrædende indiske kulturpersonligheder og erhvervsledere med verdenskendte Rajendra Pachauri som indledende keynote speaker. www.cocreatenow.org formidler kontakter, samarbejder og interessefællesskaber mellem Danmark og Indien, som folk har reel interesse i at dele med hinanden. Her finder du dagsaktuelle videoer, korte nyheder, aktuelle trends og historier. Studerende inviteres til at deltage i konkurrencen ‘Cocreating Sustainable Solutions between Denmark and India’. Se www.cocreatenow.org/competition. Du kan indsende forslag fra 15. september til 15. november. Præmien for danske studerende er en rejse til Indien. Arrangører: Det Danske Kulturinstitut, Holck-Larsen Fonden, CBS, Dansk Industri, Asia House, ARKEN, Københavns og Aarhus Universitet, Larsen & Toubro, Rambøll, Haldor Topsøe og mange flere.

SUSTAINABILITY AND PEACE: DIALOGUE BETWEEN CULTURES Dato: 13. september Tid: 9.00-17.00 Sted: ARKEN Museum for moderne kunst, Ishøj

CO-CREATING SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS BETWEEN DENMARK AND INDIA Dato: 14. september Tid: 9.00-14.00 Sted: Copenhagen Business School, Porcelænshaven, Frederiksberg Tilmelding og program: www.conferencemanager.dk /Indiatodaycopenhagentomorrow

INDIA : ART NOW

18. AUGUST 2012 – 13.JANUAR 2013

INDIAN INDIES

INDIA : FASHION NOW

INDIA TODAY

FOOTPRINT OPLEV ET SJÆLDENT KULTURMØDE mellem Danmark og Indien i en fusion mellem dans og musik, ved uropførelsen af forestillingen ‘Footprint’. Du tages med på en eventyrlig vandring, hvor det traditionelle møder det innovative, i søgen efter harmoni. Alt sammen skabt i et samarbejde mellem de indiske og danske kunstnere. Når de to kulturer mødes, både i form af musik og dans, vil det blive et nyskabende sammenspil mellem traditionelle indiske musikinstrumenter, moderne akustisk jazz, electronica, contemporary og klassisk indisk dans, kampsport, moderne dans og ballet. Kunstnerne bag er den danske pianist og komponist Niels Lan Doky, hans danske trio, og nogle af Indiens mest fremtrædende musikere, såsom Purbayan Chatterjee, Prabhu Edouard og Hamza Rahimtulla. Den danske koreograf Birgitte Bauer-Nilsen skaber i samarbejde med indiske Jayachandran Palazhy koreografien til de danske og indiske dansere.

Dato: 6. og 7. september Tid: 20.00 Sted: Koncertsalen i Tivoli Billetpriser: kr. 175 - 295 - plus gebyr, inkl. entré til Tivoli Billetsalg: www.billetlugen.dk

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GLOBAL SOFTWAREUDVIKLING SOFTWARE BLIVER I STIGENDE grad udviklet globalt, men samarbejdet på tværs af landegrænserne er dog ofte en udfordring for mange danske virksomheder. Derfor har forskere på IT-Universitetet, CBS og IIM Bangalore startet forskningsprojektet, NeXGSD, som har til formål at øge forståelsen for global softwareudvikling i praksis udfra betragtning om, at kulturel mangfoldighed giver mulighed for øget innovation. Projektet, som er støttet af Det Strategiske Forskningsråd, sigter desuden på at udvikle nye værktøjer og -metoder, der kan bidrage til at effektivisere international softwareudvikling. I samarbejde med Dansk Industri og Itinnnovationsnetværket InfinIT afholder forskerne en GSD-konference på IT-Universitetet. Her vil en række internationale eksperter og erhvervsfolk diskutere strategisk outsourcing mellem Indien og Europa samt kulturelle udfordringer og muligheder indenfor global softwareudvikling.

Dato: 10. september Tid: 13.00 - 17.00 Sted: IT-Universitetet, Aud 2 Pris: Gratis Tilmelding og yderligere information: www.nexgsd.org

INDIA TODAY

INDIA: LITERATURE NOW MED ´INDIA: LITERATURE NOW sætter Københavns Universitet i samarbejde med Aarhus Universitet og Gyldendal fokus på den moderne indiske litteratur. Tre nybrydende forfattere og sprogkunstnere Mridula Garg, Githa Hariharan og Manu Joseph kommer til Danmark og kan opleves ved forskellige åbne arrangementer. Første arrangement finder sted hos Gyldendal. Her får de indiske forfattere selskab af tre danske forfattere Carsten Jensen, Astrid Saalbach og Kirsten Thorup for med dem at diskutere litteraturens og forfatterens rolle i dagens Indien og Danmark. På Aarhus og Københavns Universitet vil forfatterne læse op af deres værker, fortælle om deres forfatterskaber og debattere med kendere af indisk litteratur og kultur. Læs mere om arrangementerne og de øvrige aktiviteter på Københavns Universitet i forbindelse med India Today - Copenhagen Tomorrow her: http:// asiandynamics.ku.dk/english/india_today_activities/

Dato: 24. september Tid: 16.00-18.00 efterfulgt af reception Sted: Gyldendal, Klareboderne 3, 1001 København K

Dato: 27. september Tid: 14.15-16.00 Sted: Aarhus Universitet, Department of Aesthetics and Communication, Lokale 424, Bygning 1481, Nobelparken, 9000 Aarhus C

Dato: 3. oktober Tid: 14.00-16.00 efterfulgt af reception i Asia House Sted: Københavns Universitet, Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Lokale 27.0.09, Bygning 27, Njalsgade 136, 2300 Kbh. S Billetpriser: Arrangementerne er gratis og åbne for alle.

ANDRE AKTIVITETER

INDIA UNREAL VERDENS STØRSTE DEMOKRATI ER også verdens største filmland. I hvert fald i antal titler, der hvert år sendes på gaden i det store land. Ikke desto mindre er det stadig begrænset, hvor mange film, der tager den demokratiske opgave seriøst. Bollywood sætter den populære dagsorden med kulørte og spektakulære melodramaer og sangnumre. Kun få film tager stilling til virkeligheden i det 21. århundredes Indien. Men i de senere år har den eksperimenterende, kritiske og politisk aktive dokumentarfilm markeret sig som et vitalt alternativ. Og både instruktører og publikum er begyndt at tage dokumentarfilmen alvorligt som en kunstnerisk genre i sin egen ret. Dermed er moderne, selvrefleksive og subjektive strategier også blevet taget op af de uafhængige filmskabere. Politiske, religiøse og seksuelle tabuer får modspil. Og traditionel ‘indisk’ æstetik bliver bearbejdet på nye måder. Se mere, når CPH:DOX i november byder på nyt fra den indiske dokumentarscene, fulgt op af debatter og live events.

Dato: 1.-11. november Sted: venues og biografer over hele København Billetter: 75 kr. (fra 15. oktober) Web: www.cphdox.dk (fra 15. oktober)

INDIA TODAY

SVANESØEN - I NY, INDISK VERSION DET KONGELIGE TEATER PRÆSENTERER i samarbejde med The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) et gæstespil af Rhythmosaic Dance Company. Det indiske dansekompagni besøger Skuespilhuset med en ny, moderne fortolkning af den klassiske, russiske ballet Svanesøen, der her er forvandlet til en indisk-fransk danseforestilling, som kombinerer jazz, kathak-dans, stepdans og flamenco. Swan Lake Revisited er stadig en kærlighedshistorie, hvor den onde Von Rothbart har forvandlet Prinsesse Odette til en svane om dagen, og Prins Siegfried bliver forelsket i hende en nat - hvor hun er sit menneskelige selv. Men selv om temaet er lig den originale historie, så er handlingen i Swan Lake Revisited hevet op til nutiden. Festsalen er skiftet ud med et cafeteria, skoven er skiftet ud med en travl gade og ballettrinene udskiftet med moderne dans. Musikken er stadig Tjajkovskijs velkendte lyd, men tilsat indiske toner.

Dato: 20.-21. oktober Tid: 20.00 Sted: Det Kongelige Teater, Skuespilhuset, Store Scene Pris: 50 kr. Mere info: www.kglteater.dk

ANDRE AKTIVITETER

THOMAS SANDBERG & SIVAMANI EN MUSIKALSK DUEL FINDER sted når perkussionisterne og performerne Thomas Sandberg og Sivamani mødes på Copenhagen Jazzhouse. Vi forventer en forbløffende og overraskende aften, når de to kunstnere, fra forskellige kulturelle baggrunde, udfolder deres musikalske og improvisatoriske forestilling. De er ikke blot alsidige musikere, men også store kunstnere. De vil i fælleskab finde et særligt kunstnerisk sprog, formet med rødder i både den indiske og danske kultur. Thomas Sandberg er en prisbelønnet og anerkendt dansk kunstner, komponist, skuespiller og perkussionist. Hans arbejde er en øjenåbner i forhold til, hvad lyd og musik er og kan. Sivamani er en internationalt kendt perkussionist fra Indien. Han kan skabe magi med næsten alt og har spillet over hele verden med nogle af de bedste internationale kunstnere.

Dato: 22. november Sted: Copenhagen Jazzhouse Billetsalg: www.jazzhouse.dk

INDIAN INDIES

SPILLEPLAN AUGUST Søndag 19.08 16:15

Gangs of Wasseypur I + II (2x160 min), s. 8

Tirsdag 21.08 16:30 The Temple (135 min), s. 46 19:00 Road, Movie (95 min), s. 51 20:00 At the End of it All (118 min), s.20

Onsdag 22.08 18:45

Fredag 07.09