Film cast © FDC / LOB
SPECIAL SCREENING – Bombay Talkies a tribute to Indian film
This week the Festival de Cannes invites India and its hundred-year old film industry. For this anniversary, Bombay Talkies is presented in a Special Screening as part of an evening tribute. This film of vignettes brings together four directors of the young generation, four shorts for an ode to Indian film.
Photo from the film © RR
Assuming that Indian film can be summed up with Bollywood would be a mistake, as Cannes has demonstrated in recent years with films like Udaan and Miss Lovely. In India, like everywhere else, film has its codes, its traditions and it evolves according to technical developments and the context. All the different kinds of film in India are found in Bombay Talkies.
You can find the colours and the theatrical style so emblematic of Bollywood as a backdrop to Zoom Zoom Darling, a short film by director Zoya Akthar. Little Vicky is fascinated by an actress and at home he practices her dance scenes. For that, he dresses up, making his father very angry.
The short film by Dibakar Banerjee is inspired by a story from the film giant, Satyajit Ray. Star tells the story of Purandar, a failed actor who has just lost his father and wants to impress his daughter. Dibakar Banerjee’s films, recognized and crowned with awards in Asia, deal with social issues that affect the lives of people in India today.
Karan Johar, also recognised by his peers, has plunged into a love story, a traditional theme in India. But the love story he tells in Ajleeb Daasran Hai Yeh is anything but traditional. When Gayatri invites Avinash, a gay journalist whom she works with, to celebrate her birthday, Avinash reveals to Gayatri that her husband is gay.
While Anurag Kashyap is presenting Ugly at the Directors’ Fortnight, he is also the director of the last section of Bombay Talkies with Muraba, a story about Vijay. His father is going to die soon and to fulfil his last wishes, his son sets out in search of Amitabh Bachchan.
Tarik Khaldi
SCREENING
Sunday 18 May / Salle du Soixantième / 7:15 pm
