London Indian Film Festival 2016: What to look out for… (links to ticket offer)

July 5 2016

Here is our selection of the films to look out for at this year’s 7th London Indian Film Festival with direct links to booking and making the most of our two for one ticket offer with the British Film Institute (BFI) Southbank…use the code: asianculturevulture241 –  online, on the phone, or in person at the box office…see you there!

Opening film: ‘Parched’ (pictured) with director Leena Yadav and producer Ajay Devgn (see story)

Thursday, July 14, 6pm, Cineworld Haymarket (see address below)
Saturday, July 16, 5.30pm, Cineworld, Wembley
Wednesday, July 20, 8.40pm, BFI Southbank http://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/seatSelect.asp

Birmingham Gala Opening screening: Friday, July 15, Cineworld, Broad Street, 7pm, Leena Yadav & Ajay Devgn expected.

Closing film: ‘Toba Tek Singh’ (World premiere) Director Ketan Mehta in attendance

Thursday, July 21, 6pm, BFI Southbank
Quote offer to get 2 for 1 tickets – Booking/info here for Toba Tek Singh (dir. Ketan Mehta) at the BFI (use offer 🙂 )

Birmingham, Sunday, July 24, 6pm, Cineworld Broad St

‘BRAHMAN NAMAN‘ – Directed by the one-time enfant terrible of Indian indie cinema, Quashik Mukherjee (better known simply as ‘Q’), this riotous tale of four college nerds trying to pop their cherries went down a storm at Sundance earlier this year and was snapped up Netflix. Co- LIFF programmer Naman Ramachandran (along with dierctor Sawhney), a film journalist as well, wrote the tale which also has a strand of caste conflict in it. Not for the faint-hearted (there is more than one live action penis in this film), it gets a cinema screening with Ramachandran and other special guests attending the BFI outing a little more than a week after it first becomes available on Netflix. Get the BIG cinema experience, watch it with your girlfriend/mother (not!)
We will be publishing an interview with director ‘Q’ before its screens at LIFF; and a review.
Shows: Friday, July 18, 8.40pm at BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, London SE18XT.
Box office: 020 7928 3232 (11.30-8.30pm daily)
Booking/Info for this film: Brahman Naman
Monday, July 18, 8.30pm, Cineworld Haymarket, London – Haymarket, 63-65 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RL.

Birmingham: Saturday, July 16, 8pm, Cineworld, Broad St.

‘CINEMAWALA’ – A clash between the old and the new, between tradition and modernity. In Bengali, and by one of its best known contemporary directors, Kaushik Ganguly – this is about a father who runs a declining cinema theatre and a son who makes a packet selling pirate DVDs and their paths inevitably cross…
Saturday, July 16, 6pm, Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH.
Sunday, July 17, 8pm Cineworld Wembley

Birmingham: Thursday, July 21, 6pm, Mac Birmingham.

‘FOR THE LOVE OF A MAN’ – Documentary: About the superstardom and cult that has built up around South Indian film star, Rajinikanth. Not just fans from India but those from around Asia, including Japan. Hear from obsessed acolytes; families affected by those who have given up on normal life to pursue their passion; and cinema owners worried about his fans losing control when his films hit theatres.
Saturday, July 16, 6pm, Boleyn, Upton Park, London E6 1PW.
Sunday, July 17, ICA, 6pm,The Mall, London, SW1Y 5AH.
Q&A with director Rinku Kalsy

‘ARSHINAGAR (MIRRORSVILLE)’ – A Bengali retake on Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” set in a slum and featuring a Hindu (boy) and a Muslim (girl) falling in love across the religious divide. This Aparna Sen directed movie, told in rhyming verse and featuring more typical Bollywood song and dance numbers, is a feast for the Shakespeare-wallah and features one of the great names of yesteryear, Waheeda Rahman.
Saturday, July 16, 8pm Crouch End Picturehouse, 165 Tottenham Lane, Crouch End, London, N8 9BY.
Sunday, July 17, 5.30pm, BFI Southbank

Click here for BFI Booking/Info: Arshinagar (Mirrorsville)

‘I AM NOT HE…SHE’ – Step forward Madesha from rural Karnataka who eschews the village life and heads for the bright lights of Bangalore and a sex change op…but not all goes to plan and yet Madesha refuses to be cowered and does not slip into a troubled life of prostitution or begging as most in her situation would…
Saturday, July 16 8.30pm, BFI Southbank
Sunday, July 17, 6pm, Crouch End Picturehouse

Click here for BFI booking/info: I am not He…She

Birmingham: Friday, July 15, 8.30pm, Mac Cinema.

‘NAYAKAN‘ – A new print for what is variously described sometimes as India’s very own version of the iconoclastic “Godfather”. Velu (Kamal Haasan) is a small time crook but his name and reputation glow after standing up to a local policeman who has his own idea of justice and punishment. Velu becomes the godfather – ‘Nayakan’ – and the die is cast as Bombay yields to his will. With Mani Ratnam at the helm and PC Sreeram in charge of the cinematography, this remains one of the great contemporary Indian films and was named in a Time magazine list of 100 all-time great films.
Sunday, July 17, 8pm, Cineworld Wembley, London Designer Outlet, Wembley Park Boulevard, London HA9 0FD

DOUBLE BILL, Q&A WITH SHARMEEN OBAID-CHINOY – See the director’s latest Oscar-winning short film and another production back to back and get a chance to quiz one of the most remarkable women directors to have emerged from Pakistan in recent times.
Her most recent Oscar award-winning film, “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” deals with a girl who survives an honour killing and has to make peace with those who would rather she was dead – her own family.
In “Song of Lahore” one of the great South Asian cities of culture has suffered under a more austere and narrow interpretation of Islam, somewhat out of keeping with centuries old traditions and the spirit and character of Sufi Islam. Most affected have been the musicians – and among them the internationally acclaimed Sanchal Jazz Ensemble which is invited to New York by contemporary Jazz icon, Wynton Marsalis. Obaid-Chinoy gets behind the arguments and the personalities.

Monday, July 18, 6.30pm, Picturehouse Central, Corner of Great Windmill Street and Shaftesbury Avenue, Piccadilly, London W1D 7DH.

Birmingham: Tuesday, July 19, 8.10pm, Mac Cinema Canon Hill Park.

‘AN EVENING WITH SHARMILA TAGORE’ – She first appeared in Satyajit’ Ray’s “The World of Apu” – the final instalment of Ray’s esteemed Apu trilogy. Known as his cinematic muse, she would reprise roles in “Devi” (1960), “Nayak:The Hero” (1966) as well as the better known, “Days and Nights in the Forest” (1970) and “Company Limited” (1971). She also enjoyed a glittering Bollywood career and won awards for Mausam (1975) and “In The Forest…Again (2003). Married to cricket icon, and the blue-blooded late Tiger Patudi, the couple were as famous and popular as Wills and Kate are now, and two children have also enjoyed careers on the silver screen. Son Saif Ali Khan is one of the Bollywood’s biggest stars and sister Soha, an Oxford graduate like her father, has had roles in independent films.
Sharmila was on the Cannes Jury in 2009 and was garlanded by the Indian government with a Padma Bhushan in 2013.
She will talk about her long career with filmmaker and writer Sangeeta Datta, who directed her and her daughter (Soha Ali Khan) in “Life Goes on” (2009).
Friday, July 15, 7pm, Cineworld Haymarket.

‘SHEKHAR KAPUR: A LIFE WITH ELIZABETH’ – Who would have thought an Indian director could have so marvellously capture the intrigue and power of the famous Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I. With Cate Blanchett reprising one of the most revered figures in English history, Kapur went onto make a second instalment, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” and today, seeks out a third showing.
Before that Kapur made “Masoom” (1983) and the much loved, “Mr India” (1987) with the famous cinematic and iconoclastic villain, Mogambo. It was his “Bandit Queen” (1987) for Channel 4, that brought him to the attention of film producers in the West.
Saturday, July 16, 6.20pm, BFI Southbank (Note this is the smallest theatre at the BFI, so don’t leave booking!)

Click here to book/more info: Shekhar Kapur: A Life with Elizabeth

‘KAMAL HAASAN: SCREEN TALK’ – A child prodigy, and handed an award at the age of four, Kamal Haasan has gone onto vindicate his early promises. Today one of the most recognisable figures in Indian films, he has appeared in many different guises and been at the vanguard of change and progress. An avowed atheist he has taken on conservative and orthodox forces and won!
Sunday, July 17, 2pm BFI Southbank
Click here to book: Kamal Hasan: Screen talk

WOMEN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA: A LIFE LESS ORDINARY SOUTH ASIAN FILMMAKERS DEBATES – Three leading South Asian women filmmakers will come together to discuss the challenges and opportunities in their region and how their gender has played a part in making path-breaking films. Expected are Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy “A Girl in the River:The Price of Forgiveness”);, Leena Yadav (“Parched”) and Rinku Kalsy (“For the Love of a Man”).
A screening of “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” proceeds the talk.
Saturday, July 17, 3.15pm BFI Southbank
Click here to book/more info: Women With a movie camera

RAMSINGH CHARLIE – Ramsingh is a Charlie Chaplin impersonator but the biggest test of his life comes from fatherhood and the lure of the bright lights of fame and fortune…what will he choose and does he have to? Bollywood actor Kumud Mishra delivers an affecting and unforgettable performance as Charlie and it is one of those films that will have you both laughing and crying…
Tuesday, July 19, 8.30pm, BFI Southbank
Booking/more info here: Ramsingh Charlie

‘KALPANA’ (1948) – Classic film and one of the first to represent the world of Indian dance, written, directed by Uday Shankar (brother of Ravi) and about a writer who goes to a prospective producer to sell a movie and as he tells him the story, scenes are recreated – a magical dialogue between the real and surreal and the original print was restored in 2008. Supported by Sampad, with a Q&A with Tanusree Shankar

Birmingham only: Sunday, July 24, 2pm, Mac Cinema Cannon Hill Park.
Booking/info here – http://macbirmingham.co.uk/event/liff-kalpana

Full programme and all booking links: http://londonindianfilmfestival.co.uk/