The New York Indian Film Festival – Cinema! Cinema!

A Touch of Home – and the Diaspora

[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]es, it’s that time of the year again when a feast, a monsoon of Indian films hits Manhattan with the New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF), now in its 24^th year. This year all films will screen from May 31 – June 2, 2024 at the Village East by Angelika and it’s true, filmgoers will really be spoilt by too many choices as there are 49 features, documentaries and shorts – and a live appearance by the noted actor Shabana Azmi too! So, to help you decide what to see, here are some of the highlights.

I asked Aseem Chhabra, Director of NYIFF, what’s special about this year’s festival? “Every year is special in the sense that we have new films which haven’t been screened in New York City,” he told me via an interview from Cannes. “But this year we have found a couple of themes, films looking at Indians in the Diaspora –  there’s “Dear Jassi” – about an Indian Canadian girl who falls in love with a boy in Punjab; “Sahela” which deals with an Indian Australian married man who comes to terms with his sexuality; and “Yellow Bus”, about the working-class Indians in Abu Dhabi.”

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]nother highlight he mentioned were films about – filmmakers! These fascinating individuals are usually invisible, hidden behind the cameras and the megaphone – and so this should be a treat. Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, the remarkable duo of Merchant Ivory are the subject of a documentary and there’s also “Parama: A Journey With Aparna Sen” about the legendary Bengali actress and filmmaker. “The House of Baruas” is about an Assamese film family and “Padatik” is a fictionalized account about the well-known Bengali filmmaker Mrinal Sen. This should indeed be intriguing – to see the life stories behind these marvelous filmmakers and what makes them tick.

What are the must-see films for festival-goers? While Chhabra, like a proud parent since he helped curate the films, says all the films are terrific he still has some are personal recommendations: “Mithya” (Kannada), “Sthal” (Marathi), “Three Sons of Narayani” (Malyalam), “Zende” which is a documentary about an outspoken retired cop in Mumbai who caught the notorious criminal Charles Sobhraj. Another must-see is “The World is Family” about noted Indian documentary filmmaker Anand Patwardhan who visits his family’s involvement with India’s freedom movement.

[dropcap]A[/dropcap] major highlight of the festival is the presence of legendary actor Shabana Azmi who is visiting from India and celebrates 50 years in cinema this year. She has been doing amazing work since her first film “Ankur” which was released in 1974. The program will start with her film “Fire” followed by a conversation with Mira Nair, in whose film “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” she had acted in. This special event will follow the screening of Shabana’s 1996 film “Fire” which was directed by Deepa Mehta.

 I asked Chhabra what surprised him the most about this year’s nominated films? “They are all great films,” he said. “I especially liked the nominated shorts including two directed by well-known Indian filmmakers – Avinash Arun and Umesh Kulkarni. Also Amitabh Bachchan has been nominated in the best actor category for his latest film “The Umesh Chronicles.”

• Other highlights of the festival: Opening Film “Dear Jassi” is directed by celebrated Indian American filmmaker Tarsem Singh, who has made films with Jennifer Lopez and Julia Roberts. Plus he has directed videos for music legends like the bands R.E.M. and Lady Gaga.
• Closing Film “Mrs.” stars Bollywood actress Sanya Malhotra.
• Amitabh Bachchan, Vivek Gomber (“Court” and “Sir”), classical dancer and actress Leela Samson (“O Kadhal Kanmani”) and Adil Hussain (“Life of Pi”) star in filmmaker Pooja Kaul’s debut film “The Umesh Chronicles.”
• Rajshri Deshpande (Netflix show “Trial by Fire” and “Angry Indian Goddesses”) plays the lead in “Privacy.”
• Roshan Mathew (“Moothon,” “Darlings” and the recent Amazon Prime show “Poacher”) and Darshana Rajendran (“Koode” and “C U Soon”) star in the Sri Lankan drama “Paradise” directed by Prasanna Vithanage and presented by Mani Ratnam’s Madras Talkies.
• Tannishtha Chatterjee (“Brick Lane” and “Angry Indian Goddesses”) plays the lead in American filmmaker Wendy Bednarz’s debut film “Yellow Bus.”
• Last year’s best director winner Avinash Arun (“Three of Us”) returns with a stunning short film “Monsoon Walk.”
• Two times NYIFF best film winner Umesh Kulkarni (“Highway Ek Selfie Arpar,” 2016) and “Vihir,” 2010) brings a short film this year “U=Me.” The film stars Arjun Radhakrishnan (“Pada,” and the series “Rocket Boys”), Shweta Basu Prasad (“Makdee” and last year’s hit show “Jubilee”) and veteran actor Mohan Agashe (“Astu” and “Kaasav”).
• Naseeruddin Shah stars in the short film “Khidki.”
• Geetanjali Kulkarni (“Court” and the series “Gullak”) plays the lead in the short film “Rhino Charge.”

Actresses Palomi Ghosh (“Nachom-ia Kumpasar”) and Anjali Patil (“Newton”) star in the short “Identity.”

So what are you waiting for? Grab some friends, a heap of popcorn and samosas and enjoy the stories from your hometown and the Diaspora!

More details at nyiff.us.