Turner Classis Movies to Highlight Bollywood Starting June 5

Here is a link to a press release on the Turner Classic Movies website announcing that the channel will be celebrating "the world of Indian cinema with a 12-film festival dedicated to "Bollywood" beginning June 5 at 8 p.m. ET. Co-hosted by filmmaker Ismail Merchant, the festival will focus on the prolific commercial film industry that began in India in the early 1930s and has since gone on to create the most-viewed films in the world. The films in TCM's festival, rarely available to American audiences, represent the grandest and most colorful Bollywood films, from tragi-comic melodramas to romances, containing the over-the-top operatic approach to filmmaking, use of color and elaborate choreography for which the genre is known." Among the films being screened are the Oscar winning MELODRAMA, Mother India, the modern and up-tempo Rangeela, and the classic Mani Ratnam film Bombay. The last two were scored I beleive by AR Rahman, the brains behind the hit London musical, Bombay Dreams--According to the TMC website, AR Rahman has sold more albums than Madonna and Britney Spears combined. The reason I highlighted melodrama is because I recently watched Mother India with my mom, and she literally busted out crying every five minutes. Originally from the fifties, Mother India is really from a different generation of film making and the melodrama aside, puts perspective on the role of Indian women back in the day.

I think this is a spectacular thing and Kudos to Turner Classic Movies for celebrating this genre of filmaking, and also in a way, Desis in America.

posted by sajit @ 4:30 PM