India Calling

of stories and,accompanied by

a camera and a film crew,they have begun telling their tales.

For the next three days,the festival will screen films like Flavors,the debut project by US-based filmmaker Raj Nidimoru. Made in 2003,the film shows how Indian-American couples strike a balance between their work and personal lives. The film was the official selection at the Cairo,Milan and Bangkok film festivals. “There are many untold stories about Indian-Americans,especially women,and how they interact with the American community,” says Pooja Kumar Mathur,a former Miss India-USA,who acted in the film. Nidimoru’s latest project was 99,a Bollywood film on match fixing.

“Indian filmmakers living abroad do not enjoy the same support system available to their counterparts in India. The festival is a platform for the Indian audience to watch their films,” says Anil Joshi,festival director.

In the line-up is Dr Nikhil Kaushik’s Bavishya: The Future,that tells the story of an Indian doctor working in the UK under the National Health Scheme. Kaushik balances his job as a consultant eye surgeon in North-Wales with filmmaking,just like Anirudho Sanyal,a software engineer-cum-documentary filmmaker from New Jersey,USA . Sanyal spends his spare time researching subjects related to the Bengali community abroad. His 60 minute film called A Bristol Pilgrimage captures the last days of Raja Ram Mohun Roy in Bristol,UK . It was screened at the Nehru Centre,London,and the South-Asian Film Festival,New Jersey. “His story resonated with me since,in many ways,Roy was the first NRI and many of his greatest accomplishments happened while he was living abroad,” explains Sanyal.

London-based Avantika Hari’s Land Gold Women shows that Bollywood’s rosy image about NRIs is facile at best. This London Film School graduate touches upon honour killings in the UK with a restrained and sensitive approach. The film received the Purple Orchid award at the Asian Festival of First Films,Singapore,in December.

In Sangeeta Dutta’s debut feature,Life Goes On,starring Sharmila Tagore and Soha Ali Khan,the plot revolves around an Indian father’s struggle to bring up three daughters in an alien world,the UK,after his wife passes away. “It is about straddling two different cultures. Having been part of the Indian diaspora,I was interested in the conflicted views of people inhabiting that world,” says Dutta,who is based in London and was the assistant director in Brick Lane. Her film premiered at MAMI,Mumbai,last month. Navdeep Kandola’s 50-minute documentary Flying Sikh,is a portrait of the first Sikh pilots of the Royal Air force who fought in the World Wars.

The festival will be held at the Indian Habitat Centre. Log onto http://www.pravasifilmfestival.in