Viva Kolkata

With a pruned budget,the Kolkata Film Festival will be devoid of excesses this year (read lacklustre parties in five-star hotels) but it still has enough going for it to draw Kolkata film lovers.

Hollywood junkies,for instance,can look forward to the Elia Kazan tribute. Six of his best known works,including the Marlon Brando starrers,On the Waterfront and Viva Zapata will be screened at the festival.

The two-time Oscar winning director was known for his ability to elicit brilliant performances from his lead actors. Actors like Vivien Leigh (A Street Car Named Desire),Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront) and James Dean (East of Eden),reserved their best for this controversial genius.

To Kazan goes the credit of inventing the original angry young man Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront. The 1954 classic about a young mans struggle against corrupted dock labourers,inspired Amitabh Bachchans iconic dockyard scene in Yash Chopras Deewar. It was also the inspiration behind the Aamir Khan starrer,Ghulam.

Along with Kazan,a selection of Bimal Roy films will be screened at the festival. This happens to be Roys centenary year. There will be homage to Italian director Federico Fellini too,which means the festival this year will be all about classics.

However,some classic lovers may be a bit disappointed with the opening film,Mark Hermans Boy in Striped Pyjamas,a 2008 film about a Nazi concentration camp. Hermans flaccid direction will only manage to highlight the geniuses of the other brilliant directors whose works will be celebrated in the festival.

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