Festival bollywoodského filmu

BOLLYWOOD FESTIVAL COMMING IN OCTOBER!

Nineteen years ago, when we first decided to present to the Czech general public a series of five Bollywood films, by far the most popular genre were the so called “masala movies”. As you may know, masala is a mixture of many different spices and the films were thus aptly named, as they contain a wide variety of ingredients: romance, suspense, humor, songs with dance choreographies and the compulsory happy end. One might label these films a sort of bizarre potpourri, however their diversity was uncanny and different to anything else being made in the world.
We decided to turn this event into a regular festival and were happy from sharing these emotions and also because we felt a sort of uniqueness: there was no other place screening Bollywood hits on a big screen anywhere else.

Since the very beginning, we’ve been also screening films from different genres and areas: documentaries, experimental films, art-house films, queer films, socially-critiquing films, Bengali, Tamil,  Nepalese, or Pakistani. To be honest, their ticket sales weren’t as successful as the Bollywood films, we however felt the urge to showcase the world of South Asian cinematography in all its wonder.
After almost two decades, Bollywood has changed: the way we receive and perceive these films has changed as well.
We could say that in a way we are now experiencing a comeback to the “masala” principle: the array of films we have is quite colorful and diverse, similarly to the “masala” classics we started out with.

MOVIES ARE READY!

This year, we have quite few things we look forward to: a romantic comedy with a new take on gender (Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui, Badhaai Do); a lyrical story of a village cinema and a young boy, who develops a deep passion for moving pictures  (The Last Film Show); award-winning documentary about three famous Bollywood star look-alikes (Urf); an actual biographical drama dedicated to a famous prostitute (Gangubai Kathiawadi); a family drama based in Kerala about a wife, who no longer wishes to be a simple servant (The Great Indian Kitchen); and last but not least the brand new Indian remake of Forrest Gump starring Aamir Khan (Laal Singh Chaddha). Our festival is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get, but everyone’s guaranteed to pick something here. So leave your closet now and go to the cinema!