- News>
- Newspapers
Indian classics favourite at French festival: The Times of India
Paris, Feb 11: Raj Kapoor`s Awaara, Guru Dutt`s Pyaasa and Kamal Amrohi`s Pakeezah are winning French hearts all around as these masterpieces of Indian cinema are being screened together for the first time in a film festival in France.
Paris, Feb 11: Raj Kapoor's Awaara, Guru Dutt's Pyaasa and Kamal Amrohi's Pakeezah are winning French hearts all around as these masterpieces of Indian cinema are being screened together for the first time in a film festival in France.
These films form part of a special section on Indian cinema, Un regard sur cinema Indien -- A look at Indian cinema -- which is the centrepiece of the 9th International Festival of Asian Films, currently under way at Vesoul, in the foothills of the Alps, about 250 km southeast of Paris. And ever since the festival opened three days ago, the Indian films, particularly the mainstream ones, have been major crowd-pullers.
France has normally shirked mainstream Indian cinema, opting to watch parallel or art cinema produced by greats like Satyajit Ray.
However, the success of "Lagaan" and "Devdas" in the last two years has made French cinema enthusiasts extremely curious about Indian cinema, their length and melodrama notwithstanding.
A total of 12 films, covering a wide spectrum of the Indian film industry are being screened at Vesoul under this section.
These include Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Kathapurushan, Mrinal Sen's Ek Din Pratidin, Satyajit Ray's Pikoo, Shyam Benegal's Ankur, Prema Karanth's Phaniyamma and Ritwik Ghatak's Meghe Dhaka Tara.
Besides the special section, two Indian films also feature in the competition category of the festival. These are Adoor Gopalakrishnan's latest film Nizhalkkuthu and B Lenin's Ooruku Nooruper.
Also in competition, for the first time ever, is a Nepalese film, Nabin Subba's Numafung.
Joining its neighbour in the fray is a Sri Lankan film, Ashok Handagamma's Tani Tatuwen Piyabanna. Besides this, Santhosh Sivan's The Terrorist is also being screened at the festival.
The Vesoul festival started in 1995, the centenary of cinema with the first motion picture made by the French Lumiere brothers. We at Vesoul realised that there was no festival in France dedicated to Asian films and so we launched this festival.
"This is not just about cinema. This festival is more about relating to the Asia of today through its films, says Jean Marc Therouanne, the president of the Festival, who along with his wife, Martine, has been almost single-handedly running the festival for the last nine years.
The organisers choose themes each year according to developments in the continent.
Some of the earlier festivals have featured War and Peace, focussing on the tensions in the Middle East and Women of Asia when the World Women's Congress was held in Beijing in 1996.
These films form part of a special section on Indian cinema, Un regard sur cinema Indien -- A look at Indian cinema -- which is the centrepiece of the 9th International Festival of Asian Films, currently under way at Vesoul, in the foothills of the Alps, about 250 km southeast of Paris. And ever since the festival opened three days ago, the Indian films, particularly the mainstream ones, have been major crowd-pullers.
France has normally shirked mainstream Indian cinema, opting to watch parallel or art cinema produced by greats like Satyajit Ray.
However, the success of "Lagaan" and "Devdas" in the last two years has made French cinema enthusiasts extremely curious about Indian cinema, their length and melodrama notwithstanding.
A total of 12 films, covering a wide spectrum of the Indian film industry are being screened at Vesoul under this section.
These include Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Kathapurushan, Mrinal Sen's Ek Din Pratidin, Satyajit Ray's Pikoo, Shyam Benegal's Ankur, Prema Karanth's Phaniyamma and Ritwik Ghatak's Meghe Dhaka Tara.
Besides the special section, two Indian films also feature in the competition category of the festival. These are Adoor Gopalakrishnan's latest film Nizhalkkuthu and B Lenin's Ooruku Nooruper.
Also in competition, for the first time ever, is a Nepalese film, Nabin Subba's Numafung.
Joining its neighbour in the fray is a Sri Lankan film, Ashok Handagamma's Tani Tatuwen Piyabanna. Besides this, Santhosh Sivan's The Terrorist is also being screened at the festival.
The Vesoul festival started in 1995, the centenary of cinema with the first motion picture made by the French Lumiere brothers. We at Vesoul realised that there was no festival in France dedicated to Asian films and so we launched this festival.
"This is not just about cinema. This festival is more about relating to the Asia of today through its films, says Jean Marc Therouanne, the president of the Festival, who along with his wife, Martine, has been almost single-handedly running the festival for the last nine years.
The organisers choose themes each year according to developments in the continent.
Some of the earlier festivals have featured War and Peace, focussing on the tensions in the Middle East and Women of Asia when the World Women's Congress was held in Beijing in 1996.