Bollywood Returns

Saturday, August 4 - Sunday, September 2
Admission: Free, $10 minimum
Showtimes: most shows are at 8:30pm; see below to confirm times
reservations are recommended

Curated by Sameer Kapoor

Omkara (2006), Director: Vishal Bharadwaj
Saturday, August 4 (8:30pm), Thursday, August 9 (7pm)
Wednesday, August 22 (8:30pm), Tuesday, August 28 (8:30pm)


Omkara is based on William Shakespeare's 17th century classic, Othello.

Set against the millieu of political warfare in the interiors of Uttar Pradesh,
Omkara follows one mans descent into sexual jealousy and the final wreckage
of his love at the altar of blind obsession.

Vishal has made the story his own and ends up humanizing Shakespeare's
characters with the necessary folklore and ethnic charm that is unique
to an Indian setting.

Dance Dance (1987), Director: Babbar Subhash
Sunday, August 5 (8:30pm), Tuesday, August 21 (8:30pm)

Shyam and Sita belong to a song and dance troupe and live a poor lifestyle in Panjim with two small children, Radha and Ramu. They go to Jalpaiguri to perform to get some money, however, Sita's beauty catches the eye of trumpet-playing A.M. Singh, who decides to keep her, and kills the rest of the troupe members in an arranged bus accident. Radha and Ramu become homeless and destitute, they sing and dance on the roadside to make some money. Years later they have grown up and are quite popular...
-- from IMDB user summary

Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006), Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Monday, August 6 (8:30pm)

An underworld gangster known as Munna Bhai falls in love with a radio
host and masquerades as a Mahatma Ghandi expert to win her heart. When
his girlfriends home becomes threatened by the very gang he is a part
of, he finds he has one ally on his side - none other than Mahatma
Gandhi himself. Only trouble is that Munna may have problems
convincing everyone about his presence - as he is apparently the only
one who can see and hear him.

Bobby (1973), Director: Raj Kapoor
Tuesday, August 7 (8:30pm)

A completely crazy Romeo and Juliet-style story about two teenagers, him rich and her poor, who fall head over heels for each other and defend their love against all adversity...Very seventies in style with some overacting, but great fun nevertheless.

Love in Tokyo (1966), Director: Pramod Chakravorty
Friday, August 10 (8:30pm)

Love in Tokyo was shot on location in Japan shortly after the 1964 Olympics. The story starts off in India where Ashok (Joy Mukherji) is being pressured to marry a woman he doesn't love. His elderly mother asks him to travel to Tokyo to pick up his eight year old nephew, a recently orphaned boy named Chikoo whom Ashok has never met because his family disowned his older brother after he married a Japanese woman.

The film contains two of the most beloved songs from Indian cinema: "Love in Tokyo" by Rafi Mohamed and "Sayonara" by Lata Mangeshkar. The latter is the reason that Japanese tourists in India are often greeted with a cheery "sayonara sayonara".
-- from IMDB user summary

Dil Se (1998), Director: Mani Ratnam
Saturday, August 11 (8:30pm)

A radio journalist for All India Radio goes searching for a terrorist camp in the northern reaches of India. Along the way he falls in love with a mysterious woman who keeps crossing his path.

One of the most beautiful and experimental Bollywood movies ever made, this film examines both the tenuous nature of Indian national Identity and the incongruity of love and terror.
-- Sameer Kapoor

Koi...Mil Gaya (2003), Director: Rakesh Roshan
Monday, August 20 (8:30pm), Wednesday, August 22 (8:30pm),
Sunday, August 26 (8:30pm), Thursday, August 30 (8:30pm)

India's answer to the Spielberg sci-fi epic: a vanguard scientist makes
contact with outerspace aliens by beaming the melody of Kraftwerk's
"Trans Europe Express" (on the syllable OM, no less) through the cosmic
airwaves. On the drive home from having his research denounced, he and
his pregnant wife are visited by the aliens' spacecraft, which -- in a
scene reminiscent of 1975's "The UFO Incident" -- runs them off the road. The car crashes and the scientist is killed. But his wife survives, giving birth to a son, Rohit. Years pass, and we see this special boy grow into young adulthood. Tragedy strikes again when we learn that Rohit suffers from pre-natal brain damage, as a result of the car accident. The film tells the story of how Rohit learns to overcome the obstacles of life in order to become a hero when the aliens (who also listen to Art of Noise, Brian Eno, and Giorgio Moroder, no joke!) send a representative to bestow upon him some of their unearthly powers. "Trans Europe Express" is reimagined as a romantic musical duet, performed by heartthrobs Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta in the snowcapped Canadian Rockies.
-- Nick Hallett

Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Director: Yash Chopra
Monday, August 13 (8:30pm); Wednesday, August 30 (8:30pm)

Rahul is a hard-driving choreographer who demands the best from his dance troupe. Nisha is a diva who thinks that she is the worlds best dancer. But when she is injured weeks before a new play is to open, a new girl enters the scene who threatens to be an even better dancer than Nisha....Who will prevail as the ultimate dancer?

This is one of the all-time great musical extravaganzas featuring an amazing dance-off that is not to be missed!

An Evening in Paris (1967), Director: Shakti Samanta
Tuesday, August 14 (8:30pm)

One of the first Bollywood movies to be filmed in locations outside of India,
this vintage 60's movie follows the ups and downs of two Parisians of Indian origin who fall in love. Throw in a mobster, stunning fashions, and some huge dance numbers and you get can see why this movie is considered a classic....

Paheli (2005), Director: Amol Palekar
Saturday, August 18 (7pm)

A folk tale - supernatural love story about a ghost who falls in love with a newlywed woman...Paheli, here not only comes as a whiff of fresh air by being original but also as a tight slap on the face of all such advocates of escapist, masala cinema.
-- from IMDB user review

Holiday (2006), Director: Pooja Bhatt
Friday - Sunday, August 31 - September 2 (7:30 and 10pm)
Note: the Soundtrack for all shows will be the Bollywood version

You thought it couldn't happen, but it really can and it really does. We present both Dirty Dancing films (but NOT Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights) side-by-side on two screens each.

You all know the original. Here's the description of its Bollywood cousin:

"Dirty Dancing" blatantly stolen nearly shot for shot. The story begins with the family of Dr. Daksh Suri arriving in Goa for a month-long vacation. Accompanying Dr. Suri are his wife and two daughters, the extroverted Samara and shy, bookish Muskaan. Muskaan befriends a group of dancers who perform risqué and exotic routines to Salsa music (the song exposing the girl to such forbidden pleasures is aptly titled, "The Sound of the Future.") at the hotel’s discotheque. One among them is pregnant, and Muskaan—always eager to make things work out for the best—boldly decides to step in as her replacement when she goes for her abortion. Completely clueless when it comes to the dance, rugged and rebellious Dino steps in to train her, and in the process helps her overcome her fears. And in case you didn’t guess, they also fall in love. "Move with my Body," another ridiculously sultry R&B breakdown is performed against a Che Guevara backdrop. Onjolee Nair as the awkward Muskaan even looks something like Jennifer Grey. Not to be believed!"