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September 5, 6, 11,
12, 18, 19, and 20
Admission: Free, $10 minimum purchase
Showtimes: 8:30pm
reservations
are available
BOLLYWOOD NEW WAVE:
recent picks curated by Nick Hallett
and Monkey Town
Tuesday, September 5
Koi...Mil
Gaya
Bollywood's "remake" of E.T.
The prequel to current box office smash, Krrish
dir. Rakesh Roshan (2003)
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.
Wednesday, September 6
Fight Club
Bollywood's "remake" of "Fight Club"
dir. Vikram Chopra (2006)
Umm. The script is nothing like the Fincher/Brad Pitt film.
But there is definitely a club of men that get together to fight...and
dance. If you like your justice like Charles Bronson
does justice, then, well...
Monday, September 11, Tuesday,
September 19, & Wednesday, September 20
Krrish
Over-the-top super hero blockbuster sequel to Koi...Mil
Gaya
dir. Rakesh Roshan (2006)
presented in 5.1 Surround Sound
Hrithik Roshan, the son of director Rakesh Roshan, stars
in one of the most expensive Bollywood films ever made ($10 million).
The Roshan's set their super hero epic in the dark gotham of Singapore
with its towering skyline.
Picking up where Koi...Mil Gaya left off, Rohit is killed
in a car accident and his wife, Nisha dies shortly after learning
the news of her husband's death and shortly after giving birth
to their son, Krishna! And the super powers that Rohit had received
from the E.T.-like alien in the first film have been transferred
to his son.
As the DVD case says, Krishna is "faster than the wind, stronger
than the mountains, purer than the rushing rivers..." And
he will save Singapore from a very wicked man named Dr. Arya.
And he dances and sings!
Tuesday, September 12 and
Monday, September 18
Parineeta
An epic costume melodrama where a lifelong romance
is upset by the arrival of another man
dir. Pradeep Sarkar (2005)
presented in 5.1 Surround Sound
Merchant/Ivory fans behold! A historic costume drama set in 1962
Calcutta -- "a city so vibrant , so alive, so stylish, it
was referred to as 'the Paris of the East'" -- Parineeta
features some of Bollywood's biggest stars. Swept up by history
Lolita (Vidya Balan)(yes, that's her name/pictured above) and
Shekar's (Saif Ali Khan) love is tested by the tumult of events,
by insurmountable obstacles, and by an outsider named Girish (Sanjay
Dutt).
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