Osian Cinefan – 'Alternate Cinema' finds a haven : Happenings News : ApunKaChoice.Com


ApunKaChoice.Com	IndiaExpress.Com CricketZone.Com

RSS

HOME | SCOOP!! & NEWS | HAPPENINGS

Bunty Aur Bubly

Osian Cinefan – 'Alternate Cinema' finds a haven
24th July 2005 19.47 IST
By Agencies

It may not be able to draw the huge crowds that throng the theatres to see "Bubblegum" films like Bunty Aur Bubly and Dus but ‘parallel cinema’ In India is very much ‘alive and kicking’.

For many young filmmakers with 'alternate sensibilities', who believe in making films shorn of the ‘masala’ element such as a item songs, sex, stars and so on, the Osians’ Festival of Asian cinema, which concludes tonight, came as a much needed opportunity to showcase their works before an audience with similar sensibilities, thus re-affirming their conviction in their distinct style of filmmaking.

Inaugurated on July 15 by Delhi chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, the ten-day festival showcased works of several proponents of the ‘new wave’ cinema in India, who prefer to ‘steer clear of the beaten path’ and instead just concentrate on putting their idea or message across to the people in an effective manner.

For filmmakers like Shoojit Sarkar, Jayaraj, Santosh Sivan, Anjani Kumar, Somnath Sen, Kanika Verma, Sandip Ray, Manin Barua, Sagar Sarhadi and Kamal Sadanah, many of them making their directorial debut, the festival served as a much-needed platform to display their directorial skills before the theatrical release of their films later this year.

Films like ‘Karkash’, ‘Darpan Ke Peeche’, ‘Nishijapon’, ‘Daivanamathil’, ‘Kasturi’, ‘Navarasa’, ‘Kraantikaal’, ‘Yahaan’, ‘Nisshabd’, ‘Teen Behnein’, ‘Dansh’,‘Chausar’, ‘Dinabandhoo’, ‘Kathavaseshan’, ‘Aye Dil’, ‘Kastoori-The Fragrance of Life’, ‘Sail’, ‘Devaki’, ‘Faisla’ and ‘Tanyabi Firti’ were premiered at the festival as part of its Indian competition and Indian Osian sections.

For many of these filmmakers, having their films screened at the prestigious festival of Asian cinema has been a ‘dream come true’.

“Nothing can be better than having one’s film screened before and appreciated by an audience with similar sensibilities. To have your film lauded by the cognoscenti in film circles is a great honour and a matter of immense satisfaction,’’ says filmmaker Shoojit Sircar, whose debut directorial venture ‘Yahaan’, a love story made in the backdrop of turbulence in Jammu and Kashmir, was premiered at the festival under the Indian competition section on July 21.

The festival witnessed a huge response to the screenings from the cine-viewing public, with many films like Kanika Verma’s ‘Dansh’, Shoojit Sircar’s ‘Yahaan’, Somnath Sen’s ‘Faisla’, Saurabh Shukla’s ‘Aye Dil’, Ruchi Narain's 'Kal-Yesterday and Tomorrow' and Kundan Shah’s ‘Teen Behnein’ screened to either full houses or near-full houses.

Related
Dus