Feature Films

ROAD TO SANGAM

A simple story of a God fearing, devout Muslim mechanic named Hashmat Ullah (Paresh Rawal) who has been entrusted the job of repairing an old V8 ford engine, not knowing the historic significance that it once carried the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi which were immersed in the holy river ‘Sangam’. He is caught in a complex situation after a powerful bomb explosion rocks his town leading to the arrest of innocent Muslim youths of his locality. A strike to work is called by the prominent Leaders (Om Puri) (Pavan Mallhotra) of his community to protest against the unjust treatment meted out to those arrested youths by the police.

Will he support the protest and abandon the repair of the engine or go against the wishes of his community. Thus begins his journey. A journey of Gandhian values and principles. A journey of patriotism. A j o u r n e y c a l l e d “ROAD TO SANGAM (CONFLUENCE)”.

GENRE: Social

LANGUAGE: Hindi with English Subtitles

DIRECTOR: Amit Rai

DURATION: 105

FESTIVALS:

• Mumbai Int’l Film Festival,

• Int’l Film Festival South Africa,

• Int’l Independent Film Festival, Germany,

• LA Reel Film Festival

 

BOLLYWOOD DREAM

Luna, Ana and Sofia, are three actress friends who decide to go to India after receiving an invitation from a Bollywood film producer they meet at a film festival in Brazil. They leave their families, children and lives in Brazil to follow this opportunity, but once they arrive in India, they discover that the producer is a farce, who sent them to Chennai in southern India and learn that Bollywood is in Mumbai, on the other side of the country. Without loosing their sense of humour they start playing Brazilian music at a piano bar, working in a community health centre and prepare for an audition in Mumbai by taking Bollywood dance lessons from a young boy they hire and traditional Indian acting with a old Indian actress. Little by little, the people they meet and the places they are living in bring to their lives the presence of their mythology with newer questions about their existences, common on that ancestral culture. While trying to get to Mumbai, they take the wrong train and end up in Varanasi. In the holy city by the riverbanks of the Ganges, they witness death being seen as liberation and life being celebrated by small everyday rituals. When they finally arrive in Mumbai for the big audition, their dreams have entirely changed, their lives transformed and the wish to make the audition disappeared. In the midst of Holi, the festival of life and colours, they dance for the last time together before getting separated to go after new dreams, as they get coloured by the festival’s vibrant powder colours flung into the air.

GENRE: Fiction

LANGUAGE: Portuguese with English Subtitles

DIRECTOR: Beatriz Seigner

DURATION: 90

FESTIVALS:

• Reel Brazil-New Zealand

• Yes India Film Festival-New Zealand

• International Film Festival of India

 

 



SHUTTLECOCK BOYS

Shuttlecock Boys revolves around the lives, successes and failures of four friends who hail from lower middle class backgrounds in Delhi. Should we accept what life offers to us on a platter or should we try to chase our dreams, taking the path less taken? That's the question our protagonists Gaurav, Manav, Pankaj and Loveleen seek answer to, as they decide to embark upon an eventful journey that will change the course of their lives and careers forever. The one thing that unites these four friends is their common love for badminton. Every evening they meet for a couple of games in their neighbourhood joking about their lives and pulling each other's legs. This part of the day is the most pleasant part of their otherwise dreary lives. While playing badminton one such night, they decide to do something on their own. This very attempt becomes their lifeline putting them on a litmus test of determination, courage, luck and spirit of friendship.

GENRE: Fiction

LANGUAGE: Hindi with English Subtitles

DIRECTOR: Arindam Nandy

DURATION: 78

FESTIVALS:

• Kerala International Ailm fest

• Mahindra Indo American Art Council Film festival - New York

 

 



THE FORGOTTEN WOMAN

Following the international success of Deepa Mehta’s Oscar-nominated film Water, which has achieved, to date, sales of over $15 million and more than 1,000,000 viewers, Mehta received thousands of letters from the audience. Set in 1938 Colonial India against Mahatma Gandhi's rise to power, Water is about eightyear- old child bride Chuyia, who is widowed and sent to an ashram where Hindu widows must live out their remaining days in penitence. After viewing the film, many wanted to know more about the state of widows in India today.

The Forgotten Woman was made in direct response to this interest and aims to bring about an understanding of the destitution and marginalization of many of the millions of widows in India today, who are forced by ageold traditions to live out their remaining years isolated from and shunned by the society at large. The film explores how these widows, coerced by their families to give up their possessions, become non-entities in society.

The Forgotten Woman aims to create greater awareness of the fact that in the 21st century, there are still numerous and wide spread issues surrounding women’s search for economic independence in order to attain a modicum of dignity, self sufficiency and basic human dignity.

GENRE: Doco

LANGUAGE: Bengali / Hindi / English

DIRECTOR: Dilip Mehta

DURATION: 90

FESTIVALS:

• Best documentary - Hollywood Film Festival

• Icaro Film Festival

• Int’l Documentary Association

• Documentary Film Festival – Amsterdam

 



KILA RAIPUR-DESTINATION SPORTS

The villagers of Kila Raipur, a small community in Punjab, are spirited Sikh people who love sports. This love and passion for traditional sports has transformed the small farming village into an ultimate sports destination. The annual Kila Raipur Sports Festival is also known as the Rural Olympics because of its magnitude. Farmers from all over Punjab gather to participate and watch this 4 day sports meet.

This is the biggest congregation of Punjabi traditional sportsmen and women, the documentary showcases passionate farmers like Tarni Singh, Chanchal Singh, Charanjeet Singh, Jeet Singh and Mandeep Singh who keep alive the tradition of animal racing. We watch them perform with their farm animals and farm vehicles. Sikh martial arts are another integral part of these games and Nihang Sikh Jathedar Baba Maggar Singh and his disciples perform this breathtaking performance called Nija Baji. Similarly Gurtej and fellow students perform Gatkabaji, an age old martial art kept alive by new generation Sikhs. The Games are unique and entertaining, giving a peek into the colourful rural life of India.

GENRE: Doco

LANGUAGE: Hindi, Punjabi, English

DIRECTOR: Chaitaly Mukherjee

DURATION: 50

FESTIVALS:

• Kerela International Film Fest

• Pune International Film fest.

• Yes India Film Fest - New Zealand