It was a great day for celebrity spotting – Salman Rushdie, Shashi Tharoor, Suketu Mehta, Madhur Jaffrey, Konkona Sen-Sharma, Boman Irani, Shabana Azmi, Deepa Mehta, Mira Nair and Ketan Mehta were all there. The Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival (MIAAC) MIAAC brought over 35 films to upscale spots from Lincoln Center to the Museum of Arts and Design, along with insightful discussions with the film-makers and sparkling after parties.
Aroon Shivdasani, director of IAAC, is passionate about spreading the word about Indian culture in all its avatars, and the festival, curated by L. Somi Roy, had brought in classic films like Chetan Anand’s 1938 film ‘Neecha Nagar’ to bold new ventures like Ketan Mehta’s ‘Colors of Passion’ about the life of art icon Raja Ravi Varma. A film which really hooked the audience was ‘Amal’ by Richie Mehta and this won the best film award at the festival.
The opening night showcased Deepa Mehta’s ‘Heaven on Earth’ starring Preity Zinta in an offbeat tale set in Canada. Other highlights included Shyam Benegal’s ‘Bose: The Forgotten Hero’ and T.C. McLuhan’s ‘The Frontier Gandhi: Badshah Khan, A Torch of Peace.’
The audience was so huge for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, Danny Boyle’s frenetic, fun film, that the crowd spilled into the aisles and some stood through the film. Another winner was ‘Little Zizou’, Sooni Taraporevala’s loving and irreverent look at Mumbai’s Parsi community, which was a great favorite of the audience, bagging two awards.
During the festival, Salman Rushdie and Deepa Mehta made an intriguing announcement – a movie based on the Rushdie epic ‘Midnight’s Children’ is in the works – and yes, Rushdie himself is slated to play a role in it!
Deepa Mehta, Salman Rushdie and Shabana Azmi.
Photo: IAAC/Michael Toolan
