2010 Indian Film Festival tours Australia

  

Artshub speaks to Mitu Bhowmick Lange, the creative director of Mind Blowing Films the film company that has brought the 2010 Indian Film Festival: Bollywood and Beyond to Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Auckland.

What is the history of your company Mind Blowing Films?

Mind Blowing Films is a very young company. It functions with three main lines of work in Bollywood cinema. Firstly, we distribute Bollywood films into cinemas and on DVD throughout Australia and New Zealand. These films often include the big blockbusters from production companies such as Yash Raj Films, Reliance and UTV, as well as independent titles. Secondly, we line-produce Bollywood films that are shot in Australia and New Zealand. The third arm of the company is hosting the Indian Film Festival, which we are very passionate about.

What are some of your personal festival highlights?

My personal highlight would have to be the visit from Rani Mukherjee, who is known worldwide as ‘the queen of Bollywood.’ She is our chief festival guest and will be inaugurating the festival in Melbourne and Sydney.

Along with Rani, we have some wonderful directors coming from India such as; Imtaz Ali, Rajkumar Hirani and Sohail Khan, who will be representing their films at the festival.

This year, the festival is very diverse, and really has something for everyone. We will be presenting the mainstream blockbusters from Bollywood. These will include the big hits from the last 12 months, as well as a Rani Mukherjee retrospective. We will also be presenting some absolute gems of regional cinema from all around India and some eye-opening documentaries too. Another big highlight is of course our short film competition, which we are holding for the first time.

Why have you chosen to include regional films and documentaries in your festival this year?

Our biggest aim this year has been to present a wide range of productions from all around India, rather than just the mainstream Bollywood industry that the international world is familiar with. Yes, our Bollywood films are growing and evolving, and are wonderful. However, we really want to present a fuller presence of Indian cinema. This is why this year’s festival is labelled “Bollywood and Beyond” – this is a true representation of Indian cinema, which really has something for everyone.

What sort of audience are you expecting?

The nicest thing about this type of cultural film festival is that the audience is highly unpredictable. We get many recent Indian migrants – the generation of Indian students who study here and watch the films to remind them of India, and see their favourite stars and directors. We also get many second and third generation Indians who have grown up here. This portion of the audience often brings their local friends and family along to introduce them to India’s native cinema. We also have a large part of the gay community that love our films. We also have a lot of students of world cinema and basically anyone who is curious about this global phenomenon that is Bollywood!

What do you see as the place of Bollywood in Australian film culture?

The place of Bollywood in Australia can only grow – as it is doing so worldwide. Bollywood is making more and more globally significant films and becoming more relevant in a non-Indian context. So I envisage that Australian interest will grow in these films, and not only amongst Indian migrants or migrants of the sub-continent.

It’s all about good cinema and good stories. As our films start becoming more universal they will reach out to larger audiences.

Can Bollywood help us overcome the tensions between Australian and Indian residents?

Absolutely! The arts have always been such an amazing cultural bridge. The way we have positioned our festival, we want it to celebrate Indian cinema and the arts as a whole. We want to celebrate young filmmakers such as you, who endeavouring to make their place in this wonderful industry.

We want to celebrate the diversity that is all around us.

Festival Dates:
Melbourne – Cinema Nova, March 10th to 17th
Sydney – Cinema Paris, March 12th to 21st
Perth – Luna Palace Cinema, March 25th to April 7th
Auckland – Rialto Cinema, April 14th – April 2

For more information about the Indian Film Festival visit their website here.