Screenings at The Gate and The Ritzy cinemas in London
To complement India Highway, the Serpentine salutes Indian cinema with a season of screenings at the Gate and Ritzy cinemas in Notting Hill and Brixton. Special previews of new films together with classic titles offer a curious audience the chance to view India through the eyes of Indian directors.
Tickets available from cinemas and www.picturehouses.co.uk
Please check with cinemas for information updates:
The Gate,
87 Notting Hill Gate
London W11 3JZ
0871 704 2058
gate@picturehouses.co.uk
The Ritzy,
Brixton Oval,
Coldharbour Lane,
London SW2 1JG
0871 704 2065
ritzy@picturehouses.co.uk
FILM LISTINGS
Thursday 11 December
UK Premiere, Gate, 6.30pm
Mithya
(Rajat Kapoor, India 2008, 110’, cert tbc)
VK, an aspiring actor, has come to Mumbai like thousands of others hoping to make it big, but he finds himself unknowingly drawn into a whirlpool of events. Kapoor’s genre-bending comic-thriller is a story about destiny liberally mixed with edgy humour, suspense and romance.
Saturday 13 December
Special Preview, Ritzy, 7pm
Quick Gun Murugan
(Shashank Ghosh, India 2008, 97', cert tbc)
This spoof Tamil Western promises to build a dedicated fan base, not least for its over-the-top Desi humour. It is a madcap romp that shows some of the massive stylistic and cultural mixing taking place in India today.
Sunday 14 December
Ritzy, 1pm
Mughal-e-Azam
(K. Asif, India 1960, 173’, cert tbc)
This mega-production tells the powerful love story of a prince willing to leave his throne for the woman he loves. The last of the grand historical epics to emerge from Bombay, Mughal-e-Azam is an interpretation of the much-filmed romance between Prince Salim (later the Emperor Jahangir) and courtesan Anarkali. Nine years in the making, the cult status of this film seems to have justified every extra hour spent in dreaming it up. The memorable dialogue between Emperor Akbar and his wayward son marked the pinnacle of Urdu melodrama’s profitable relationship with Indian cinema. Mughal-e-Azam is always featured near the top on lists of the best of Indian cinema.
Sunday 28 December
Gate, 1pm
Ghajini
(A. R. Murugadoss, India 2008, cert tbc)
Bollywood megastar Aamir Khan sports a dramatic new look in this eagerly awaited Hindi remake of the Tamil action-thriller film of the same name. ‘Inspired by’ Christopher Nolan’s Memento, the plot revolves around a businessman (Khan) who suffers short-term memory loss when his girlfriend (Asin Thottumkal) is gunned down after exposing a gang’s illegal activities.
Saturday 17 January
Gate, 2pm
Water
(Deepa Mehta, Canada 2005, 115', cert 15)
Set in a House of Widows in India in 1938, this courageous and deeply moving film centres on eight-year-old Chuyia, whose husband dies before she meets him. Chuyia’s fiesty manner brings a fresh outlook to the house and its inhabitants, enabling them to seek personal freedom, against the background of Gandhi’s struggle for national liberation.
Sunday 18 January
Ritzy, 4pm
The Warrior
(Asif Kapadia, UK 2001, 86’, cert 12 )
In feudal India, a warrior Lafcadia renounces his role as the long-time enforcer to a local lord and becomes the prey in a murderous hunt across the Himalayan mountains. The Warrior’s heady mix of epic storytelling and breathtaking scenery has been compared to the work of Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone, winning the Bafta for Best British Film in 2003.
Sunday 25 January
Gate, 1pm
A River Called Titas
(Ritwik Ghatak, India 1973, 158’, cert PG)
Set among Malo fishermen living by the Titas river, A River Called Titas tells of a bride who is abducted by river bandits and is only reunited with her ‘husband’ many years later, after he has become mad and she has borne a child. Mixing romance, melodrama and passionate anger, the film is an epic depiction of the tragic lives of a small community and was perhaps Ritwik Ghatak’s most ambitious project.
Sunday 1 February
Gate, 4pm
Bhavantarana
Plus: Discussion
(Kumar Shahani, India 1991, 63’, cert PG)
Bhavantarana is a spiritually intoxicating documentary about classical Odissi dance maestro, Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra, and is a work that questions both genre and tradition. Shot over a period of ten years, Bhavantarana is a mesmerizing encounter between two masters – one in front of the camera the other behind it. Following the screening Kumar Shahini will discuss his work and approach to film-making with writer and film academic Paul Willemen, co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema. They will be joined by UK-based visual artists.
Saturday 7 February
Ritzy, 4pm
Days and Nights in the Forest
(Satyajit Ray, India 1970, 120’, cert PG)
Considered by many as the closest Satyajit Ray came to Renoir, this moving story of four young businessmen leaving Calcutta for a brief holiday is an insightful examination of middle-class complacency and manners, beautifully shot with Ray’s trademark humanistic eye.
Sunday 8 February
Ritzy, 4pm
Two Daughters
(Satyajit Ray, India 1961, 114', cert tbc)
A prize-winning film based on two stories about the empancipation of women by renowned Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore. ‘The Postman’ is a story of trust and betrayal when a servant girl has to deal with the departure of her mentor after she nurses him back to health. In ‘The Conclusion’, cupid’s arrows fall on fallow ground when a man rejects the bride his mother has chosen only to be rejected himself by another. One of Ray’s most celebrated early films.
Sunday 15 February
Gate, 3.30pm
Rang De Basanti
(Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, India 2006, 120’, cert 12A)
An idealistic young woman enlists friends to make a documentary about the revolutionaries who challenged the Raj in the 1920s. The past and the present run in parallel, intersect and eventually blur into one. This bold statement about modern day India won a 2007 Bafta nomination for Best Film not in the English Language.
Saturday 21 February
Gate, 1.30pm
Pather Panchali
(Satyajit Ray, India 1955, 115’, cert U)
Ray’s remarkable debut feature was a revelation when it hit Western cinema screens over 50 years ago and remains one of the true gems of international cinema. Pather Panchali (the first of what would become known as The Apu Trilogy) captures the realities of a young boy growing up in poverty in a small Bengali village.
Film season programmed by Karen Alexander. With thanks to Cary Sawhney, James Neil and Paul Willemen
