Bollywood and beyond: Looking Back at the 9th Indian Film Festival Stuttgart

Festival regular / Stammgast des Festivals (Photo: ©Peter Jebsen)

The festival formerly known as „Bollywood and beyond“ was highly enjoyable this year (July 18-22, 2012): After several years at the impersonal SI-Centrum, the 9th edition of the Indian Film Festival Stuttgart finally returned to the great Metropol cinema in central Stuttgart. Some of the festival highlights happened at the 5 Bar * Restaurant * Lounge * Club next door – including the impromptu a cappella singing of Tannishtha Chatterjee („Brick Lane“ / „Shadows of Time“) at the opening party (around 1 am).

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Short Twitter reviews I posted after each screening:

Teri Meri Kahaani (IND 2012): Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra are dancing through 1910, 1960 and 2012. Perfect masala fun. *****

Chillar Party (IND 2011): Finds like this hilarious kiddie comedy make festivals like worthwhile. Brilliant young cast! *****

Dekh Indian Circus (IND 2011): Well-acted movie about struggles of rural family. The politics as circus metaphor feels forced. ****

Lucky (SA 2011): Touching little movie about a rural 10-year old Zulu orphan who gets ‚adopted‘ by an elderly Indian lady. ****

Paan Singh Tomar (IND 2010): Dramatic biopic about a running champion turning outlaw, with strong performance by Irrfan Khan. ****

Delhi Belly (IND 2011): Raw and imaginative urban caper comedy with funny tributes to „Disco Dancer“. Shot in ‚Hinglish‘. ****

Dharavi Diary (IND ’12): Nicely shot slum report. ****

Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu (IND 2012): Conventional romantic comedy with an unconventional ending. Great performances and soundtrack. ***1/2

Shala/School (IND 2011): Sweet tale of teenage love, with critical takes on ’70s school system & politics. Fine young cast. ***1/2

Delhi in a Day (IND 2011): Bitter-sweet dramedy about 24 eventful hours in a nouveau-riche household. Strong social message. ***1/2

Amrit Nectar of Immortality (CH ’12): Under-narrated docu about pilgrim festival. ***

Michael (IND 2011): Not even Naseeruddin Shah can save this psycho drama. It deteriorates even faster than the protagonist’s mind. **

Movies which I skipped in Stuttgart (because I had seen them already:)

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (IND 2011): This road movie is my favourite Bollywood flick of 2011 (although parts of it look as if it has been sponsored by the Spanish Tourism Board). *****

The Dirty Picture (IND 2011): Enjoyable life story of South Indian ‚erotic‘ actress Silk Smitha. Vidya Balan shines in the juicy lead role, Naseeruddin Shah has fun playing an ageing film idol with ludicrously dyed hair. ***1/2

Festival awards:
Best feature: Kshay (Director: Karan Gour)
Best documentaries: The Market (Director: Rama Rau) and Mother India (Director: Raffaele Brunetti)
Best short film: Café Regular, Cairo (Director: Ritesh Batra)
Director’s Vision Award: Sujay S. Dahake (Shala) / Prashant Nair (Delhi in a Day)
Audience Award: Pad Yatra (Director: Wendy J.N. Lee)

Additional reports about the 9th Indian Film Festival Stuttgart:
Stuttgarter Zeitung: Das wahre Leben des Volkes zwischen Mord und Shampoo (German)
Little Bones: Indisches Filmfestival, Stuttgart (English)
Berliner Filmfestivals: Tabubruch und Plastikelefanten (German)
Netzkritzler: Das Indische Filmfestival Stuttgart 2012 – Eine Rückschau – 1.Teil / 2. Teil / 3. Teil (German)
india Portal: Gewinner 9. Indisches Filmfestival Stuttgart

I am now looking forward to River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival – here is a preview of the 2011 edition.