„I’m only the story of a moment“ – Poets‘ readings in Bollywood Movies

After a long break, this is an interesting new blog post by Hartmut Pospiech.

Hartmut Pospiech mag Bollywoodfilme und hat schon vor zwanzig Jahren gebloggt

As a writer of prose and poetry, I am naturally interested how poet’s readings are portrayed in Bollywood. Basically, they are portrayed as musical numbers, but usually with reduced musical arrangements and no dancing choreography. The film which brought that to my attention  is „Kabhie Kabhie“(1976). I watched Amitabh Bachchan think up some poetic lines on a walk and read it voice-over, then step in front of the mike and perform „Main pal do pal“ to an enthusiastic audience divided into women sitting left and men right, the added attraction is Rakhee Gulzar making advances to the poet while Amitabh sang of the fleeting moment of poetry.

Readings of Urdu poetry are called shayari, and the  divison between men and women seems to have a long tradition. In a very interesting article in The Guardian, the author states that Urdu poetry and shayaris have become political instruments against…

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From Ganges to Arno: 11th River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival

Since 2005, my final (and favourite) film festival of the year has been River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival in beautiful Florence/Italy. It is the first international festival entirely devoted to films from and about India – a labour of love of director Selvaggia Velo who mainly selects non-Bollywood movies: independent films, shorts and documentaries. I’m looking forward to the 11th edition starting tomorrow (Friday, December 2, 2011).

Festival director Selvaggia Velo and
actor Rahul Bose in 2010

Aparna Sen and Rahul Bose at River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival

There was a nice Q&A session with director Aparna Sen and actor Rahul Bose after last night’s screening of „Mr. and Mrs. Iyer“ at River to River. Florence Indian Film Festival. I asked him whether his boxing and playing rugby have been helpful to his movie career. His answer:

7th Film Festival „Bollywood and beyond“: The Tweets (incl. Trailers)

Short Twitter reviews I posted after each screening during the Bollywood and beyond festival in Stuttgart:

Today’s Special (USA 2010): Deliciously funny & touching indie food movie. Naseeruddin Shah steals every scene he is in. I liked the movie right from the start – any film movie starting off with the music of 1957’s „Eena Meena Deeka“ & food scenes is my thing. The movie will be released in the U.S. on October 8, 2010. Check out the official website and the Facebook fan page. ***** of *****