Cinema Asia: India
2007
52 minutes
Overview
While Northern India’s 100-year-old film industry is best known for flamboyant dance sequences and romantic plot lines, its directors have begun to step outside established formulas and explore grittier subject matter. This program surveys the world of Bollywood filmmaking, examining the personalities as well as the commercial and thematic concerns that drive central Asia’s answer to Tinseltown. Interviews with directors Karan Johar, Ashutosh Gowariker, and Yash Chopra are included, along with commentary from choreographers, musical directors, and Cinemaya Magazine editor Aruna Vasudev. The industry’s newfound attention to poverty, homelessness, and other social concerns is examined. Several film excerpts are included.
Top Cast
Remesh Panicker
Narrator
Anupam Kher
Self
Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Self
Aruna Vasudev
Self
Mrinal Sen
Self
Jahnu Barua
Self
Yash Chopra
Self
Ashutosh Gowariker
Self
Karan Johar
Self
Vishal Bhardwaj
Self
Urmila Matondkar
Self
Vaibhavi Merchant
Self
Willard Carol
Self
Malaika Arora
Self
Sonu Nigam
Self
Salman Khan
Self
Shah Rukh Khan
Self (archive footage)
Lata Mangeshkar
Self (archive footage)
Aparna Sen
Self (archive footage)