Cinema has long been a gateway to Indian culture. For many of us from the diaspora, watching Indian films has allowed us to maintain a connection to our roots. For those from the West, Indian movies have provided a platform for education and entertainment from what's arguably the biggest film industry in the world.
With Hindi-language films forming the basis of the most well-known Indian film biz in the west, called Bollywood, it's no surprise that we're seeing increased demand for these movies to screen in Australia during the festive season.
This Diwali, Dendy Cinemas is celebrating the best of Hindi cinema with a four-day Bollywood film festival supported by HSBC and Mind Blowing Films. Taking place in more than five major cities in Australia, the festival will showcase the diversity of Bollywood films with six very different, yet uniquely captivating productions for cinema-goers to enjoy.
These films include Kennedy, Dug Dug, To Kill A Tiger, Fire In The Mountains, Brand Bollywood Downunder and Joram. Screening locations are Dendy Newtown (Sydney), Dendy Canberra (Canberra), Dendy Coorparoo (Brisbane), Dendy Portside (Brisbane),Dendy Southport (Gold Coast), Cinema Nova (Melbourne), The Picadilly, Wallis Cinemas (Adelaide) and Luna Leederville (Perth).
Check out the program details for the Bollywood Film Festival below and get your popcorn ready for a few fun-filled nights of movie magic in true Bollywood style.
Thursday, November 2 (Opening Night)
Kennedy
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Rahul Bhat, Sunny Leone, Mohit Takalkar,Abhilash Thapliyal, Megha Burman
When/where: 6:30pm at Dendy Newtown with special guest, Brett Lee
Friday, November 3
Dug Dug
Director: Ritwik Pareek
Cast: Altaf Khan, Yogendra Singh Parmar, Durga Lal Saini, MukulKumar Mk Singh, Gaurav Soni
When: 7:00pm
Saturday, November 4
To Kill A Tiger (Documentary)
Director: Nisha Pahuja
When: 4:00pm
Fire In The Mountains
Director: Ajitpal Singh
Cast: Vinamrata Rai, Chandan Bisht,Harshita Tiwari, Mayank Singh Jaira
When: 6:45pm
Sunday, November 5 (Closing Night)
Brand Bollywood Downunder (Documentary)
Director: Anupam Sharma
When: 4:00pm
Joram
Director: Devashish Makhija
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Mohd. Zeeshan Ayyub, Smita Tambe,Megha Mathur, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Rajshree Deshpande