 Come
October 11-14, 2007 and Czech republic hosts its
annual Prague Bollywood Festival. This
year's Prague Bollywood Festival takes
place in Prague’s Kino Svetozor and will
screen more than 14 features, shorts and documentary
films including some of Bollywood's biggest recent
hits like Fanaa (2006),
Lage Raho Munna
Bhai (2006), Dhoom 2
(2006), Krrish (2006),
Salaam Namaste (2005), Omkara (2006)
and Parineeta (2005) while
also showcasing old classics like Guru
Dutt's Pyaasa
(1957), Raj
Kapoor's Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985)
and Shyam
Benegal's The Making of the Mahatma (1996)
and Zubeidaa (2001).
Serious watchers can also see Rajat Dholakia's
sensitive Parzania (2005).
And for Shah
Rukh Khan fans, the festival screens Nasreen
Munni Kabir's highly acclaimed documentary, The
Outer world of Shah Rukh Khan.
The aim of the festival is to acquaint Czech
and foreign audiences in the Czech Republic with
the history and current global appeal of the Hindi
film industry. Started five years ago by three
film enthusiasts (Radim Spacek, Hanka Havlikova
and Sangita Shresthova), the festival has now
grown from its humble beginnings at the Czech
Film Academy (FAMU) into a full blown non-commercial
event in the heart of Prague featuring films,
discussions, parties, poster-exhibitions and Indian
restaurants. The aim is make the festival into
an experience to remember!
This year, the theme of the festival is Independent
India – Addicted to Bollywood. "The
idea is to try and explore a number of issues
- What is the significance of Hindi cinema sixty
years after India gained its independence? What
defined commercial Indian films then and what
defines them now? What is the global impact of
Bollywood as India gears up towards further market
expansions? What can these new realities mean
for the Czech Republic?", says festival organiser
Sangita Shreshtova.
Other films screened at the festival include
Vidhu Vinod Chopra's 1942: A Love Story (1993),
the Yashraj films offering Jhoom
Barabar Jhoom (2007) besides the documentaries
No More Bhopals (2001), Good Marriages
Begin with Tears (2006) and Indové
v Cechách (2003) exploring through
three personal stories questions such as how do
South Asians live in the Czech Republic? How did
they come here? What are their fears? Their aspirations?
How do they live their lives?
 "The
South Asian diasporic community in the Czech Republic
is very small so our audiences are largely comprised
of Czechs and other expat communities living in
the country, who may be unfamiliar with Hindi
cinema as a culture and industry", says Shrestova.
"Countering the conventions of film viewing
in the Czech Republic, our basic approach is to
highlight Bollywood as being much more than merely
watching films; it is a total experience. Right
from the beinning, we have encouraged our audiences
to feel free to eat, drink, cry, laugh, sleep,
and dance at any point during our film. Last year
year, Chaplinesque antics of Raj Kapoor in Shree
420 (1955), the heroic escapades of Shah Rukh
Khan in Veer Zara (2004)
and the disappearing stunts of Anil Kapoor in
Mr. India (1987) were met with enthusiastic
approval, while the hospital jiggles of Sanjay
Dutt in Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) transformed
the entire theater into a party as our Czech audiences
proved that they understand what Bollywood spectatorship
is all about."
As part of the festival, there is even a party
on the 13th October featuring among other things
- dance hits from Bollywood Films, a Bollywood
dance show and screening of Bollywood song-and-dance
video clips.
The festival is supported by the Czech Ministry
of Culture, the City of Prague and Indian Embassy
to the Czech Republic and is fast becoming one
of the more memorable events to attend in Prague.
To know more about the festival visit
www.bollywood.cz.
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