Nine top films at SA Bollywood Film Festival

From topical issues such as match-fixing in cricket and horse racing; to glossy epics of an era of splendour and glory; nine of the best films from the past year will give cinema lovers of all ages another opportunity to see their favourite stars in action.

“We're very pleased to introduce to Cinema Nouveau audience the Bollywood Film Festival,” says Michelle Roodt, Ster-Kinekor Theatres marketing executive. “We've taken the best of Bollywood films and compiled a suitable package for our audiences and we're quite thrilled about it,” she adds.

The movies to be screened at the Bollywood Film Festival from 4 to 17 July at Cinema Nouveau at the Rosebank Mall, Brooklyn in Pretoria and Cavendish in Cape Town include the directorial debuts of award-winning actors Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgan, with their acclaimed Taare Zameen Par and U Me Aur Hum respectively.

Also raking in awards by the dozen, especially for its technical excellence, was the film Om Shanti Om, a spoof on Bollywood films of the seventies, starring the King of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, in a dual role opposite newcomer Deepika Padukone. Ashutosh Gowarikar's no-expenses-spared epic Jodhaa Akbar, about the cross-religious love of a Muslim emperor and a Hindu princess, featuring former Miss World Aishwarya Rai and heartthrob Hrithik Roshan, is also a part of the Bollywood Festival, as is the political thriller Black and White, not about racial but rather Hindu-Muslim strife and solutions to it.
Race and Jannat, both substantially filmed in South Africa, have horse racing and cricket themes respectively.

Vanaja, a gripping tale of the rise from poverty of a girl who becomes a top classical dancer, completes the Bollywood Film Festival menu which is sure to entertain and enlighten fans of this genre.

Fast gaining international acclaim with the new styles of direction, Bollywood films now target international audience without sacrificing the essential values that make Bollywood what it is.

For more information on the festival, go to www.sterkinekor.com.