Any event that features a signature cocktail named after a film is A-OK by me! And when that drink is a Shor-Tini - lemon vodka, mango pulp and passion fruit juice - inspired by the opening night feature Noise, or Shor, at this year’s Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival, the evening is a success in my book, before I can even say “I’ll have another!” Oh, and lets not forget that the film stars the sultrily handsome Sendhil Ramamurthy - the geneticist Mohinder Suresh on the now cancelled TV series Heroes - in what is being hailed as his debut “Bollywood” performance, along with Tusshar Kapoor whom I first noticed fully as the bad guy in Shootout at Lokhandwala and am hoping will once more play against his goody-goody type here too. Love handsome actors who play bad boys in films, so much more interesting to watch, don’t you think?!

The party at the sultry Kush Lounge in downtown Manhattan was a-buzz with young writers, up-and-coming filmmakers and the organizers behind the festival, including MIAAC programming director L. Somi Roy. It was a lovely occasion to catch up on new films and future IAAC events around the city with friends and colleagues, as well as a chance to find out this year’s festival line-up and see some of the trailers for the films. Which brings me to the films…

There are several Bengali films in the line-up this year, including Autograph by Srijit Mukherji and Sanjoy Nag’s Memories in March, starring Rituparno Ghosh and Deepti Naval. But the one film I’ve personally been looking forward to viewing on the big screen is Aparna Sen’s The Japanese Wife, featuring Rahul Bose in a love triangle with the Bengali Raima Sen and the Japanese Chigasu Takaku. Talk about a film that breaks barriers and cuts across all cultures, this is one story that is guaranteed to both entertain and enlighten. And after sitting down with the legendary Aparna Sen during the recent I-View Film festival, I feel an extra dose of
admiration for a woman who is at once powerful, strong, intelligent and wonderfully warm.

Another icon of Indian cinema will also be present for MIAAC 2010, Mani Ratnam accompanying the Tamil version of Raavan - Raavanan - which I craved to see once I found out the best actor in the Hindi version,Vikram, plays the title villain in this parallel film. It gives me a good excuse to once again view the beauty of Aishwarya Rai in Sabyasachi’s clothing and the atmospheric vision of the award-winning Ratnam at his best. I know, I know, I was quite alone in my adoration of Raavan when it came out in the cinemas, but I guarantee everyone will be telling Master Ratnam what a beautiful film it is once they come face to face with his spellbinding presence!

Among some of the Sidebars of the festival are a tribute to the films of Smita Patil, whose tragic persona is enjoying a renaissance these days due to her talented son’s turn in Dhobi Ghat. In case you don’t already know, that soft-spoken, handsome angel of an actor named Prateik in the upcoming Aamir Khan production Dhobi Ghat - written and directed by his superbly talented wife Kiran Rao - is Patil’s son. Bhumika: The Roles of Smita Patil will be co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center as a nine-film retrospective to coincide with this year’s MIAAC. A series of industry panels at SVA - including one on Indian cinema’s “Young Guns” moderated by producer Anadil Hossain -  and filmmakers’ conversations at NYU, titled NYU@MIAAC will also be featured. And, last but not least, there are a couple of Special Children’s Films this year, like the 3D animation Ramayana: The Epic, voiced by Lisa Rai and Kabir Bedi and The White Elephant with Tannishtha Chatterjee and Piyush Mishra, two super favorites of mine. Those names not sound completely familiar? Can anyone say Road, Movie and Maqbool?? Oh, and I cannot forget Ajay Naidu’s Ashes, a strong film by one very lovely man! And The Waiting City, starring Radha Mitchell, Joel Edgerton and our own Indo-NYC thespian Samrat Chakrabarti.

The closing night selection for this year’s MIAAC is Dilip Mehta’s Cooking with Stella, starring the courageously gorgeous Lisa Ray, Don McKellar and Seema Biswas as Stella. Dilip Mehta’s is a well known photographer and brother to Earth and Fire filmmaker Deepa Mehta. Cooking with Stella marks his directorial debut and I’ve been hearing great things about the film since its premiere at IFFLA last Spring. What is there not to love about a film that is guaranteed to be well shot and which deals with cooking and food - AND India!

Some of the celebrities you can be sure to expect at this year’s red carpets include Salman Rushdie, Madhur Jaffrey, Sarita Choudhry, Aasif Mandvi, along with - of course - many of the participating stars and filmmakers whose works are featured at MIAAC 2010. It will be a time of great films, sparkling galas and great conversations, inside and outside the screening rooms.

MIAAC 2010 will run from November 10th through the 14th, with most screenings held at the School of Visual Arts Theater, on West 23rd Street. Film Society of Lincoln Center screenings will be held at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.