This year, MIAAC started a day late for me. I missed all the great red carpet extravaganza for Shor on opening night, while I sat stuck on a plane at JFK. Then compounded jet lag accounted for me catching very few of the fabulous films. I craved mingling with the fascinating people or enjoying the classy after-parties that make the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council film fest the most beloved Desi cinematic festival in NYC but alas, a headache always wins out. Yet my own mishaps and travel bugs notwithstanding, I once again walked away with great admiration for IAAC founder Aroon Shivdasani and MIAAC programming director L. Somi Roy for one rocking film festival that I will remember for years to come.

I was glad to discover that the usual bittersweet feeling I get at the end of every MIAAC festival wasn’t there this year. I celebrated closing night along with everyone else, instead of sulking and feeling separation anxiety as I typically do. It’s because I know that come May 2011, MIAAC’s magic, celebrities, films and parties will light up the Big Apple once more. Indeed, MIAAC has joined forces with the Film Society of Lincoln Center, to bring to NYC an Indian Film Festival like no other. Knowing that made closing night seem more festive, more of a celebration of things to come instead of the anticlimactic shutting down to a nearly weeklong fabulous cinematic party.

I’ll talk about the closing night film - Dilip Mehta’s Cooking With Stella - the award ceremony and after-party in just a bit, but first things first. The Smita Patil Festival Sidebar was kicked off on Thursday evening with a wonderfully intimate reception at Lincoln Center, attended by Patil’s sisters and her son Prateik. You know by now that the man holds a special place in my heart, after I got to watch him play the dhobiwalla Munna to understated perfection in Kiran Rao’s highly anticipated Dhobi Ghat. Apart from the striking similarities between mother and son - look into their eyes to understand exactly what I mean - there is also a quality of fresh talent about them that is clearly genetic.

While Patil represented India’s Alternative Cinema movement in the 70s and 80s, Prateik to me is the poster actor for Modern Indian Cinema, the kind that will bring the genre to everyone’s attention, all over the world, all across borders. It’s the honesty of character, that almost tragic hero - and heroine - quality hidden just behind their eyes that makes them unique. Even in person, Prateik is a force to be reckoned with, his sultry magnetism lying just beneath the surface, barely covered up by his sometimes quirky mannerisms. The party and screening were a success and I suggest catching some of the films, which will run until November 18th at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center.

Now onto closing night and Cooking With Stella. WOW. What a night it was! The weather gods were shining down on NYC and Desi glamour descended on the SVA Theater on 23rd Street. Even if some chose to dress down for the evening, the fashion quotient was high. And the celebrities abounded. The red carpet was a great chance to catch a glimpse of legendary talents like Seema Biswas, Deepti Naval and Mani Ratnam, as well as sound bytes from the talented Dilip Mehta and Ajay Naidu.

Filmmaker extraordinaire Mani Ratnam confessed “It’s wonderful to be here. It was great to bring the Tamil version [Raavanan] and to have other regional languages being shown here at the festival.” While the sultry Rahul Bose talked about his role in Aparna Sen’s The Japanese Wife saying “He was a beautiful soulful character who has to be invisible and yet has to be charismatic. It was a great challenge to play that kind of role. Of course culturally so different from who I am. Every actor looks to be stretched and this was a real stretch and a real challenge. That was something that doesn’t come very often in an actor’s career because you are invariably cast around who you are or the persona you exude and rarely get something diametrically opposite to who you are.” And when asked about MIAAC Bose passionately stated “It’s a great festival! It’s a festival that uncompromisingly all the time looks to program arthouse cinema. It’s a great forum for a genre of cinema that is increasingly getting marginalized in markets across the world.”

Ajay Naidu discussed his experience screening his film Ashes at MIAAC “You worry about forgetting people and forgetting to mention what really happened. It was a very analytical Q & A but the screening in general was really cool. Very gratifying.” And Deepti Naval shared her NYC connection “I have a great affiliation with this city because I partly grew up here. So my family lives here. I am always delighted coming back especially for a film festival because this is where I grew up, this is where my work is being shown so there is a big connect for me with NYC.” I also inquired how difficult it was for Naval to leave her character from Memories in March behind at the end of the day, and she candidly admitted “That’s something you learn as an actor, you learn the skill of going into a character and then coming out of it without damaging yourself too much.”

I caught up with Dilip Mehta, the director of Cooking With Stella, which turned out to be a favorite of mine at this year’s MIAAC. Both the filmmaker and his vibrant, thought-provoking film were intelligent and different from the norm, something I relish in both people and the arts. Cooking With Stella will leave you thinking about what Mehta calls “The inequality of the upstairs/downstairs syndrome that exists in India.” He pointed out that “The movie is about food because food is the metaphor in this film. It’s not about food per se, it’s not ‘Julie & Julia’ and not ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ but food is used as a metaphor to approach the other elements of what India is about.” Mehta was enthusiastic about being at MIAAC and said “It’s an honor, not just closing the festival but the fact that it’s MIAAC, it’s a festival that I value and I cherish because it is perhaps the most significant Indian diaspora festival and it’s actually not just Indian diaspora but it’s crossed over as well.”

Finally, I sat with my dear friend, the striking and super funny Zenobia Shroff - whom you know as the wonderful Roxanne in Sooni Taraporevala’s Little Zizou from MIAAC 2008 - and she talked about being on the jury to decide the Best Actor and Best Actress award at this year’s MIAAC “It was a real honor. To judge people like Deepti Naval and Seema Biswas. Deepti whom I grew up watching and Seema whom I’ve adored since seeing her in Water. And then of course the boys, Ajay [Naidu], Rahul [Bose], I was blown away by the talent. So much talent in our Indian culture!”

When all was said and done, awards had been handed out to Srinivas Krishna - Ganesh, Boy Wonder - for Best Documentary, Charulatayude Baakki for Best Short, Rituparno Ghosh - Memories in March - for Best Screenplay, Seema Biswas - Cooking With Stella - for Best Actress, Ajay Naidu - Ashes - for Best Actor, Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK - Shor (Noise) - for Best Direction, Umesh Kulkarni’s Vihir (The Well) for Best Film and to A.R. Rahman for Outstanding Contribution in Global and Indian Music.

So, to everyone who won CONGRATULATIONS. but to all who attended, I say “How lucky are we that we get to be a part of so much Indian culture so far away from the Desh?!” Thank you MIAAC for a spectacular festival. See you in the Spring!

Top photo by Michael Toolan - ©Michael Toolan
All other images courtesy of the IAAC