ndtvmovies.com
Lalit K Jha
Monday, October 8, 2007: (New York):

The South Asian film festival in New York next month would open with the screening of Sanjay Leela Bhansali s Saawariya: the first Bollywood production from a Hollywood studio.

Starring Ranbir Kapoor (son of Rishi Kapoor) and Sonam Kapoor (daughter of Anil Kapoor) alongside superstars Rani Mukherjee and Salman Khan, the film would be screened at the inaugural ceremony of the Mahindra Indo-American Arts Council Film Festival on November 7, two days before its much awaited global release on November 9.

Organizers of the film festival have promised to bring the best of the movies from India in general and South Asia in particular during the five-day festival in the Big Apple, which is also expected to bring in some of the popular Bollywood stars to this city.

The film festival organised by the Indian American Arts Council, which has become a regular feature on the New York s entertainment itinerary, would conclude November 11 with the screening of The Last Lear, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Arjun Ramphal and Shefali Shah.

Other films to be screened during this festival at some of the most popular and prestigious theatres include Valley of Flowers, Visa Darjeeling, Missed Call, Grahanam, Apna Asmaan, The Voyeurs, Mansarovar, Frozen, AIDS Jaago and Gandhi My Father. These films would be screened at some of prestigious New York venues across Manhattan, such as Loews Times Square, Madame Tussauds, Asia Society and Loews Broadway.

The Festival's mission is to assist South Asian filmmakers to reach the broadest possible audience, enable the international film community and the general public to experience the power of their films, said Aroon Shivdasani, executive director of Indo-American Arts Council, and the brain behind this unique film festival held every year in New York since 2001.

Since then the South Asian festival organised by the Indo-American Arts Council has featured films by leading Indian filmmakers like Mira Nair, Ismail Merchant, Deepa Mehta, Gurinder Chaddha, Nagesh Kukunoor as well as other upcoming filmmakers such as Shonali Bose, Nisha Ganatra, Smriti Mundhra and Ali Kazimi.

The film festival, which has broken several milestones over the years in bringing the Indian films and Diaspora cinema to New York City, this year, is being sponsored by Time Warner Cable of New York and New Jersey and Saavn, the largest digital distributor of South Asian content in the world.

Leading up to the film festival, Time Warner Cable of New York and New Jersey and Saavn have launched their Summer of Love campaign. The promotion celebrated premieres of the New York-set comedy Jaan-E-Mann, and Umrao Jaan starring the Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan. The epic Moghul-era romance Umrao Jaan made its North American premiere at IAAC's film festival last November.

Shivdasani said 2007 marks a groundbreaking year for the convergence of Hollywood and Bollywood. Eyes are turning towards the East, as Hollywood studios are beginning to invest in Bollywood films, she said. Warner Brothers, Viacom, Disney and Sony Pictures are now all part of the booming Indian movie-making industry. Bollywood hero Salman Khan has been attached to two upcoming pictures with Indian Film Company and Viacom, she said.

http://www.ndtvmovies.com/newstory.asp?section=Movies&Slug=Saawariya+to+open+South+Asian+film+fest&Id=ENTEN20070028632