GMU Visiting Filmmakers Series: Loins of Punjab Presents and Manish Archaya
Thursday, November 18, 2010 1:00 PM EST
Johnson Center, Cinema
Join the Film and Media Studies department for the screening of the hilarious, award-winning film LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Manish Acharya.
This event is FREE and open to ALL.
Winner of Best Feature Film at the 65th Annual First Run Film Festival, LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS combines "the musical vibrancy of a Bollywood film with a narrative rhythm that emerges from the West." The film also won NYU faculty’s Dennis Riese Award, and the Audience Award for Best Film at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. Its cast features American indie stars Ajay Naidu (Office Space and Bad Santa) and Ayesha Dharker (Bombay Dreams, The Terrorist, Outsourced), as well as India’s five-time National Award Winner Shabana Azmi (Fire). Critics have called it "a witty musical comedy with a sharp political edge," and “a refreshing crossover effort” that puts the Indian-born director on a par with luminaries like Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta.
While pursuing his MFA in Film Directing at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, Acharya received numerous acting, editing, and other awards, among them the Carl Lerner Award for a Film with Social Significance for his 2001 short Partner. Loins is Acharya’s first feature film, which he co-wrote with friend and playwright Anuvab Pal. In addition to attracting critical attention at international film festivals, it was a huge box office hit in India and became the highest-rated comedy of all time on AllBollywood.com.
“The movie reflects my beliefs and my concerns,” says Acharya, “Issues of belonging, of defining ‘home,’ of self-image -- these are on the top of my mind.” The film tackles these issues in sharp, hilarious ways that intersect with post-9/11 paranoia in the US, cultural stereotypes, and the glittery appeal of Bollywood. With the rise in popularity of Bollywood films in the US and the global franchising of American Idol along national lines, Acharya’s choice of a Hindi film song contest is a deliberate one. Sponsored by a pork loin company whose very name proclaims Punjabi pride, the “Desi Idol” contest pits six contestants against each other, among them a scheming socialite (Azmi), gay bhangra rapper Turbanotorious BDG (Naidu), a teenage prodigy protected by an army of family members, an aspiring Bollywood star who doesn’t speak Hindi, and a Jewish Indiaphile/yoga entrepreneur. All are looking for individual and national identities amid the flux of transnational migration and media.
Synopsis:
A ruthless philanthropist. A bhangra rapper. An over-protected prodigy. A reckless actress. A lovelorn businessman. An entrepreneurial yogi. And a Loin King. Enter a roller-coaster world of seven strangers whose lives collide during a singing contest in a small New Jersey town. Over three days, five Indian-Americans and one Jewish Indophile participate in the first DESI IDOL, a Bollywood-style singing contest sponsored by a pork millionaire. For seventy-two hours, armed with a song, these seven strangers are going to war.
Winner of Best Feature Film, the NYU First Run Film Festival (2007) and Audience Award for Best Film, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (2007)
Starring: Ajay Naidu (Office Space), Ayesha Dharker (The Terrorist, Outsource), and India’s five-time National Award Winner Shabana Azmi (Fire).
Hosted by Film and Media Studies.
Sponsored by the Film and Media Studies Program, the Department of English, and the Global Affairs Program, with support from University Life.
