Hurray for Bollywood

The latest incarnation of the Prague Indian Film Festival is packed with English-language accessible options. Indian cinema is a strange animal and most certainly an acquired taste. But whatever you think of it, the industry is robust, and production values are generally high. Musical numbers, dance sequences and soapy histrionics abound, but then, so do the woefully neglected arts of the dolly shot and other former Tinseltown mainstays.

Augmenting the glitzy aesthetic of the milieu at this year's festival will be several all-too-real looks at the difficulties of daily life for many poverty-stricken Indians. These include the plight of Indian farmers driven to suicide by the incursions of powerful private corporations (Dark Times, by director Avinash Deshpande) and the difficulties faced by four young children living on the streets of Mumbai (The Slumdog Children of Mumbai, by director Nick Read). Documentaries screened in Světozor's small hall vary in length, and the price of admission is a modest 100 Kč.

The following are a few of the more promising feature-length selections on hand.

Harishchandrachi Factory India, 2009. Paresh Mokashi, director. Nandu Madhav and Vibhavari Deshpande star. Mokashi staged something of a coup with his directorial debut, winning the Best Director award at the Pune International Film Festival. Set in 1913, the film is a fictionalized account of the events that led Dadasaheb Phalke to make the first Indian fiction film, marking the birth of one of the world's most productive film industries. Oct. 12 at 8:45

Wanted India, 2009. Prabhu Deva, director. Salman Khan, Ayesha Takia Azmi and Vinod Khanna star. In what is described as a Bollywood action thriller, a hardcore gangster attempts to balance his underworld ties with his attraction to a young and innocent girl who has also garnered the attention of a corrupt police official. Trouble ensues amid Mumbai's bloody gang wars and the efforts of law enforcement to keep the city crime free. October 13 at 5:15

The Stranger India, 1991. Satyajit Ray, director. Utpal Dutt, Mamata Shankar and Deepankar De star. Things go from simply strange to truly surreal when Anilla (Mamata Shankar) receives a letter from a man claiming to be her long-lost uncle. When the man arrives at her home claiming to be a traveling anthropologist, the family must decide whether to accept or reject him. The film was writer/director Satyajit's last, and is based on one of his short stories. Oct. 14 at 6

The Cloud-Capped Star India, 1960. Ritwik Ghatak, director. Supriya Choudhury, Anil Chatterjee and Niranjan Ray star. Ghatak's films are unique in the annals Bollywood for their elegiac tone and quiet attention to the politics of partition. This 1960 classic is set in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Calcutta in post-independence India. Credited as sparking a new wave movement in Indian cinema, The Cloud-Capped Star was the famous director's greatest success domestically and is arguably his most widely viewed film abroad. Oct. 15 at 6; Oct. 16 at 7:30

Subramaniyapuram India, 2008. M. Sasikumar, director. Jai, Swathi and M. Sasikumar star. Tamil director Sasikumar has received high praise for what has been deemed a "surprise hit" by critics. Set in 1980, the tale follows a group of unemployed friends as they pass the time drinking and goofing off on the streets. Singled out for the originality of its script, Subramaniyapuram takes a turn when one of the friends falls in love with a local girl and disturbs the dynamics of the group. Oct. 16 at noon

Love These Days India, 2009. Imtiaz Ali, director. Rishi Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone star. A typical Bollywood romcom, this exuberant love story about a young couple happily living in London will doubtless satisfy fans of the genre looking for a fix. When the couple's career paths diverge, they amicably separate, one returning to India and the other remaining abroad. Soon, however, true love beckons, and a cross-continental trek unfolds as an attempt is made at a happy reunion. Oct. 16 at 6:30

James Walling can be reached at
jwalling@praguepost.com