Home Manchester hosts a season of independent Indian cinema, Not Just Bollywood until the end of September.
The season will have a special focus on the portrayal of caste in film, putting the topic at the forefront with films including Jai Bhim Comrade and the UK premiere of Kadvi Hawa, with other films including the controversial Tikli and Laxmi Bomb, ‘Titus Andronicus’ adaptation, The Hungry and Shekhar Kapur’s classic feminist Western, Bandit Queen.
What’s on in the Not Just Bollywood season at Home Manchester?
11 September, 18.30
Introduction – Caste on Indian Screen: Marginalising the real in the reel
Using film clips as examples Sanghita Sen, Department of Film Studies at the University of St Andrews, looks at the representation of caste in Indian cinema.
11 September, 20.15
Bandit Queen (18)
Based on the life of Phoolan Devi, India’s most feared outlaw, this controversial work is a brutal tale of caste oppression. The film fuses Wester and melodrama into a narrative of feminist resistance.
13 September, 18.15
Kadvi Hawa (15)
Sanjay Mishra appears in director Nila Madhab’ Panda’s work about the impact of climate change on the lives of debt ridden farmers in Rajasthan.
15 September, 18.00
The Hungry (18)
A dark and twisted adaptatio nof Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus featuring revenge, family and betrayal in the world of an emerging wealthy Indian elite starring Naseeruddin Shah.
16 September, 15.10
Jai Bhim Comrade (18)
A chronicle and political odyssey of the Dalit movement in India feted as activist Anand Patwardhan’s career highpoint as Indian cinema’s most celebrated documentaty filmmaker.
18 September, 17.50
Masaan (15)
Winner of two prizes at Cannes Film Festival, director Neeraj Ghaywan’s debut feature is a multi-narrative work that pivots on the issue of caste and features rising star Vicky Kaushal in the role of a lower caste boy.
30 September, 17.15
Tikli and Laxmi Bom (18)
The debut from Aditya Kripalani depicts the lives tragic lives of female sex works coming together to defy the system.
image courtesy Paul Karalius
