“The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford has put together an exhibition of film posters to mark ten years of its Bite the Mango film festival, including Aan (Savage Princess) from 1952.” [BBC]

According to family history, my grandfather was a co-owner of the only 4 color printing press in Delhi after Independence. It was across the street from Jama Masjid, and is still in operation (I’ve been to see it). My father has fond memories of all the posters he collected as a child, and reflects that they would have been worth a pretty penny had he managed to keep them.

Yes. I am VERY bitter. Instead of coming to a real NASA Engineer such as myself, they chose SRK for the part in their new movie Swades. Some things are just inexplicable. From The Times of India:

Can you imagine Shahrukh Khan doing a Kalpana Chawla, donning the space suit and taking off? If your upper factory’s done a pole vault trying to imagine the Dilli ka munda as a scientist, don’t bother.

Come December, and Ashutosh Gowariker will present the Badshah as a NASA engineer, who retraces his steps to Bharat land in the quest of fulfilling his dreams.

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Barnard College is hosting a talk in Manhattan Tuesday about the preeminence of Bollywood films among the Hausa of Nigeria (via Mango Latte).

One of my fondest memories of Russia during the USSR is of dining with a newfound friend. His Tetris-like apartment had the look of violent meticulousness, a Tokyo sense of space. In that lockbox he had allocated a massive drawer jammed with carefully-filed Hindi films from the ’60s, which he showed off, blowing happy notes. We dined on cabbage and cold potato soup, but his Raj Kapoor impression was uncanny.

Shwas, a Marathi film, was chosen as India’s official entry for the Academy Awards next February (thanks, Prakruti). It sounds like it hits the same themes as Roberto Begnini’s Life is Beautiful; it has a great shtick based on a real-life story:

It tells the story of a young boy stricken with cancer of the eyes… an operation will save the childÂ’s life but will rob him of his sight forever. The grandfather follows helplessly, unable to save the child from a lifetimeÂ’s darkness. At the door of the operation theatre, they are informed that the operation has been cancelled and will take place the following day… the grandfather takes the child out for the day to show him all the sights he will never see again…

Wonder if Shwas will be ‘Indian enough’ for the judges. I haven’t seen this film, and the eye operation angle usually invites screechy, soapy melodrama. But the one-day-to-truly-live setup can work well: an ice palace in a desert, ‘tell me something that will make me love you.’

Speaking of loss, I also hear Khamoshi did well by the deaf. No surprise, it’s by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.

The Indo-American Arts Council is opening its annual film festival with a swank cocktail party and a Bride and Prejudice screening at Lincoln Center on Nov. 4.

But, an upstart challenger with a slick Web site and little by way of details, the South Asian International Film Festival, is also opening with that film on Dec. 1.

Be still my beating heart, ’tis desi indie overdose. And that’s not even including the regular Third I screenings. But can anyone shed light on the SAIFF: does it have a different mission than IAAC’s film fest, is it a desi version of the Asian-American one? Or is this yet another internecine schism, like the duplicate, competing Indian Independence Day celebrations all over the country?

Update: I emailed the SAIFF organizers. Heard back from Soman Chainani, who used to work for Mira Nair’s production company. He says the festival is focused on films about South Asia, while the IAAC focuses on the diaspora.