Fourteen Bollywood classics exploring the rich influence of Muslim culture and traditions on Hindi cinema will be screened here during a special nine- day programme from May 19.
"Social Dramas and Shimmering Spectacles: Muslim Cultures of Bombay Cinema" at the Film Society of Lincoln Center till May 27 draws on the music, poetry and pure feeling of these traditions.
Curated by Richard Allen, chair of cinema studies at the Tisch School of Arts, New York University and Ira Bhaskar, associate professor of cinema studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, these films are seen as examples of
three genres (historical, Muslim social and courtesan) with a range of artistic accomplishments from magnificence and
melodrama to New Wave reinvention.
According to the curators, it is through these three genres, and their critical reworking by New Wave filmmakers, that social and historical significance is attributed to
Muslim cultures for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
The films to be showed are "Chaudhvin Ka Chand" (M Sadiq), "Fiza" (Khalid Mohamed), "Garm Hawa" (M S Sathyu),
"Jodhaa Akbar" (Ashutosh Gowariker), "Mammo" (Shyam Benegal),
"Mere Mehboob" (H S Rawail), "Mirza Ghalib" (Sohrab Modi),
"Mughal-e-Azam" (K Asif), "Najma" (Mehboob Khan), "Pakeezah"
(Kamal Amrohi), "Pukar" (Sohrab Modi), "Salim Langde Pe Mat
Ro" (Saeed Mirza), "Sardari Begum" (Shyam Benegal) and "Umrao
Jaan" (J P Dutta).
The programme has been organised in collaboration with Indo-American Arts Council and the Indian consulate.
During the screening series, there will be a special signing session of Allen and Bhaskar's book "Islamicate Cultures of Bombay Cinema".