BackA tribute to Balraj Sahni
A Delhi festival marking the centenary of Indian cinema will show films made in the past year as well as classics from the star of 'Do Bigha Zamin'
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Actor Balraj Sahni gave the film industry 125 films in a career spanning 25 years. Yet at a convocation address at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi in 1972, he lamented: “…I ask myself how many of these 125 films had anything significant in them? How many have any claim to be remembered? Perhaps a few. They could be counted on the fingers of one hand. And even they have either been forgotten already or will be, quite soon."
Sahni needn’t have despaired—the thespian is celebrated today both for his roles in social dramas as well as out and out entertainers. The nine-day Habitat Film Festival in the Capital, starting 11 May, will screen six of Sahni’s best-known films, including Seema (17 May, 9pm) and Garm Hava (19 May, 8.30pm). After the screenings, there will be discussions with family members, including his son, actor Parikshit Sahni, moderated by art critic and cultural commentator Sadanand Menon.
The Habitat Film Festival is part of the centenary year celebrations of Indian cinema.
The Habitat festival, which is supported by the National Film Archive of India, will also show a selection of Hindi and regional language films from 2012-13.
Aamir Bashir’s beautifully shot film Harud (Autumn) is about a Kashmiri household trying to come to terms with insurgency in the state. An older son, a tourist photographer named Tauqir, goes missing. His adolescent younger brother, Rafiq (Shahnawaz Bhat), is left to deal with unemployment and other disappointments—he tries to cross over to Pakistan, but is sent back to his parents. The film was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival and the 54th BFI London Film Festival in 2010. Watch it for a heart-rending debut performance by Bhat (Urdu, 12 May, 6.30pm).
Every screening will be followed by a question-and-answer round with the film-makers.
Habitat World, India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. Passes, available at the programmes desk. Click here for the complete schedule.
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