The School of Media and Cultural Studies invites you to a screening of  a series of five final films by the Class of 2012. The film screenings will be followed by an interaction and discussion with the filmmakers.

Date: May 8, 2012
Time: 10 am to 1 pm
Venue: Library Conference Hall, TISS Main Campus, Opp Deonar bus depot

ENTRY IS FREE AND OPEN TO ALL

The details of the films follow.

BREAKIN’ MUMBAI
2012, 33 Mins, Hindi with English Subtitles
A film by Aakriti Kohli, Sandeep Kr. Singh, Shweta Ghosh, Gin Khan Siam and Sumit Singh

Gani, a 21-year old, has done many things for a living: bag-making, embroidery work and working at a call
centre.18-year old Aman studies in school. He loves eating mangoes and chenna-murgi. He sketches and
plays cricket. The two have very little in common, but there is one thing that binds them- Breaking, a dance form that started back in the 70s in the Bronx, New York. Since then, it has grown popular across countries and has moulded itself to fit into specific cultures.

This film looks at what it means to be a breaker in Mumbai, how breaking becomes a site of expression of
subaltern youth cultures and what it means to win and lose battles. Through the personal lives of Gani, Aman and their friends, the film tries to understand the dynamics of  breaking, and explores questions of space and the avenues for leisure in Mumbai.

NISWAN-E-MUMBRA
The Women of Mumbra
2012, 21 mins., Hindustani with English Subtitles
A film by Shazia Nigar, Sharib Ali and Ufaque Paikar

The riots of 1992-93 changed the spatial character of the city of Mumbai.While some Muslims left the city out of choice others were forced to leave in search of security. It was in this context that Mumbra, a Muslim ghetto, was established. Niswa-E-Mumbra is a film that explores the lives of Muslim women in Mumbra, through two central characters. Shireen Kamal Dehlvi is a journalist working with an Urdu daily. With her stories of struggle she brings to life what it means not just be Muslim but also a woman in contemporary times.

Kausar is an activist working with a women’s organisation called Awaaz-E-Niswan. Through her working on women she throws light on the present infrastructural problems in Mumbra and the struggles they pose for women. The film dwells on questions which attempts to answer weather the life of a Muslim woman is any different from that of other women.

BHARATMATA KI JAI
The story of a single-screen theatre in Mumbai’s mill country
2012, 28 minutes, Hindi, Marathi and English with English subtitles
A Film by Avadhoot Khanolkar, Amol Ranjan, Anurag Mazumdar, Arpita Chakraborthy and Shweta Radhakrishnan

At the heart of Mumbai’s mill country, Lalbaug-Parel, stands Bharatmata Cinema, one of the remaining single screen theatres that plays only Marathi films. The theatre is an iconic reminder of a colourful working class culture which is now on the decline in Mumbai. Through the narratives of Kapil Bhopatkar, the owner, and Baban, one of the oldest employees of the theatre, the film explores the history and development of Bharatmata as a space for articulating the cultural identity of Mumbai’s working class and ponders on its existence and survival. The characters, though from widely disparate socio-economic classes, come together in their passionate love for cinema and their celebration of the main character in the film, Bharatmata Cinema itself.

A HOME HERE
2012, 23 mins, English with subtitles
A Film by Vikram Buragohain, Kaikho Paphro, Joyashree Sarma, Daisy Leivon, Abhishek Yadav

From the echoing hills of the North east to a bustling city of Mumbai by the sea, the film is about the people who have made this journey in search of better life. But does the journey end here?

Amidst the changes and negotiations, the search for familiar faces and flavours of food lead them all to Kalina. In the film, a musician, an entrepreneur, a researcher, a homemaker and a martial art trainer, reflect on their lived experiences and the efforts to recreate their homes and maintain their identity in the city.
The film explores Kalina as a space and the elements of food and music which link them to their homeland and its memories.

TAMASHA– A RUSTIC DRAMA
30 min, Marathi with English subtitles
A Film By Devendra Ghorpade, Manoj Bhandare, Prakash Sao and Raju Hittalamani

This is a film on the performing artists of Tamasha and the changing facets of art form itself. Women have been an integral part of Tamasha contributing on and off stage. Their lives and struggles are a result of the interplay between social constructions, the changing location and form of Tamasha. Kanthabai Satarkar is a veteran Tamashgir. With her first performance at the age of nine, she grew as an artist to manage one of the biggest Tamasha troupes in Maharashtra. With over six decades of experience, her life bears witness to the journey of Tamasha and lives of those associated with it.