Screening, Panel Discussion & Reception, Saturday, 12/6/03

CCAE presents an afternoon with Bollywood star Tara Deshpande Tennebaum, who will introduce her 2001 film Tapish and moderate a panel discussion with local experts in Indian popular culture. Deshpande made her film debut opposite Nirmal Pandey (Bandit Queen) in 1997 with National Award winning director Sudhir Mishra's Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin, a critically acclaimed film nominated for 10 Indian Screen and Filmfare awards. This was followed in 1998 by the musical success Bada Din as well as the internationally appreciated Bombay Boys with Nasirudeen Shah (Monsoon Wedding), Naveen Andrews (The English Patient) and Canadian Oscar winner Roshan Seth which opened at the Toronto, London, and Vancouver film festivals.

Says Tara Deshpande ""Tapish is a very interesting film because it shows the two faces of India-the very urban and the rural," says Deshpande. Two friends, played by Deshpande (Namrata) and Ellora (Lajji), live in Namrata's fancy Bombay apartment where Lajji goes to college and Namrata pursues a modeling career. Both girls are opposites of each other, one conservative and the other radically opposed to traditional Indian values. A tragedy ensues, and the film revolves around how the two girls cope in different ways, grappling with difficult choices in a patriarchal society. Tapish, which also stars Parveen Dabbas (Monsoon Wedding), reveals many dimensions of Indian society and the tremendous change it has undergone in the last decade.

A panel discussion led by Deshpande will follow the film. addressing the topic: Bollywood: A Mirror of Contemporary Indian Culture. "Indian filmmaking is exploding from a cinema for Indians to a cinema for the world," says Deshpande. "We will talk about how this change has come about and how it reflects changes in India's openness to globalization."

A portion of the proceeds from this event will help support FIRE: Funding Indian Rural Enterprise (www.projectfire.org), a

What: Screening, Panel Discussion & Reception with Bollywood star Tara Deshpande
When: Saturday, December 6, 2003 from 1:00 - 5:30 p.m. (Reception from 5:30-6:00 p.m.)
Where: CCAE @ 42 Brattle Street in Harvard Square wheelchair accessible.)
( Cost: $15
( Code: BOLL
( Phone: 617-547-6789 ext. 1
Web: www.ccae.org, www.projectfire.org

What: Viewing of Bombay Boys
When: Saturday, December 6, 2003 at 7:30 pm
Where: CCAE @ 42 Brattle Street in Harvard Square
Cost: $7
Code: BBOY (wheelchair accessible)
Phone: 617-547-6789 ext. 1
Web: www.ccae.org, www.projectfire.org

FIRE: Funding Indian Rural Enterprise (www.projectfire.org), an association that Deshpande is starting to encourage entrepreneurship among rural Indian communities.
Exhibit & Sale of Indian Textiles
100 Weaves of India: December 1-11, 2003
After a successful run at The Zetgeist and Brookline Art Galleries, "100 Weaves of India" is coming to Harvard Square. An exhibition and sale of a wide variety of textiles, "100 Weaves of India" will be on display at CCAE from December 1-11, 2003.

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