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Goa relives Woodstock
The Woodstock festival has gained an iconic status over the years and musicians from Mumbai who have a connection with this music festival will be attending the premiere of Taking Woodstock in Goa.
The Woodstock festival has gained an iconic status over the years and musicians from Mumbai who have a connection with this music festival will be attending the premiere of Taking Woodstock in Goa today. The musicians will also speak about their experiences after the screening at the Inox Cinema in Panaji.
Brian Tellis, DJ Blackjack, Luke Kenny, Uday Benegal among others will be at the premiere.
Focus Features, the makers of films such as Lost in Translation, have produced this film, which will be released at select multiplexes in Mumbai and Goa on Friday.
Taking Woodstock will then have a staggered release in Delhi and Bangalore in two weeks time and will play across 35 screens.
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The film is based on the book Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, A Concert, and A Life, by Elliot Tiber, whose family ran a motel in the area and was instrumental in helping organise the festival, which defined a generation.
"It's a very niche theme but we are hoping to spread the interest through word of mouth. Given that it's a small budget film, it's done some decent business at the box office," says Ranjan Singh, marketing head of PVR Pictures, which is distributing the film in India.
Directed by Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, of Brokeback Mountain fame, Singh says the film is expected to interest the youth in the 20 to 26 years age bracket in India.
But the $30 million (Rs 142 crore) film, which has already released in the US and elsewhere, has so far grossed only $8.3 million (Rs 38 crore) at the box office according to box office tracking website Box Office Mojo.
The original Woodstock Festival was held in 1969 on a dairy farm, 43 miles from the town of Woodstock in New York.
It attracted half a million hippies and bohemian types who used the event to indulge in drugs and celebrate free love, peace and music. This year Woodstock celebrated its fortieth anniversary.
