First Indian Film Festival in Stuttgart

The First Indian Film Festival in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg, paid rich tributes to the cultural diversity of the Indian film industry, which is widely unknown in Germany.

While many still maintain that 'Bollywood' is but a speck across the wide seas there can be no denying that it has a growing presence worldwide - if the mushrooming of film festivals devoted only to Mainstream Indian cinema is any benchmark.

While the dominance of Hollywood cinema remains unbroken in almost 90 per cent of the cases, few can deny that the largest film-producing country is approximately 14,000 kilometers away from Hollywood.

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According to the oganisers of the first Indian Film Festival in Stuttgart-Ludwigsburg in Germany, "Although Indian cinema leads a shadowy existence in Germany, the few German screenings of the colourful and song-filled Indian films have gained a certain cult status. It is a cultural phenomenon, which cannot only be rediscovered in modern Hollywood movies, but also shows the growing importance of Bollywood cinema."

The First Indian Film Festival in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg, paid rich tributes to the cultural diversity of the Indian film industry, which is widely unknown in Germany. July 14th to July 18th, 2004, brought German audiences the opportunity to witness impressive dance sequences and heart-rendering declarations of love on the big screen.

From Rajiv Menon's Kandukondain Kandukondain to Kal Ho Naa Ho, from Lagaan to Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon, the festival included all that and more. Films like Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali, Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Tale of A Naughty Girl and M F Husain's Meenaxi - A Tale of Three Cities also found screen time at the festival.

Says Sardar Kamran Khan, who curated the festival in Germany in tandem with Uma DaCunha in Mumbai: "The mainstream films are larger than life and too wonderul to be ingnored. I did not want to confine our programme to just the parallel movies."

Thus Indian film classics as well as documentaries from and about India - including Khamosh Pani by Pak-born Sabiha Sumar and starring Kirron Kher was included in the programme. Incidentally, the Kher has been awarded the Silver Leopard at the