The films will be screened from March 7 to April 19, read an official statement.
Highlighting India’s cinematic brilliance on the global platform, the series eyes to emphasise the cinema’s vast richness and diversity, spanning several decades and across genres.
The program delves into the evolution of colour in Indian cinema as well as its pivotal role in building up visual storytelling. The series has been curated by filmmaker-preservationist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, who serves as the founding director of the Film Heritage Foundation. The not-for-profit group is dedicated towards the preservation of the country’s cinematic legacy.
Some of the films mentioned in the series include ‘Amar Akbar Anthony’, ‘Manthan’, ‘Ishanou, Kummatty’, ‘Devdas’ and ‘Jodhaa Akbar’.
“In India, colour is inextricably woven into the fabric of our culture and artistry, and this is profoundly evident in our cinema,” Dungarpur said in a statement.
He shared that the Academy Museum had earlier invited him to curate the program featuring Indian films. Dungarpur saw this as a “rare opportunity to present the unparalleled diversity and vibrancy of Indian cinema in colour to a largely unfamiliar audience.”
He added that the 12 iconic films picked by him are “more than just a celebration of cinematic artistry.”
Here’s the complete screening schedule of the Indian films:
Mother India (Mehboob Khan) – March 7
Manthan (Shyam Benegal) – March 10
Amar Akbar Anthony (Manmohan Desai) – March 10
Ishanou (Aribam Syam Sharma) – March 11
Kummatty (Aravindan Govindan) – March 14
Mirch Masala (Ketan Mehta) – March 18
Devdas (Sanjay Leela Bhansali) – March 22
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (Aditya Chopra) – March 20
Jodhaa Akbar (Ashutosh Gowariker) – March 31
Kanchenjungha (Satyajit Ray) – April 5
Maya Darpan (Kumar Shahani) – April 8
Iruvar (Mani Ratnam) – April 19
On the official website of the Academy Museum, an excerpt read that most people in the West were unaware of the “sheer breadth, depth, and diversity of Indian cinema, with six major geographically and linguistically different film industries making over 2,000 films in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Bengali every year”.
