USA: The 5th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles opens with "Provoked," starring Bollywood darling Aishwarya Rai who was married on Friday

The 5th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles is underway this week in Hollywood. Opening night featured a new film by Indian director Jagmohan Mundhra called "Provoked," featuring one of Bollywood's favorite actresses, Aishwarya Rai. According to Mundhra, interest in Indian films in general is on the rise. "Bollywood is definitely making inroads into Hollywood," says Mundhra. "And the reason is that every, every week, week after week, you see the top ten chart whether U.S. or U.K. and you'll find that one Bollywood film is on that chart. So, it's the box office numbers, it's the numbers because there are so many people who like Bollywood, whether they are Indians, Pakistanis, Bangledeshs, Sri Lankans, or from the Middle East who are now living outside in the Western world, and they patronize Bollywood and their numbers is growing, and their numbers is growing meaning the box office for these films is growing, and when the box office grows, the Hollywood studios notice." Most films coming out of India have mainly become grouped together with the typical "Bollywood" fare, a genre that has become known for its upbeat singing and dancing. But this latest offering by Mundhra, a well-known in the world of Hindi cinema, is based upon the true story of an Indian woman fighting to survive horrific domestic abuse. Rai, an award-winning actress who was a former Miss World winner, plays Kiranjit Ahluwalia, an woman from Punjab, India living in London who set fire to her husband after suffering ten years of mental and physical abuse. He died in the attack and she was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1984 for murder by the British high court for the desperate act of survival. Actress Nandita Das, who in the movie plays the headstrong leader of a women's rights group rallying for Ahluwalia's, says she has a personal interest in the sensitive subject matter. "It talks about domestic violence," says Das. "It's an issue that is often sort of kept behind the walls, behind the doors, and it is a subject that needs to come out in the public domain, because it's not a private matter, it is a matter that the public needs to take up. It's not about the couples, it's not about the woman suffering silently, which often happens. So I do a lot of work in human rights issues, and especially with women. So it is a subject that's very close to my heart, and there are films that you do for various reasons, so this is a film I've done primarily to support, it's just another means of supporting the issue." British actor Nicholas Irons, who says he personally called Mundhra and asked to be part of the cast, believes Hindi cinema is a best-kept secret that is surely but slowly finding its way onto the radar of film fans. "I think it's taken a little time for it's take-off here," says Irons, "But then it's a much bigger country and there's a diverse ethnic mix in this country, so there's a lot of different groups fighting for attention in the film marketplace. But I think people are starting to get wise to how exciting some of their cinema is. That actually it's not all about singing and dancing and musicals. There's a lot greater range going on in India filmmaking." British actors Naveen Andrews and Miranda Richardson also star in the film. 33-year-old Rai was not able to attend the premiere, as she is busy preparing for her wedding. She is getting married to fellow Bollywood actor, Abhishek Bachchan on Friday (April 20). Rai and Bachchan have been dubbed the "Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie" of India. Mundhra offered his congratulations and marvelled at the "permanent" pairing of two of India's two top stars. "I wish them all the best. They are wonderful, both of them very talented, very beautiful- good-looking people. Also, big brand names. I mean what more can one ask for? This is like a marriage made in Heaven, a match made in Heaven." "Provoked" opens Los Angeles and New York on May 11, 2007. The international release of the film will follow. For more information on the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles go to www.indianfimfestival.org.

ITN Source | April 26, 2007

Tags:. .marriage. .brad. .silently. .pairing. .notice