First-time director Kiran Rao’s film Dhobi Ghat, aka Mumbai Diaries, is leading the Indian selection of seven films at the London Film Festival, which will take place from October 13 to October 28.
Rao’s debut film, starring her husband Aamir Khan, has the festival organisers hoping that the Indian superstar will join his wife at the red carpet function for the film in central London.
“We are hoping that Aamir will join Kiran Rao at the red carpet for her film. It would be great to have him here,” said Cary Rajinder Sawhney, who is programme adviser for South Asia for the film festival and chooses the films for the festival from the region. The festival will miss other Aamir Khan production, Peepli Live, as it had its UK premiere at the Edinburgh Film festival recently, Mr Sawhney explained.
This year, the festival is highlighting seven films from India — Autumn (Harud) directed by Aamir Bashir; I Am Kalam, a children’s film directed by Nila Madhad Panda; I Am Sindhutai Sapkal (Mee Sindhutai Sapkal) directed by Ananth Mahadevan; Just Another Love Story (Aarekti Premer Golpo), directed by Kaushik Ganguly; Paan Singh Tomar directed by Tigmanshu Dhulia; and Udaan directed by Vikramadity Motwane.
“It has been intense two-three months for me as I saw almost 55 films to pick up the entries for the festival. It is difficult to pick and choose from the vast range of the films on offer from South Asia,” Mr Sawhney told this newspaper on Thursday. There are no other films from the Indian subcontinent.
However, Om Puri starrer West is directed by Andy De Emmony, is a sequel to East is East, the hit film about a mixed race family with a Pakistani father and English mother, has a Pakistani connection.
“The sequel, also written by Ayub Khan-Din, takes the British family to Pakistan, leading to inevitable friction with the father’s first family there. Also, Om Puri is the main lead in the film,” Mr Sawhney said. Slumdog Millionaire actress Frieda Pinto will be at the London Film Festival again as her second film Miral is one of the star attractions in London.