All movies are free to the public, courtesy of the Passport to India program of the University of Central Oklahoma. All screenings will be in Pegasus Theater in the Liberal Arts building, on Saturdays at 3:30 p.m. You may download a brochure in PDF format. Monetary donations (cash/check) are welcome at the time of screening in the theater lobby, or may be dropped off in the dropbox at the Jackson College of Graduate Studies and Research, Nigh University Center room 404. Donations will be sent to the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence to promote peace and harmony. Dr. Arun Gandhi, (grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, is the founder of this institute and addressed UCO students in July 2005. He can be reached directly at the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence, 650 East Parkway South, Memphis TN 38104 - (901) 452-2824, fax (901) 452-2775, director@gandhiinstitute.org.
September 24: Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenga (official website)Chaudhry Baldev Singh is a London-based immigrant. He, along with his wife and two daughters, have been living in London for the past several years. A true Indian at heart, Singh is a man of great morals and has tried to imbibe the same in his daughters. He has brought them up with the belief that they are strangers in this foreign land and are here purely for financial reasons. They will all return one day back to Punjab, back to his roots, his land, his culture, one that he so strongly believes in. Released 1995.
October 1: Bend it Like Beckham (official website)Teenager Jess doesn't want to end up as a boring solicitor. She wants to play football like her hero, David Beckham. But being a girl, her chances are limited to having a kick about in the local park and, being an Asian girl, her family doesn't even agree with her doing that. As her mum says, "Who'd want a girl who plays football all day but can't make chapatis?" Released 2003.
October 8: Black (official website)Michelle McNally is the daughter of an Anglo-Indian family who becomes deaf and blind after an illness she gets at the age of eighteen months. She is a bright, intelligent girl who lives in a world of black silence with no way of reaching out. This frustrates the young girl's mind, which urges to communicate. This frustration leads her to be destructive, violent, and given to rages. But her destiny has something else in store. Two soul mates are about to meet. Released 2005.
October 15: Monsoon Wedding (official website)A stressed father, a bride-to-be with a secret, a smitten event planner, and relatives from around the world create a much ado about the preparations for an arranged marriage in India. Director Mira Nair is well known in the United States for her earlier films Salaam Bombay! (1988), Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love (1996), and Vanity Fair (2004), but Monsoon Wedding is her best-loved crossover hit. Released 2002.
October 29: Dhoom (official website)Dhoom starts with a bang. India's first bike flick begins in Mumbai (Bombay) where a sophisticated gang of robbers is sweeping through the city. They come like the wind, sweep the place, and disappear, brilliantly metamorphosing into inconspicuous pizza boys after their missions are accomplished. The high point of these robberies is always the getaway of the robbers on their hi-tech bikes--the slickest, meanest, and fastest riding machines on the road. Jai Dixit, an honest police officer, is brought in on the case. Initially daunted by the speed and mannerisms of the gang, Jai ropes in the services of Ali, a happy-go-lucky garage mechanic and a prodigious bike rider. Released 2004.
November 12: Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (official website)Set in 1893, Lagaan is the story of Champaner, an Awadhi village reeling under a drought and exorbitant taxation by the British, who having consolidated their hold over India now exert total control over the local raja. A tiff between the resident British representative, Captain Russell, and local lad Bhuvan results in the villagers being challenged to a game of cricket. This is of course no friendly outing on the village green on a Sunday. The stakes are high since winning the match would result in the waiver of the annual taxes (Lagaan) for the entire province. However, losing the game would plunge the overworked and underfed peasants into destitution since the taxation would then be tripled. Released 2001.
