I went to this last year. Its always a blast!

I would actually recommend "Hanumaan" to people. I saw it recently on a desi-video-store VHS copy, and enjoyed it.

It's a little didactic at times (ok, very didactic), but the animation is quite decent -- visually stimulating. You wouldn't guess that this is India's first fully animated feature.

Looks like a good festival overall... I'm regretting that I now live too far away from NYC to make it.

That was tonight!!?!?!??!!

dammit dammit DAMMMITT!!

*grabs coat*

Vijay... I'm the Cynthia Plaster Caster of noses!!!

wait for meee!!

I went to 'Hari Om' today. Just simply unwatchable. I mean so bad that even the gratuitous shots the cried out 'exotic india' were atrocious. I actually had to walk out after 20 minutes, such was my state of apathy, boredom and slight disgust. its unbelievable that shit like this is opening these desi festivals. Surely our cultural heritage can aspire us to something a little more polished. i mean, we did at one point have Ray and Ghatak, Bimal Roy and Guru Dutt amongst a long list. My favorite shot was the one of the french heroine chick running full tilt up the last slope of amber fort in jaipur still in heels. They should have opened with 'Being Cyrus' -- it promises to be a far better movie. Anyway, the whole thing was really sad. There was a huge mike fiasco that continued for one whole hour, then poor Bhanu Athiya (famous costume designer - 'Gandhi' etc) looked like she was going to pass out on stage with no mike power and film noir lighting and a general state of personal collapse - and then the spectacle of Vijay Raaz (who was so good in Monsoon Wedding) having to ham up a tapori rickshaw driver in Jaipur. Interestingly one of the first credits was a thank you to Desh Deshpande (billionaire founder Sycamore networks) Kanwal Rekhi also millionaire techie and founder of TIE and Rajat Gupta ceo of McKinsey, amongst others.)

the sleeper Bollywood superhit; Sancharram (The Journey), Liga Pullapully’s controversial depiction of lesbian love in an idyllic Kerala village

WOW! Malayali lesbo movie! Brilliant, Finally people are challenging our social norms. I find malayali people so uptight, and truly love it when something like this comes up. This should really ruffle their feathers!

I hope it comes out on DVD. Sadly we don't have any South Asian International fesivals in South Africa. We only get the cheesy IIFA and such coming here.

Saw the description of "Hari Om" and just knew it had to be one of those "India is so quaint and exotic" movies. Being Cyrus sounds a bit more promising, but can anyone tell me whether the image of Saif Ali Khan lying in a bathtub has been lifted straight from one of those movies about angst-ridden people, like "Garden State"? It looks kind of familiar to me, but I can't quite place it.

Sancharram is excellent; I saw it in Chicago.

Highly recommended.

I saw Hari Om in London a few months ago. My brown best friend refused to go, saying he was sure it would be a cliche, so I quivered next to the brown boyfriend, wondering the entire time whether he was finding it stereotypical. But he enjoyed it, said it made him want to visit that part of India. I was surprised at the ending, having been expecting something fake and Bollyistic. I dunno, I loved the absurd chase scene at the end. Sometimes you just have to enjoy cheesy films for what they are. In this case, one big tourist board ad for Rajasthan. ;)

I saw Hari Om at the Toronto film festival two years ago. It was not the movie I was hoping for. It was boring, Eurocentric and annoying. Much as I love Vijay Raaz, it was just not an interesting film. I do agree though that it definitely worked as a Rajasthan tourist board ad! :)