M A I N   N E W S

4th Haryana International Film Festival
Leslee Udwin awed by the land of ‘khaps’
Vandana Shukla

Yamunanagar, October 1
On the inaugural day of the 4th Haryana International Film Festival (HIFF), two films were premiered which cinegoers in bigger towns in North India still do not have access to- ‘Three Sisters’ by Kundan Shah and ‘Moner Manush’ by Gautam Ghosh.

Earlier in the evening, when Leslee Udwin had an interaction with students after the screening of her films- ‘East is East’ and ‘West is West’, one of the students told her that the film reminded him of the deserted wives he comes across in his village. Udwin told The Tribune she was in awe of this endeavour in a small, dusty corner of Haryana; this was not Cannes, nor Berlin, but it was more intense, she felt. The sheer fact that such an effort exists is amazing. There is a battle all over the world between meaningful cinema and what goes on in the name of entertainment. Here, with an audience like this, good cinema wins.

Yamunanagar did not even have an auditorium where good films could be screened. After the festival was initiated four years back, Sushma Arya, principal, DAV College for Girls, who conceptualised and organised the event, raised funds with the help of UGC and donors to construct an auditorium for film viewing.

In the land of khaps and female foeticide, a couple of girls told Leslee they would like to make films on women’s issues, just like her; she inspires them to tell their stories. Subhash from Doon University, Dehradun and Atul Mishra, who hails from Banaras and studies at Doaba College, Jalandhar, are in awe with the narrative, about how a white woman could get a grip over an Asian family’s dilemma, about the universality of the subject and the language of cinema they had just witnessed.

Kundan Shah, of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron fame said before introducing his film based on the suicide of three sisters in Kanpur, “I am a product of film appreciation courses like this, which inspired me to join FTII, Pune. But when I see a college in Haryana organising a film appreciation course, it fills my heart with pride. Courses like these help develop mind, values and ethics. Since cinema is the medium of the times, it helps you become aware of the world. You carry this cinema with you because it stimulates your mind.”

Virendra Singh, general secretary, AICC, who has been associated with the festival since its inception, said, “In Haryana, we don’t even have cultural centres; we need to make our culture more attractive, the way Punjab has done by promoting its music and dance and food. We may be number one in terms of per capita income but in terms of culture, we are still associated with agriculture.” Haryanvis are number one models and underworld shooters, he remarked in jest, all thanks to the influence of cinema.