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A very good beginning… I am an amatuer blogger.

This is the beginning of a new chapter for me. One is always trying out new things in life and this is something that I am trying out for the first time.

I am not a regular blogger. I just have enough patience with my emails and looking up information that I want to read on the internet. Yes of course I try to keep in touch with my Yahoo group on my web site… not as much as I like to!!!

PFC was introduced to me by Anurag Kashyap when I met him at the IFFLA this April. I enjoyed reading it and wanted to be part of it…. so here I am.

WRITING is something that I admire in people. Sometime we have thoughts but to put them in words is not that easy. It has been always been a task to …

The author further talks about his interpretation of the festival, right from the name to its staff etc. I am not going to cut the following paragraphs because it needs to be read in one flow.

“IFFLA stands for Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. Its a carefully thought of name -INDIAN (proud to be one) FILM (a beautiful medium of expression) FESTIVAL (celebration)of LOS ANGELES (mecca of hollywood). There’s this observation I made during my flight to LA - every third person in LAX is an Indian (or even a pakistani/sri lankan). So that means Los Angeles (which is in USA) is brimming with people of Indian descent. Now what is more surprising is - the INDIAN film festival is run by a lovely lady, Christina Marouda, a lady of GREEK descent.

India & Greece - the only relation between the two is Alexander the great crossing the Indus river to …

“I wasn’t feeling too well this time around. Maybe it was the California sun or the moisturizer that I applied to get away from it - but this time I wasn’t feeling too well. Being housed up in a small room at the “Orchid house” (aka Directors’ house), I was the youngest among the other legends that I shared the space with.”

It is not apparent as to what the author is saying here, so we read further -

“So I wake up on one of the mornings - mind you we used to sleep at 4 am , while the others finally used to vacate at around 6am; and I hear sounds in the kitchen. As I make my way to the dining table, Sriram Raghavan is heating ‘parathas’ on the pan. Opposite to me, Shivajee Chandrabhushan is trying to work his skype on his laptop while Sanjay Routray offers me …

Mumbai Cutting

A city that tells thousands of stories each day, a city that weaves the magic for a million people everyday and a city that creates as much as it destroys each day – it was logical that something would pay tribute to its various layers and shades in typical Bollywood fashion but with a hint of betrayal – replace the glitz and the pseudonyms with gleams of passion and realism.

Sitting in Arch lights for the closing gala, I had but one apprehension – will the collective genius of al those makers fail the intelligent and glamor seeking audience in the congregation – c’on, the pick of junta there was either uber rich or over eager in their own endeavors…

Promod Bhai…23: Anurag Kashyap

What a find! The kid playing the protagonist is a true find. If Darsheel floored you with his dreamy …

The last few weeks have been trying. I have suffered some personal tragedies that make the Burmese look like a bunch of sissypant whiners. On my way back to New York from IFFLA, I spent an entire day at the airport because there were 2 clouds over Timbaktoo. I finally arrrived at my apartment, only to lose my tranny shades (Chinatown - 5$) in the cab. I had two hours to rest, before heading to the airport again. This time I lost my cell phone in the cab.
And then the last straw. My only expensive piece of clothing, a $400 baby lambskin white leather jacket that has served as a panty-dropper, got stuck in a door handle and ripped. I could have had it mended. Instead, I proceeded to shred my jacket and threw it in the garbage. I was free again.
Pardon me then, …

It would be apt to say that IFFLA is probably the most reputed Indian Film Festival outside of India. Its growing at a phenomenal rate. I remember when I had moved to LA around 3 years back & I met this Indian Guy Gautam Mishra in my Cinema class. He suggested that I should volunteer at IFFLA as I was new to the city/country, it would be a great opportunity to make some friends. And I did. Since then the 3rd week of April has been the best week of the year in LA for me.
Gautam also gave me his gyan from having volunteered before. He suggested that we volunteer in transportation. That was the second best advise he gave me. 2005 was much smaller in scale compared to this year. Madhur Bhandarkar was probably the only famous guy …

“I need 29 bags I need 29 bags”

There are six of us stuffing gift bags with various goodies for guests in the courtyard. Inside another twenty odd volunteers are busy getting gift bags ready for a different set of guests. The phone rings…

“Hi oz, this is Bipin…. Bipin Nadkarni”

My back hurts, my sinus headaches acting up in the chill flowing around AFI campus, I need my 29 bags for the event I’m managing, and in all that, the brain fails to register who is Bipin Nadkarni.

Mercifully the blank state of mind flows back into gear… darn that’s the brilliant director of Marathi Movies who’s movie has been selected for the festival.

Problem.

He’s at the airport.

Problem.

He’s trying to find his pickup… the volunteer sent to get him from the airport. Damn…

Pass the phone to Felicia.

Nitin, who handles the entire complex transport system for the festival, is off dialing the number of the …

Indian Film Festival of Los Angles(IFFLA) is a festival that probably comes closest to PFC’s own aspirations as platform to showcase movies par excellence without money, power and politics and only talent and creativity being the buzz words.

Like 2007, PFC promises to give an indepth and close coverage of the entire event with very very exclusive updates, interviews and more than anything else, an unique insight into what goes into making movies and its festivals the greatest shows on the planet.

Not failing the movie faithfuls like ever, Christina Marouda and the entire IFFLA team has put together an event that will be nothing like ever witnessed combining soemof the best movies from mainstream Indian Cinema to the discreetly creative independent cinema of Indian origin. Be it the unique platform to capture shorts where PFC’s very own Srinivas is running for honors for the second year in succession or be in …