The top three Bollywood (the slang term by which the Indian film industry is known globally) films will feature, among others, in a two-week Bollywood film festival presented in South Africa by Cinema Nouveau in July. Audiences can look forward to award-winning work from a new generation of Bollywood filmmakers.

The Bollywood Film Festival runs from 4 to 17 July at Cinema Nouveau at the Rosebank Mall, Brooklyn in Pretoria and Cavendish in Cape Town

Films include the directorial debuts of award-winning actors Aamir Khan and Ajay Devgan, with their acclaimed Taare Zameen Par and U Me Aur Hum respectively. Aamir’s accidental debut as director occurred after he took over the film because he was unhappy with the way it was going. The film has since scooped the honours at almost every recent awards function.

Also raking in awards by the dozen, especially for its technical excellence, is the film Om Shanti Om, a spoof on Bollywood films of the seventies, starring the King of Bollywood, Shah Rukh Khan, in a dual role opposite stunning newcomer Deepika Padukone. Om Shanti Om, directed by Farah Khan, will also get a reprise at the Bollywood Festival, as will Saawariya, the love story by ace director Sanjay Leela Bhansali; which also released on the same day as Om Shanti Om and pitted Deepika’s current beau, Ranbir Kapoor, against her film on the release day.

Ashutosh Gowarikar’s no-expenses-spared epic Jodhaa Akbar, about the cross-religious love of a Muslim emperor and a Hindu princess, featuring former Miss World Aishwarya Rai and heartthrob Hrithik Roshan, is also a part of the Bollywood Festival, as is the political thriller Black and White, not about racial but rather Hindu-Muslim strife and solutions to it.

Race and Jannat, both substantially filmed in South Africa, have horse racing and cricket themes respectively.

Vanaja, a gripping tale of the rise from poverty of a girl who becomes a top classical dancer, completes the Bollywood Film Festival menu which is sure to entertain and enlighten fans of this genre.

Fast gaining international acclaim with the new styles of direction, Bollywood films now target international audience without sacrificing the essential values that make Bollywood what it is.

For more information on the festival, please log onto www.sterkinekor.com.