First things first

The Naya Cinema Festival, delayed a week by the bomb explosions, will feature the first films of noted directors, and a retrospective of late director Mani Kaul.

The cult Bengali film Gandu will have its Asian premier at the Naya Cinema Festival starting July 22. Considering that the film might never be released commercially in cinemas in India due to its “super-graphic” content, this is your only opportunity to catch the uncensored version of the 85-minute movie. It isn’t available on DVD, either, because the film is yet to be cleared by the censor board.

Organised by Taj Enlighten Film Society, an NGO dedicated to the cause of spreading great cinema, the festival will screen first or second films of directors who have made “path-breaking” cinema in India. Gandu, which has picked up awards at the South Asian International Film Festival in New York and more recently at the 2011 Seattle Film Festival, is directed by Kaushik Mukherjee. It will be the opening film of the festival.

Gandu is a story of an angst-ridden rapper, who hates his mother and life. Gandu — as the rapper is called by the people in his neighborhood — raps out his hate and anger, the dirt and filth of his existence. The rapper and his rickshaw-puller friend enter the world of smack, rap, porn, and horror.

Reality and fiction, the surreal and the bizarre, come together in this black-and-white film that “grabs auds [audiences] by the throat and gradually works its way down”, according to a reputed movie magazine. Mukherjee and his band, called the Gandu Circus Act, are slated to perform after the screening of the film.

Some of the other films which will be screened at the festival are Dil Chahta Hai (to mark a decade since its release), Aparna Sen’s directorial debut 36 Chowringhee Lane, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai, Shor in the City, Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Black Friday, Do Dooni Char, Udaan, and so on.

The festival will also pay homage to celebrated auteur Mani Kaul, who passed away in the first week of July this year, by screening two of his most revered films: Uski Roti (1969) and his third directorial, Duvidha (1973).

The Naya Cinema Festival opens on July 22 and will be held at various venues across the city, including Cinemax Versova, Edward Cinema, National Centre for the Performing Arts and World College and Mumbai Mirror Café. A festival pass will cost '999. The schedule has not yet been finalisd.

Call 022-42141414 or visit www.enlighten.co.in for further details