72nd Venice Film Festival: Indian films screened

By Atul Mishra

The 72nd Venice International Film Festival, organized by La Biennale di Venezia, is set to conclude today. The festival started on September 2 with the screenings of silver masterpieces. The aim of the festival is to raise awareness and promote the various aspects of international cinema in all its forms: as art, entertainment and as an industry, in a spirit of freedom and dialogue.

Indian films have always left their indelibility on the silver celluloid at international level. This year, three Indian masterpieces have been screened at the 72^nd Venice Film Festival.

Pyaasa

Classic film of legendary Guru Dutt, Pyaasa (1957) was screened with 20 other films from across the world for the Venice Classics Award for the best restored film.

What's special about the film is that it's said to be the first ever movie which has been restored in India. As per news sources, the job has been done by Ultra Media and Entertainment. The idea of taking the film to Venice came to Sushilkumar Agrawal, CEO of the company when he noticed the absence of Indian films in the retro section of prestigious fests and thus decided to restore Pyaasa which when searched on Google came among the top 100 classics.

After the screening of the film at the festival in Venice, the movie apparently will travel to various other international film festivals, after which it will be re-released worldwide in 2016

Highly acclaimed and a classic, directed by Guru Dutt, the film narrates the story of Vijay (Guru Dutt), a struggling poet trying to make his works known in post-independence India, and Gulabo (Waheeda Rehman), a prostitute with a heart of gold who eventually helps him get his poems published.

Island City

National Film Development Corporation's Hindi language feature Island City, directed by the first-time feature filmmaker Ruchika Oberoi and produced under the Ministry of I&B's 12th Five Year Plan Scheme on film production, had its world premiere at the prestigious 72nd Venice Film Festival. The film stars Vinay Pathak, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Amruta Subhash and Chandan Roy Sanyal amongst an ensemble cast and connects three stories, two black comedies and a tragicomic tale of love showing an ever-changing city in a time of uneasy transition, both economically and socially.

Visaranai

Visaranai (Interrogation) is an experimental Indian Tamil-language thriller film written and directed by Vetrimaaran. The film features Attakathi Dinesh, Anandhi and Aadukalam Murugadoss in the leading roles. The film is yet to have its theatrical release in India. Actor Dhanush's production venture Visaranai has become the first Tamil movie to have its premiere in the Orizzonti competition section of the 72nd Venice Film Festival. The film is Dhanush's second film as producer to get international recognition after the critically acclaimed Kaaka Muttai.