This annual celebration of alternative Indian cinema showcases contemporary film, while highlighting the work of marginal and independent South Asian filmmakers.
We are delighted a new season of Not Just Bollywood is returning to HOME in September with a focus on regional rural identity including Indian filmmaker Gurvinder Singh’s Punjab Trilogy. Presented as a trilogy for the first time, this series of loosely connected films explore the histories, politics and narratives of contemporary Punjab.
Additionally, we will be screening Muhammad Quayum’s debut film The Golden Wings of Watercocks which portrays the impact of climate change on landless farmers in Bangladesh.
Not Just Bollywood is curated by Omar Ahmed, UK-based film scholar and Rachel Hayward, HOME’s Head of Film Strategy.
Previously in this Festival
Cinema
The Golden Wings of Watercocks + recorded intro
Muhammad Quayum’s award winning debut film is a moving portrait of impoverished rice farmers in the Haor region of Bangladesh, who have been impacted by…
Cinema
Crescent Night + Q&A
The final part in Singh’s Punjab Trilogy is an accomplished rural noir and arguably the high point of the trilogy, untangling complex threads of masculinity,…
Cinema
Fourth Direction + Intro
The second part in Singh’s Punjab Trilogy is a brilliantly atmospheric and minimalist work set in the mid 1980s in a time of severe political…
Cinema
Alms for a Blind Horse
Gurvinder Singh’s extraordinary debut feature explores the hidden undercurrents of subjugated Dalit farmers in rural Punjab who seek justice for their social and economic marginalisation
Cinema
Not Just Bollywood and MetFilm Distribution present/ While We Watched
A turbulent newsroom drama intimately chronicling the working days of Indian broadcast journalist Ravish Kumar
Cinema
UK premiere/ Noi
The story of Bisnu, a middle-aged fisherman, who undergoes a journey to identify the body of an unknown man. A semi-autobiographical, critiquing political corruption, hypocrisy…
Cinema
UK Premiere / A Rifle and a Bag
The Naxalite Movement, one of the most sustained political folk/tribal movements in the global south, is the focus of this brilliantly observed documentary by the…
Cinema
UK premiere/ Nasir
Nasir is a powerful slice of neo-realism and a searing indictment of religious hatred in a Muslim community in Tamil Nadu. An unmissable work from…
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UK premiere/ Nasir post-screening discussion
Event/ This screening will be followed by a discussion about the representation of Muslims in Indian cinema.
Cinema
Gamak Ghar
Director Achal Mishra’s impressive feature debut weaves together an intricate succession of absorbing vignettes to present a story about renewal, change and neglect.
Cinema
The Wanderlust of Apu
A follow up to Satyajit Ray's classic Apu Trilogy, The Wanderlust of Apu (Avijatrik) brings back to the big screen, after sixty years, the enduring…
Cinema
Nirvana Inn
Tamil filmmaker Vijay Jayapal’s follow up feature to his assured 2016 debut Revelations is a contemporary Indian Gothic that blurs the line between reality and…
Cinema
UK Premiere/ Manohar and I
Two individuals meet regularly in Calcutta to share stories, forging a connection that reveals expressions of desperation, solitude and love.
Cinema
Not Just Bollywood presents/ Pakeezah
One of the most extraordinary musical melodramas ever made, Pakeezah is much beloved by audiences for Meena Kumari’s breathtakingly tragic turn as the doomed Sahibjaan.
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Not Just Bollywood presents Pakeezah + Introduction
Omar Ahmed, co-curator of Not Just Bollywood, introduces Pakeezah
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The Warrior
A stunning epic relating a warrior's quest for redemption after renouncing violence, stunningly filmed in the deserts of Rajasthan and the mountains of northern India.
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Dishoom Cooking Experience
Join Dishoom’s Executive Chef Naved Nasir for a highly unique onstage cooking experience at HOME.
Cinema
Not Just Bollywood/ Round Figure
Sudheer, a washed-up character actor from the heyday of Bollywood, comes out of retirement aged 63 after her realises he's on the verge of a…
Cinema
The Namesake
With perhaps her most personal film yet, Nair returns with a cross-generational, trans-continental, culture clash family drama based on Jumpha Lahiri’s best-selling novel.
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One Hour Intro: In Your Eyes – The Films of Irrfan Khan
This one hour intro will give audiences an insight into the career of Irrfan Khan, exploring his stardom, acting style & key films that defined…
Cinema
I Am Belmaya
An extraordinarily intimate window into Belmaya’s world, giving an insight into the brutality of life for many girls and women in Nepal, and showing her…
Cinema
Too Desi Too Queer
A dynamic and thought-provoking selection of recent LGBTQIA+ short films exploring the lives, experiences and well-being of South Asian LGBTQIA+ communities in the Subcontinent and…
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The Elements Trilogy: Fire + Introduction
This screening of Fire on 11 Sep at 18:05 will be introduced by season curators Omar Ahmed and Rachel Hayward.
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Manohar and I Recorded Intro
This screening of Manohar and I will feature a recorded introduction by director Amitabha Chaterji.
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The Namesake + Recorded Introduction
This screening will have a recorded introduction from The Namesake screenwriter Sooni Taraporevala.
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A Dog and His Man + Recorded Introduction
This screening will have a recorded introduction from director Siddharth Tripathy.
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Nirvana Inn + Recorded Introduction
This screening will have a recorded introduction from director Vijay Jayapal
Cinema
A Dog and His Man
Shoukie, the last resident of a village in Chhattisgarh Central India, has been served a final eviction notice. Left only with his dog & old…
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The Warrior Recorded Intro
This screening of The Warrior will have a recorded introduction from director Asif Kapadia.
Cinema
The Elements Trilogy: Earth
A searing adaptation of Bapsi Sidhwa’s novel ‘Cracking India’ (1991) Deepa Mehta’s second part in the Elements trilogy illustrates how women were victims of Partition.
Cinema
Namdev Bhau in Search of Silence
The mythical ‘Silent Valley’ is the destination for Namdev Bhau, a sixty-five year-old chauffeur who cannot cope with the noise of the city anymore.
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Ankhon Dekhi Q&A
We will be joined by actor, writer and director Rajat Kapoor for a post-screening Q&A.
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Panel Discussion: India’s Independent Cinema – Past, Present and Future
This screening will be followed by an informal panel discussion exploring Indian independent cinema. We will be joined by Ashvin Devasundaram, Lecturer in World Cinema…
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Kothanodi Intro
This screening will be introduced by Alexandra Delaney, Birmingham City University.
Cinema
Ankhon Dekhi
Multi-talented actor, writer and director Rajat Kapoor’s idiosyncratic masterpiece is one of the key works of the new Indian independent cinema. This semi philosophical comedy…
Cinema
The Cinema Travellers
One of the most critically-acclaimed documentaries to have come out of India in years, Amit Madheshiya and Shirley Abraham’s stirring portrait of the travelling cinemas…
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One Hour Intro/ Caste on Indian Screen: Marginalising the real in the reel
Using clips and a range of examples, this talk looks at the dynamics of representation of caste in Indian cinema.
Cinema
Bandit Queen
Based on the life of Phoolan Devi, India’s most feared outlaw, director Shekhar Kapur’s controversial masterwork is a brutal tale of caste oppression that features…
Cinema
UK Premiere: Kadvi Hawa
A cautionary and instructive work about the devastating impact of climate change on the lives of debt ridden farmers in Rajasthan.
Cinema
The Hungry
This strikingly crafted UK-Indian co-production is a murderous and twisted adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus that stages a story of revenge, family and betrayal in…
Cinema
The Elements Trilogy: Fire
Deepa Mehta’s seminal film is a powerful critique of patriarchy and one of the first Indian films to depict a lesbian relationship.
Cinema
Jai Bhim Comrade
This extraordinary chronicle and political odyssey of the Dalit (“untouchable”) movement in India is arguably the highpoint to Patwardhan’s remarkable career as Indian cinema’s most…
Cinema
Tikli and Laxmi Bomb
This brilliantly nuanced quasi-noir thriller from Aditya Kripalani (adapted from his 2015 novel) depicts the defiant yet tragic lives of female sex workers in Mumbai…
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The Hungry Q&A
We will be joined by producer Kurban Kassam and actor Antonio Aakeel for a post-screening Q&A.
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Masaan Post screening discussion
This screening will be followed by a free and informal roundtable discussion.
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Tikli and Laxmi Bomb Introduction
This screening will be introduced by season curator Omar Ahmed.
Cinema
Photograph
A struggling street photographer in Mumbai who is pressured to marry by his grandmother convinces a shy stranger to pose as his fiancée.
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Waiting Introduction
This screening of Waiting on Wed 2 Oct at 18:10 will be introduced by Roy Stafford, freelance film educator.
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The Elements Trilogy
Made over a period of ten years, Deepa Mehta’s controversial Elements trilogy was a monumental undertaking exploring gender, sexuality, violence and religion from the feminist…
Cinema
Lipstick Under My Burkha
Focusing on the lives of four women from a cross section of Indian society, director Alankrita Shrivastava constructs an inclusive and empowering representation of female…
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One Hour Intro: The New Woman and Contemporary Indian Cinema
Delve deeper into our Not Just Bollywood film season with this special one-hour introduction that explores the growing power of the female audience at the…
Cinema
The Elements Trilogy: Water
The final part of the Elements trilogy is set in 1938 during a time of growing resistance to British rule and deals with the discrimination and ostracism…
Cinema
A Death in the Gunj
Life for a shy young Indian student slowly falls to pieces during a family road trip.
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Not Just Bollywood/Little Zizou
A wildly original and exuberant comedy about two battling Bombay families.