By E. Nina Rothe

Come Friday, August 28th, Broadway — that avenue of lights in NYC — will get its glow not by regular electricity, not even from late summer’s sunlight but thanks to a bevy of brilliant stars. That’s because for three wonderful days and equally fantastic nights, the Big Apple will play host to some of the brightest and most beloved Superstars in the firmament of Indian cinema.

Through Sunday, August 30th, the I-View Film festival organized by Engendered takes over the Stanley Kaplan Penthouse, Walter Reade Theater, Asia Society and even briefly Leela Lounge for a weekend of films and events. Now, don’t hate me because what I call work involves sitting in an perfectly air-conditioned theater, surrounded by movie stars and world-renowned filmmaker. I know, it’s a not a hard job, but somebody still has to do it! And of course, the official Media Partner of the festival is your favorite Desi program AVS TV. So you can expect much, much more from the frontlines later…

According to festival Executive Director Myna Mukherjee, I-View Film will “showcase films that are a true reflection of the many different realities that we as South Asians span and the various ways in which gender and sexuality issues intersect our lives - because ultimately that is why cinema is so powerful - it lets us identify within moments with what is happening on the screen.”

The lineup includes a star-studded opening night gala reception at the Stanley Kaplan Penthouse in Lincoln Center, which will feature a plenary with clips from the participating films and an open discussion with the filmmakers. The night is scheduled to end with music and dancing, including a performance by the exotic Nadia Ali. John Abraham, Boman Irani, Farhan Akhtar, Tarun Mansukhani, Zoya Akhtar, Shyam Benegal and Mira Nair — among others, really too plentiful to list all — will be in attendance, at the gala and on the glamorous red carpet.

Then fabulous films will be shown over the whole weekend, with a Saturday morning screening of ‘Dostana’ — attended by writer/director Tarun Mansukhani, lead actor and Bollywood superhunk John Abraham, as well as the superbly talented Boman Irani — which is sure to be mobbed and loads of fun. Saturday afternoon is jam packed with entertainment, courtesy of a series of shorts exploring ‘Queer Sexuality and Identity’, followed by a screening of the groundbreaking ‘Lets Talk’ hosted by actor Boman Irani and director Ram Madhvani and then ‘Ode to Lata’, with a special appearance by writer Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla. Saturday night’s afterparty will be held at Leela Lounge, courtesy of Bibi Magazine.

Sunday morning will see more shorts, then Shyam Benegal’s ‘Mandi’ accompanied by the director himself, followed by Mira Nair’s ‘My Own Country’ with Nair in attendance, ready to answer audience questions. Which brings me to the sweet sugar lump at the bottom of this cinema-lover’s teacup, one of my favorite films of 2009, Zoya Akhtar’s ‘Luck By Chance’! From the very first moment I saw LBC — sitting in a plush red seat of the Adlabs viewing room inside Film City in Bombay, surrounded by the filmmaker, her actors, brother Farhan and all the other incredible talents and celebrities that helped make this masterpiece of Indian cinema a reality — I knew it would become one of those films I would end up using as a measure for all others. If you have yet to view ‘Luck By Chance’ on the big screen, I insist that you catch it this Sunday afternoon at the festival, where it will be the closing night selection. Your dreams are guaranteed to become multicolored, exciting and ultra bright hence after!

Finally, I’ll leave you with why ‘Dostana’ was chosen as the opening film in the festival. Festival Coordinator Shailja Gupta points out that “the message [of the I-View Film festival] is very much about how Bollywood is instrumental in influencing the minds of those so-called ‘conventional thinking people’, in India and well as around the world. You know, those who don’t want to talk about these issues. ‘Dostana’ is clearly one of those films. Now the masses are aware in India that there is something called ‘homosexuality’ or ‘gay’ and that is a lifestyle.” Indeed, could it be more than a coincidence that the film opened a mere seven months before Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code was amended in favor of gay relationships? And this year’s Queer Pride Delhi and Queer Azadi Mumbai parades saw attendance soar, amid plentiful — and uncharacteristically kind — media coverage… Hail to the power of cinema, I say!

I-View Trailer