South Asia Summer Language Institute (SASLI)

Thursday June 21 – Umrao Jaan (2006)

In Hindi and Urdu with English subtitles

“Umrao Jaan” is a retelling of the historical Indian tale covered in a 1981 Bollywood classic and stars Aishwary Rai who is often hailed as the queen of Bollywood. Ms. Rai plays Ameeran, the daughter of a man who testified against a criminal, Dilwar Khan. Khan kidnaps her and sells her to a maternal madam who changes Ameerans name to Umrao Jaan and grooms her into a performing courtesan.

Thursday June 28 – Wheel of Time (2003)

In Tibetan with English subtitles

German director Werner Herzog’s absorbing documentary “Wheel of Time” is structured around the 12-day ritual creation of the magnificent, fragile Kalachakra sand mandala, also known as the wheel of time. In 2002, Werner Herzog went to India to observe the festival of Kalachakra, the ritual that takes place every few years to allow Tibetan Buddhist monks to become ordained. The resulting documentary is a look at an endangered culture whose very way of life is threatened. It is about being plunged into an intensely devotional world, feeling its tug and sensing its extreme austerity.

Thursday July 5 – Salaam Bombay! (1988)

Hindi with English subtitles

“Salaam Bombay!” is a 1988 Hindi film directed by Mira Nair and screenwritten by her longtime creative collaborator, Sooni Taraporevala. The film chronicles the day-to-day life of children living on the streets of Mumbai. Despite the movie's often dark subject matter, “ Salaam Bombay!” is ultimately a tale of hope and perseverance. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Thursday July 12 – Paruthi Veeran (2007)

Tamil with English subtitles

“Paruthi Veeran” tells a simple story of a village lout coming of age and getting refined through the alchemy of love. The trick and the success of the story lie in the small details that are rich and believable. Indiaglitz reports that director Ameer Sultan “has brought alive rustic simplicity and complexity on our screens. You come out of ‘Paruthi Veeran’ smelling of baked earth with an echo of pastoral patois.”

Thursday July 19 – Pather Panchali (1955, restored and reissued in 1995)

Bengali with English subtitles

Like millions of people around the world, the embattled family of Satyajit Ray’s 1955 masterpiece “Pather Panchali” must scratch a subsistence living out of the earth.

The overlying story is of shame and disappointment. The family owes its sinking fortunes to the failure of Harihar, the head of the household, to find steady work. A poet, playwright and itinerant priest, he is a dreamer and an optimist who leaves home for months at a time in search of employment. But as the film makes devastatingly clear, dreams, in and of themselves, are no substitute for food, clothing and shelter.

Thursday July 26 – The Terrorist (2000)

Tamil with English subtitles

Malli, the title character of Santosh Sivan’s remarkable film, is a 19-year-old who lives in a guerilla camp in the South Indian jungle. Aside from her occasional execution of a traitor and the constant threat of a government ambush, her life seems in many respects perfectly ordinary. When Malli is chosen for a suicide mission, her peers respond with envy and admiration. Malli’s cause is never specified, but “The Terrorist” was suggested by the suicide bombing that killed Rajiv Gandhi, the Indian prime minister, in 1991.

Thursday August 2 – In Custody (1993)

Urdu with English subtitles

Deven’s position as a professor of Hindi at a local college is only a means to an end. His first love is the Urdu language and in particular Urdu poetry. Deven’s multiple attempts to interview the great Urdu poet, Nur, act as a metaphor for the clash between modernization and tradition. The story is both a lyric appreciation of poetry and a comedy of errors about literary lives.

Thursday August 9 – Dor (2006)

Hindi with English subtitles.

Nagesh Kukunoor’s latest movie “Dor” is a moving tale of two women – one who undertakes a long journey to save her love, and another who dares to break the shackles of tradition and choose life as her heart wants it. The fate of these two women is invariably strung together by one incident that changes both their lives forever.