ASHIM AHLUWALIA is a Mumbai-based independent filmmaker. He made his feature debut with the documentary JOHN AND JANE (2005) which received international critical acclaim. He then went on to direct his first fiction feature, MISS LOVELY (2012), which had its world premiere at the Cannes film festival. He received the Charles Flint Kellogg Award in Arts and Letters from his alma mater Bard College for his “significant contribution to artistic or literary heritage.”
JOHN AND JANE
dir. Ashim Ahluwalia, 2005
78 mins. India.
In English with English subtitles.
THURSDAY, JUNE 02 – 7:30 PM
SUNDAY, JUNE 12 – 5:00 PM
TUESDAY, JUNE 14 – 10:00 PM
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29 – 7:30 PM
JOHN AND JANE centers on the personal and professional lives of six telemarketers working in a Bombay call center. Tasked with cajoling American customers into buying things, the workers single-mindedly chase the American dream in neoliberal India. Darkly comic and deeply unnerving, the refreshingly unconventional style of the documentary blurs the line between fact and fiction and provides a sobering look at the insidious effects of globalization on culture and identity in a highly unequal world.
“Call it George A. Romero’s Bollywood OFFICE SPACE … an enraged critique of Western excess that you can dance to.” – Slant Magazine
MISS LOVELY
dir. Ashim Ahluwalia, 2012
109 mins. India.
In Hindi with English subtitles.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 01 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, JUNE 04 – 11:55 PM
TUESDAY, JUNE 14 – 7:30 PM
TUESDAY, JUNE 21 – 10:00 PM
Brothers Vicky and Sonu crank out illegal-to-produce porn flicks for a living in the cut-throat cinematic underworld of 80s Bombay. The enterprising elder brother Vicky ventures into distributing the films on the hush and gets into trouble with the crime syndicate controlling the business. Struggling to distance himself from his brother’s recklessness, the naive Sonu sets his sights on Pinky and decides to go straight and make a clean romantic film with her. But unbeknownst to Sonu, Pinky has an unsavory history with Vicky in this slow-burn saga of sibling rivalry and betrayal.
“An idiosyncratically self-reflexive piece of cinematic art that will leave you drained as you leave the cinema” – Screen Anarchy