12th Cyprus World Music Festival goes Bollywood

By Emmelia Georgiou

The Cyprus Rialto World Music Festival began as an organisation dedicated to ethnic music, which later became world music, honouring sounds and melodies from every corner of the planet. This year the festival is taking another turn and heading straight to Bollywood with two screenings of Indian films under the stars.

The first film, Tanu Weds Manu, will be screened on Monday. The movie is a romantic Bollywood comedy, written by Himanshu Sharma and directed by Shailesh R. Singh. It tells the story of a London-based doctor, Manoj Sharma or ‘Manu’, who returns home to Delhi and, in the company of his parents, goes to meet his prospective bride Tanu. Although he approves of her, Tanu tells him that she already has a boyfriend and plans to marry him even against her parents’ wishes.

The second film, Hawaa Hawaai will be screened on July 10. Written and directed by Amole Gupte, this film centres around a young boy, Arjun, and his journey towards being a champion skater. After his father’s death, Arjun moves to Mumbai and starts to work in a tea stall. As much as he would like to skate, he finds the skates too expensive so his friends make a pair of skates for him out of garbage and call it ‘hawaa hawaai’. Aniket, a skating coach, is impressed by Arjun and decides to mentor him on skating and life in general.

Both films will have English subtitles.

Tanu Weds Manu
Screening of the Indian film. July 3. Rialto Theatre, Limassol. 8.30pm. Free. With English subtitles. Tel: 25-343900

Hawaa Hawaai
Screening of the Indian film. July 10

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