Mr. and Mrs. Iyer

Aparna Sen, 2002; 118 min.

Thursday, March 17, 6:00-8:00pm in UC 272

 Opening Night Reception Catered by Curriez Restaurant

As Meenakshi Iyer & her nine-month old son, Santanam, board a bus, they meet Raja Chowdhary, a wildlife photographer. Since Meenakshi is traveling alone with her infant, Raja looks after her. Everyone on the bus assumes they are a couple. When an angry mob of Hindu extremists on the prowl for Muslims stops the bus, a chill runs down Raja's spine. Born & brought up in an orthodox Brahmin family, Meenakshi is shocked to learn of Raja's Muslim background. At first she keeps her distance from him, but as she witnesses the inhuman way in which Muslims are being killed, she can't help but save Raja’s life: she lies to the Hindu extremists, saying that they're a married Hindu couple, "Mr. & Mrs. Iyer."

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India

Ashutosh Gowariker, 2001; 224 min.

 Wednesday, March 23, 6:00-10:00pm in UC 272

Beverage Reception at Intermission

The rains have failed, so the people of a small Indian village in Victorian India ask their British colonizers to excuse them from paying “lagan,” their crippling land tax. Instead, a British officer challenges them to a double-or-nothing game of cricket, a game totally unknown to them. The village is terrified, but one man thinks the challenge is worth staking their entire future on. If they win, they never have to pay lagan again; but if they lose, the increased tax burden will destroy their lives. Will he convince the villagers to give it their best shot?

Double Feature Closing Night: Two by Satyajit Ray

Beverage Reception at Intermission

Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)

Satyajit Ray, 1959; 106 min.
 Thursday, March 24, 6:00-7:45pm in UC 272

Apu is a jobless ex-student dreaming vaguely of a future as a writer when an old college friend talks him into a visit up-country for a village wedding. This changes his life, for when the bridegroom turns out to be mad, Apu's friend asks him to become the husband. After initial revulsion at the idea, Apu agrees. He takes his beautiful bride, Aparna, back to Calcutta where they live happily. But when Aparna dies in childbirth, Apu—crazy with grief—leaves Calcutta & abandons his son Kajal to his wife's parents. Now totally indifferent to worldly responsibilities, can Apu return to the world and Kajal?

Ghare Baire (Home & the World)

Satyajit Ray, 1984; 140 min.
Thursday, March 24, 8:00-10:15pm in UC 272

As the film opens in 1907, a Bengali woman recalls the events that molded her perspective on the world. Years ago, her husband, a wealthy Western-educated landowner, challenged tradition by providing her with schooling & inviting her out of the seclusion in which married women were kept—all to the consternation of more conservative relatives. When she meets her husband's visiting friend from college, a leader of an economic rebellion against the British, she takes up his political cause, despite her husbands warnings. Their relationship between the woman & the visitor becomes more than platonic, & the political battles—pitting rich against poor & Hindu against Moslem—turn out not to be quite as simple as she had first thought.