DesiReflections

  Today at MAMI International Film Festival , I saw Mirra Bank’s docudrama THE ONLY REAL GAME. We , as an ordinary Indian, know Manipur only for its natural beauty and classical dance form Manipuri,  some time we also hear about dissident separatist groups fighting agaist the very concept of being a part of India.  Mirra has gone into much deeper and gives a very honest  account of what is happening in this small state of  north eastern part of our country bordering with Myanmar.   The docudrama   is a slice of real life, fighters' and dreamers' story about the magic of baseball for people in a remote and troubled place. The tiny state of Manipur, in strife torn northeast India defies civil war, drugs, gun traffic, and HIV AIDS strangely through love of Americas’   national obsession i.e. baseball . Against all odds, Manipur is the most unlikely of places to find baseball being played with ...

" Where I Go " (2012) 
 Director: Neang Kavich
 Country: Cambodia 
   This year MAMI has special section on Combodian Films. Frankly speaking, I never thought that this small far east Asian   war torn country may have any significance on world film map. But today when I saw this documentary directed by Neang Kavich , I was compelled to change my opinion. This documentary is about children born out of holy or unholy martial alliance between uniformed officers/ men of United States Peace Keeping Forces with local women. San Pattica is such a child, a mixed Cambodian-Cameroonian son, his father came to work in Cambodia in 1992-1993, during a period of the first election in Cambodia after the Khmer Rouge regime collapsed. Since his father left country for many years, Pattica was raised by his grandmother. However, grandma was forced to bring Pattica to study and live in an orphanage in Phnom Penh. I met with Kavich after the show. He is hardly 26 ...

Mumbai, October 17, 2013   The excitement was palpable as the Emcee welcomed Mr. Srinivasan Narayanan, festival director of the 15 th  edition of the Mumbai Film Festival  organized by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (MAMI). Introducing the 8 day film lovers delight he said, “The Mumbai Film Festival has become an integral part of this city’s culture. For these 8 days, the city breathes cinema. We are pleased that such distinguished personalities have accepted our invitation to partake in the 15 th  edition and join in celebrating the best of world Cinema” Applause continued to echo through the auditorium as Mr. Shyam Benegal, Chairman, MAMI was invited on stage to address the gathering. Benegal began to speak. “Without taking much time, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all our guests. I would also like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Ambani for their continued support to the Mumbai Film Festival. ” Ceremony and tradition have always...

Road trips in USA are an essential part of any family's life. Such trips give an opportunity to explore, enjoy and spending quality time , thus develop bonding among the family members and the group of friends and relatives while traveling together. The trip experience is far different from the conducted tours where everything is pre decided and pre arranged that to for a group. @ Pics and Text : Pradeep Gupta Normally the family and friends drive to the destinations in own vehicles, the itineraries are flexible and can be modified as per the weather conditions, mutual convenience of the group members. This flexibility gives you a lot of leverage where ever you want to stay you may stay, as long as you want to stay to enjoy nature, interacting with locals, eating their local cuisine and have a very different feel. So during my visit to Seattle, USA this summer , we decided to go on a road trip to California. Initially the plan was to touch the southern most tip of Calif...