The first San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival 21 years ago occurred at a cavalcade moment when the city’s various film festivals were going strong and in-person attendance at movie theaters was robust.
Much has changed since, but 2024 will still see 3rd i’s annual presentation of cinema from India, Pakistan, France, the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. at the Roxie Theater, Oct. 18–20.
The theme of this year’s festival is again “Beyond Bollywood,” and the lineup will give audiences a taste of Qawwali, the Sufi Islamic devotional musical tradition, in films such as Fawzia Mirza’s The Queen of My Dreams, which opens the festival. Mirza’s comedy-drama depicts grad student Azra’s journey of discovery, from her conservative Muslim mother’s youth in Pakistan to Azra’s own coming of age in Canada.
It is inspired by the 1969 hit film Aradhana (which starred Sharmila Tagore) and one of that film’s classic songs about a man finding the love of his life, “Mere Sapno Ki Rani” (The queen of my dreams). Director Mirza says, “When I came out as queer, I thought the song no longer applied [to me], or rather, maybe a woman would sing it to me. But I realized I am the queen of my own dreams. … Azra is the queen of her own dreams.”
Dear Jassi, screening on Oct. 19, is director Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s film bringing the Romeo and Juliet story to Punjab, with a narrator who Singh says is “literally ‘singing’ to us the love between Jassi and Mithu, like a modern-day bard, turning this heartbreaking love story into a Punjabi folk tale.”
The film is based on the real-life honor killing of Jaswinder Kaur (“Jassi”), from a wealthy Punjab family, who fell in love with Sukhwinder Singh Sidhu (“Mithu”), a poor rickshaw driver.
Singh says, “I first learned about this story soon after it happened, in the late ’90s. I read the news of Jassi’s mother practically sentencing her daughter to death, and I was speechless, horrified. I kept asking myself: What can lead a decent human being to commit such a monstrous act against her own daughter? Jassi’s mother is not an evil person, but her beliefs compel her to act in horrific ways.
“At its core, Dear Jassi is a beautiful, albeit tragic love story that develops between two very different young adults. And even though I wanted to tell it in a very realistic and grounded way, the more I delved into it, the more I discovered incredible similarities with Shakespeare. Not only the doomed love story between the two protagonists and the opposition of their families but many other elements, both visual — the balcony — and narrative.
“And yet, how do you tell a modern-day tragedy in an age where we are constantly overwhelmed by headlines that lay out the stark facts in a very raw and sensational way? I decided to go in a completely opposite direction.
“First, I made a conscious choice not to show the act of violence directly, in order to find a more cinematic and powerful way to describe it through the depth of field, the sound design, and what happens offstage.
“[There’s] also the choice of the Punjabi language and of the two main leads, two talented and beautiful unknown actors who could unabashedly represent on-screen the naive, tender, audacious, and powerful attraction between two young adults whose love goes beyond any restriction dictated by their family and their society.”
Tabla player Robin Sukhadia presents a free program called “Two Paths, One Nation” on Oct. 20, highlighting two landmark films — Lagaan and RRR — that explore the history of colonial India in striking visuals and soundtracks.
Another offering on Oct. 20, “3rd i Shorts: From Mumbai to the Mission,” has a little bit of everything, from music videos to documentaries, comedies, and dramatic narratives, tackling stories of immigration, relationships, identity, and social justice.
The program includes the world premiere of “Railways,” a music video of a journey through the lush monsoon landscapes of Bengal. The music is composed and performed by Sadubas, the musical duo of Sukhadia and Ameet Mehta, who are known for their tabla playing, beat machines, and samples from Bollywood’s golden era.
Female empowerment is at the core of Shuchi Talati’s Girls Will Be Girls, a 2024 Indo-French drama screening on Oct. 20. Set in a boarding school in the Himalayas, the film explores the complexities of a 16-year-old girl’s budding romance with a 17-year-old boy and an unwelcome emotional love triangle involving her mother.
Among the festival’s previous services to expanding the awareness of South Asian music in the Bay Area was presenting the feature Jai Ho, about A.R. Rahman, the “Mozart of Madras.” He has been the composer for more than 140 films, including the Oscar- and Grammy Award-winning Slumdog Millionaire, as well as the West End hit musical Bombay Dreams.
