Images: Indian films steal limelight at Berlin Film Festival

  [caption id=“attachment_1376885” align=“alignleft” width=“940”]  Highway, which will have its world premiere at the Berlin film festival on 13 February, ahead of its worldwide release, marks a turning point in the work of this popular Bollywood director. Featuring Randeep Hooda and Alia Bhatt, this road movie explores unexpected undercurrents in the relationship between a kidnapper and his victim, with a powerful, un-Bollywoody punch in the climax. Text courtesy: Meenakshi Shedde[/caption]   [caption id=“attachment_1376925” align=“alignleft” width=“940”]  Pushpendra Singh’s Lajwanti (the Honour Keeper), a debut feature based on a Vijaydan Detha story, is a hauntingly beautiful art film about a Rajasthani woman in love with a gentle man obsessed with doves. Text courtesy: Meenakshi Shedde[/caption]   [caption id=“attachment_1376931” align=“alignleft” width=“940”]  Jessica Sadana and Samarth Dixit’s Prabhat Pheri (“Journey with Prabhat”) is a wonderful feature-length documentary exploring the history and myths of the place where the Prabhat Film Company once stood, currently housing the Film and Television Institute of India. The stories they’ve compiled are gems, including one about a director who is apparently reborn as a snake. Text courtesy: Meenakshi Shedde[/caption]   [caption id=“attachment_1376935” align=“alignleft” width=“940”]  Avinash Arun’s Killa (Fort) in Marathi, is a confident debut in the Generation section. It is a coming of age story set in the Konkan, about a youngster whose single mother keeps getting transferred. Text courtesy: Meenakshi Shedde[/caption]   [caption id=“attachment_1376945” align=“alignleft” width=“940”]  Satyajit Ray’s classic Nayak (“The Hero”), starring Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore, which was awarded ‘Special Recognition’ for the film and his life achievement in Berlin in 1966, will be shown — a restored print — in the Berlinale Classics section. Text courtesy: Meenakshi Shedde[/caption]