Melbourne International Film Festival

Me excitedly waiting for one of India's biggest actors to come out for a pre-screening talk.

Let me just say that my MIFF (Melbourne International Film Festival) experience was something I will not soon forget. Some of you reading this are unaware of my obsession with Bollywood movies, but this love affair began back in January 2010 (when all my roommates took a class on it, and I lived vicariously through them). Anyway, I have since become addicted to the genre and eagerly watch any movie that I can get a hold of. Melbourne being the culturally hip and internationally savvy city that it is, has a large Indian population and influence. Therefore, one of the categories at the film festival is "Not Quite Bollywood" with several movies from India. I was interested in going to see one of the films, Peepli [Live], from the outset mostly because I thought it would be cool to A). Go to the film festival B). See another movie in theaters since that's relatively uncommon in the States and C). The plot of the movie looked pretty solid. Much to my delight, I discovered that Aamir Khan, the producer of the film, was going to introduce the movie and then answer questions about it after the screening! Didn't take me long to purchase tickets and convince another person in my program to come with me... I also devilishly sucked them into my obsession by showing them some of my favorite Bollywood movies beforehand. Company!!



The line into Regent Theatre was nuts. It wrapped around the block, and we were probably 2 out of 30 or so white people there. A couple women were dressed in really elegant saris and that just added to my excitement. The inside of the theater was extra classy with a chandelier and velvet curtains covering the screen. We were given a little chinese take out box with two delicious cakes inside (which I promptly inhaled...) and took our seats with breathless anticipation (at least me). Aamir came out. 40 people rushed the stage for photos. He left. The movie started. People clapped, cheered, laughed and cried. Overall, a really great movie and really fun experience. Pumped I got to see Aamir Khan (still wish it was SRK!)