Legendary actor-filmmaker Raj Kapoor's films have been a feast of cinematic excellence and are extremely popular not only in India but in other parts of the world. Now the organisers of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) want North Americans to understand the work of the genius.
TIFF, in association with the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA), is organising a Raj Kapoor retrospective where a total of 15 of his iconic films will be screened, including Aag, Awara, Shree 420 and Sangam.
"Many reasons drove us to request IIFA about the possibility of doing a Raj Kapoor retrospective. We have long believed at TIFF that Raj Kapoor is one of the most under-recognised filmmakers in North America. His contributions have been essential to Indian cinema and seeing his films is essential to understanding Indian cinema, particularly Hindi cinema," said Noah Cowan, TIFF's artistic director.
Several pieces of memorabilia such as costumes, cut-outs and props used during his films will be displayed.
"We believe that it will shed new light for a lot of people on Indian cinema as a whole and the films themselves individually contain so many master works which haven't been fully respected yet by the international community. We want to ensure that Raj Kapoor's legacy is understood in North America," Cowan said.
The tribute will go on till early August.
TIFF, in association with the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA), is organising a Raj Kapoor retrospective where a total of 15 of his iconic films will be screened, including Aag, Awara, Shree 420 and Sangam.
"Many reasons drove us to request IIFA about the possibility of doing a Raj Kapoor retrospective. We have long believed at TIFF that Raj Kapoor is one of the most under-recognised filmmakers in North America. His contributions have been essential to Indian cinema and seeing his films is essential to understanding Indian cinema, particularly Hindi cinema," said Noah Cowan, TIFF's artistic director.
Several pieces of memorabilia such as costumes, cut-outs and props used during his films will be displayed.
"We believe that it will shed new light for a lot of people on Indian cinema as a whole and the films themselves individually contain so many master works which haven't been fully respected yet by the international community. We want to ensure that Raj Kapoor's legacy is understood in North America," Cowan said.
The tribute will go on till early August.
