Toronto Calcutta Foundation Fundraiser Screening Coming to the Revue
by Tim Bourgette
Fresh From the Montreal International 2010 Film Festival
The Revue Cinema is proud to host a fundraiser screening of the Bengali film Aarohan screening Sunday October 31st at 1:00pm. Recently screened at the2010 Montreal International Film Festival this will be the only Toronto date and premiere of this well received Indian feature film.
The film tells the story of a family patriarch Suryashekhar Chattopadhyay, who is steeped in traditional values and who treats the predictions of his horoscope like axiomatic truth. His obduracy distances him from his only son, Alok, who has no time for horoscopes, marries outside his caste and settles abroad. Suryashekhar's wife, an educated woman, doesn't share his religious biases, but she bears everything with quiet dignity. She goes along to Benares when her husband decides that he will die in the holy city to rid himself of the bondage of the eternal cycle of rebirth. But it is precisely in Benares that Suryashekhar discovers that his unbending faith in horoscopes is based on ignorance.
Directed by Pinaki Chaudhuri who was born in Calcutta, India in 1940. Pinaki Chaudhuri studied physics before deciding on a career in filmmaking. He has directed numerous television serials and feature films. Among them: CHENA ACHENA, APON GHARAY, MANDADA, KAKABABU HERE GAYLENE, SANGHAT (for which he won a national award in 1997), EK TUKRO CHAND, CANCER and BALLYGUNGE COURT.
Tickets for the screening are $15 for adults and $12 for students with all proceeds from the screening going to support the Toronto Calcutta Foundation. For more information about this registered Canadian Charity and the work they do in India please click here.