Iruvar (The Duo)

Three decades since its release, the magic of Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge remains undiminished; the film still screens daily at the Maratha Mandir Theatre in Mumbai. Audiences will fall in love with the charming Raj (Shah Rukh Khan) and the spirited Simran (Kajol), both Indians raised in the UK, who meet on a train when traveling with their friends across Europe. A frothy love story develops against picture-postcard Alpine landscapes, and the couple’s romance is threatened when Simran’s father takes her to India for an arranged marriage. The film wears its patriotism on its sleeve as it captures the conflict between modern attitudes toward love and traditional Indian values, where duty to the family takes precedence.

The program will be introduced by Product of Culture, a community partners for the Emotion in Color series. The screening will be preceded by a dance performance from BollypopLA.

Kanchenjungha is Satyajit Ray’s first original screenplay and his first film in color. Indranath Roy (Chhabi Biswas), a domineering patriarch, is determined that his daughter Monisha marry an affluent man of his choice. Over long walks and conversations in this slow, contemplative film, independent-minded Monisha is hesitant about her prospective suitor, due to her budding relationship with working-class man Ashoke and her sister’s failed marriage. The play of light and color reflects shifting moods, as the promise of a sunny day is lost to darkening clouds and lowering mist, bringing with it ugly revelations, confusion, and doubt—all set amid majestic views of Mount Kanchenjungha.

One of the most significant films of the Indian Parallel cinema movement, Maya Darpan focuses on Taran (Aditi), who lives with her father in a small town on the cusp of industrialization. Taran has a strained relationship with her father, who is increasingly bitter as he is unable to find a suitable match for his daughter. The young woman finds solace in her interactions with an engineer, and claims her freedom by becoming his lover. The film was considered a breakthrough in cinematic language, as director Kumar Shahani adopted a painterly approach that moved away from a linear narrative using color, movement, and sound to represent Taran’s isolation and the conflict between the individual and society.