Aishwarya Rai starrer "Provoked" will open will open the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles on April 9. Fifth edition will close April 17 with Berlin prize winner "Vanaja." Fest, which takes place at ArcLight Hollywood, will also honor Bollywood actress Deepti Naval.

Directed by Jag Mundra, "Provoked," is the story of a battered woman (Rai) who is imprisoned in the U.K. for killing her husband. Pic also stars Naveen Andrews ("Lost"), Miranda Richardson, Robbie Coltrane, Rebecca Pidgeon and Nandita Das ("Water"). Eros Entertainment will release the pic theatrically in May.

IFFLA will close with "Vanaja," which earned helmer Rajnesh Domrapalli the debut feature prize at Berlin last month. Pic stars Mamatha Bhukya, Urmila Dammannagari and Ramachandriah Markanti and centers around a young girl (Bhukiya) who struggles to overcome class barriers and learn classical Indian dance. Emerging Pictures will release pic in the U.S. this summer.

Three of Naval's pics will be screened as part of the fest's tribute to her -- "Kamla," "Panchavati" and "Mirch Masala." The actress is also a poet and photog and wrote and directed the TV series, "Thodasa Aasmaan."

Opening night gala is set for Ivar featuring the Bombay Dub Orchestra Performing and Taal Dance Company, closing night gala will be at Hollywood and Highland.

The entire fest lineup will be announced Monday.

Time Warner Cable and Sony are among the fest sponsors.

© Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Bookmark with..

Comments (0)

Write comment

This content has been locked. You can no longer post any comment.

There is a problem with the comment system, or you do not have javascript enabled.