Film Festival opens with a special Indian dinner and screening
By Rosalie Gower

Film Festival

Bollywood Film Festival

Benefitting ALMA

Sat, Oct 6–Fri, Oct 12

Villa Jacaranda

Aldama 53

ALMA, Spanish for “soul,” is a nonprofit organization that provides a residence in Colonia La Lejona where seniors, both Mexican and non-Mexican, are cared for regardless of their ability to pay. ALMA provides a home, care, clothing and meals for over 30 people.

ALMA was started in 1996 by Margaret Galloway and Carmina Casas. The beautiful building—with soaring bovedas, sun-filled common areas, and relaxing gardens—is most impressive and welcoming. The warm, cheerful and loving staff work hard to make ALMA a very special home but, most importantly, ALMA can’t afford to pay all their expenses without help and support from the community. This weekend’s opening of the Bollywood Film festival, with a screening of Dor accompanied by a special Indian dinner prepared by Chef Sam Chapra, is a chance for ALMA to reach out to the San Miguel community.

Sam Chapra is a retired industrialist and self-taught chef of his native food, the dishes of India. Originally from Bombay, Sam and his wife first visited San Miguel last year and like so many, felt compelled to return and contribute to the wonderful community.

Sam will be donating all the ingredients and time to make this event a success for ALMA. The menu includes a mixture of many Indian classics (chicken korma, briyani, aloo chola) and guests can pick either a meat or vegetarian plate.

Tickets are available for the special dinner event in the Jardín from 10am–2pm, at Villa Jacaranda or you can call Rosa at 120-2013. The dinner tickets sell for 500 pesos and will sell out!

In addition, the entire Bollywood Film Festival will be running the following week at Villa Jacaranda. October 7 & 8 features Deepak Chopra’s documentary How to Know God, October 9 & 10 features Cheeni Kum, and October 11 & 12 will again screen Dor. Tickets available for 100 pesos at Villa Jacaranda.

Dor Shankar Singh and his wife, Meera, live in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India along with widowed paternal grandmother, Laxmibai, his mom, Gowri, and dad, Randhir. The family feel that they are blessed after Meera’s entry in this family.

Shankar must go and abroad in Saudi Arabia and bids farewell to Meera, promising to keep in touch, which he does, and also sends them a large portion of his earnings, which is used to pay off the family's debts. Then when no word is received from him, a worried Meera phones, and is devastated to learn that Shankar has been killed by being thrown off a 10th floor balcony. Her status quickly changes, her jewelery, ornaments, fancy clothes are taken off, and she is told to remain indoors, wear dark clothes and is only allowed to pray at a Mandir. Things brighten up for Meera when she befriends an Islamic woman, Zeenat, who has come all the way from Himachal Pradesh to look for her husband, Amir Khan. Shortly thereafter, Meera’s world is turned upside down when she finds out that her fathe
r-in-law plans to make her the mistress of a wealthy building contractor, Chopra, for a sum of Five Lakh Rupees; she endures further trauma when she finds out that Zeenat is the wife of the man who has been accused of killing her husband, is merely here to persuade her to sign a Mafi-Naama, which would ensure the release of her husband from the Saudi jails, and prevent his death. Hurt, humiliated and confused Meera refuses to sign this document, and is confined to a locked room by Randhir. It looks like Zeenat may lose her husband after all, and Meera may end up being Chopra’s temporary mistress.

Cheeni Kum Buddhadev is a chef who believes cooking is an art, and a very fine one at that. One day, a woman walks into his restaurant and raises an objection on one of the dishes served to her. Buddhadev feels his years of experience as a chef is challenged. He acts rudely with her.

The woman is Nina Verma, a tourist from India. Not the one to take insults lying down, Nina gives back Buddhadev a taste of his own bitterness. 

Buddhadev feels rattled by the young woman. He tries to make up for his rudeness by a display of cordiality. But Nina remains dignified and totally unaffected by Buddhadev’s pomposity. The more she tries to ignore him the more Buddhadev gets attracted towards her.

Gradually, love blossoms between Buddhadev and Nina. But the toughest part would be to convince Nina’s father Om Prakash Verma about their relationship.

When Om Prakash meets the 64-year-old chef he has no clues of his daughter’s intentions. He sees Buddhadev as another old man. A hilarious real life situation follows when Buddhadev confesses to Om Prakash that he is in love with Nina.

Cheeni Kum is a sarcastic love story of two very different people. It is the story of how they meet, how they fight, how they make up and how their relationship evolves into a romance.

It is the story of their funny struggle to break the news to the woman’s father and the chaos they go through convincing him and making him accept them as a couple.