WORLD CINEMA

Festivals

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Cannes 2006: Mundhra's "Provoked" in market           

Jagmohan Mundhra’s “Provoked” will be premiered in the market section of the Cannes Film Festival, beginning May 17 2006.

Mundhra, known for his provocative movies such as “Kamala”, “Tropical Heat”, “Sexual malice”, “Monsoon” and “Bawandar” (The Sand Storm), will present yet another of his mind-blowing work, “Provoked” in an increasingly important Market section, where the Festival’s most important business deals are made with little pretension to art or sensibility.

Aishwarya Rai

“Provoked” is based on a true story of an Indian Punjabi woman who was driven to murder her husband in London after suffering an abusive relationship. She is jailed, and later released after a sustained public campaign to free her.

Indian beauty Aishwarya Rai plays the lead role in the film made in English.

Mundhra said he thought that “Provoked” would gain from the media coverage at Cannes. This kind of publicity would not be got anywhere else. “I am keen on seeing the reaction of the large number of audience present at the festival…Also, Cannes is the best place to globally market any movie”.

“Provoked” has already got good responses. A.R Rahman, who scored the music for the film, said that it set him thinking. The British Minister for Culture also gave a positive feedback, and this comes at a time in England where Indians are being unfavourably viewed for their practice of coercive arranged marriages.

“Provoked”, on the contrary, focuses on the courage of an Indian woman who refuses to be cowed down by an arranged marriage that turns violent.

Mundhra said that his movie would have a worldwide release in May, but refused to say if it would be dubbed in Hindi, although both Rai and Nandita Das, another actor in the film, have agreed to the dubbing.

(This story was posted on this website on April 24 2006)