New Delhi
10 September 2005
The cast and crew of Vishal Bharadwaj's "Maqbool" including
actress Tabu has been invited for a special screening at "Eurasia", the international film
festival of Asian and Eurasian films to be hosted in Almaty, the former capital of
Kazakhstan. This is the first time India has been invited to the festival, which is
organised by the Ministry of Culture, Information and Sport of Kazakhstan.
"Maqbool" is Vishal Bharadwaj's take off on The Godfather and William Shakespeare's
"MacBeth". He made his directorial debut in "Makdee". "Maqbool" is the second film he
has directed. It will be screened on September 27, a day after the festival is formally
inaugurated. Also invited to the festival are Kiran Shantaram, Sudhir Nandgaonkar and
Sameer Karnik, who has directed "Kyun Ho Gaya Na" .
India's participation in the film festival is seen not only as an acknowledgment of the
popularity and depth of Indian cinema but also as a part of Kazakhstan's bid to emerge
as a favourite destination for film directors and producers. Keen on an image makeover,
oil-rich Kazakhstan is making concerted efforts to woo Bollywood stars to come and
shoot films in its scenic locales and also offering a one-stop production facility in
collaboration with the government-owned Kazakhfilm company.
Filmmaker Sawan Kumar visited Kazakhstan a few months ago where he held talks with
representatives of Kazakhfilm and travelled to scenic spots that would be ideal locations
for shooting like Ooty and Goa are for film makers in India. He is understood to have
evinced interest in visiting Kazakhstan again in connection with a film-shoot although no
particular project has been finalised so far.
Eurasia is said to be the largest international cultural event uniting "East and West" by
showcasing the best films of Europe, Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
The festival consists of an international competition, out-of-competition international
panorama, Kazakh cinema panorama, Central Asian panorama and two retrospectives. It
will be organised from September 26 to October 2.
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