Room 151 of Coates Hall was transformed from a standard classroom to an Indian escape Monday night with the premiere of the University’s first Bollywood Film Festival, a 10-part cultural film experience.
The festival, which is sponsored by the departments of English and International Studies and the Program for Study of Film and Media Arts, is free and open to the public and will feature a variety of films from the Indian film industry.
The Indian classics will be played each Monday at 6 p.m. through April 4.
Pallavi Rastogi, English associate professor and associate director of International Studies, said the film festival is organized around her Film and Media Arts class on Bollywood, but all students are invited to attend.
Rastogi said she hand-picked the eight films that will be shown based on the theme of “transformational cinema” from the last 15 years.
“Bollywood films are fun, and Bollywood is so immensely popular not just in India but also all over the world,” Rastogi said in an e-mail. “These films involve a radically different style of movie-making that will interest and engage students.”
Rastogi said the festival will allow students to gain an understanding of other cultures in an entertaining way.
“Given the large number of Indian students at LSU, Indian culture could be a much bigger part of campus life in general,” she said. “The festival is, hopefully, just one small way of introducing the LSU community to an aspect of Indian life.”
In addition to the film series, Rastogi said students will have the opportunity to learn signature Bollywood dance moves with dance instructor Subha Rajgopal.
Rajgopal will conduct a Bollywood dance workshop on Wednesday, April 27 at 4 p.m. The location of the workshop will be announced closer to the event.
Immediately following the workshop, dancers can cool down while listening to a lecture on Bollywood song and dance sequences by Rastogi.
Indian refreshments will be available during the event.
 
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Contact Sydni Dunn at [email protected]