Film buffs in the suburbs have reason to rejoice. Shamiana, the popular short film festival, which is held on the first Saturday of every month at Not Just Jazz By The Bay, is going to make its debut in the suburbs.
"The response to Shamiana, earlier the Mocha film club, has been great. We keep getting requests to take the fest to different parts of the city and we are coming to the suburbs now," says Cyrus Dastur, convener of Shamiana. In fact, the fest will be travelling to Pune by the end of this month.
This Saturday, Shamiana will be held at the popular Vie Lounge at Juhu and has a bouquet of six films playing at the festival. Dastur hopes that the suburban chapter of Shamiana becomes a regular event on the third Saturday every month.
For theatre personality Juhi Babbar, who has lived in the suburbs all her life, Shamiana coming close to her place is great news. "I hate travelling all the way to town, and with Shamiana coming closer to my place, its so much better," says the actor-writer-director, who runs the Ekjute theatre group with her mother, theatre veteran Nadira Babbar.
"Short films are popular all over the world, yet only a small section of Indians are exposed to the genre. At least to those few, Shamiana is a treat," says Babbar, who has acted in the short film, Reflections with South superstar Mohanlal.
Vikas Bhatia of Fosters, a major sponsor of Shamiana, is delighted that he'll have to only travel a short distance from his house in Lokhandwala now.
"I have been waiting for Shamiana to come to the suburbs and I am glad it finally has. But really, it doesn't matter. I will still continue going for the town event as well."
But some people are more than willing to brave city traffic to catch every short film on offer. For Lakshmy Laungani, a teacher living in Cuffe Parade, a suburban Shamiana only means watching short films not once, but twice in a month.
"Irrespective of which part of the city it's held in, I'll go for it. In fact, a new venue would be a novel experience with it, which I'm looking
forward to."
