World calling

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The world is finally waking up to Bollywood. After doing well theatrically abroad, mainstream Hindi films are finally being invited to the world’s top film festivals. Even if the screenings are out of competition.

First up is the Venice Film Festival, where not one, but three Bollywood films have been invited. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Delhi-6 will be shown in the Midnight Movies category of the festival. Rakeysh will show his director’s cut, which not only has a different beginning from the theatrical release but also has Abhishek Bachchan’s Roshan dying in the end.

Perhaps Indian cinema’s biggest moment this year is the fact that Anurag Kashyap has been invited to be part of the festival jury in Venice. Not only will he be hobnobbing with Ang Lee, the jury president, but two of his recent films — Dev D and Gulaal — will be shown at the festival.

“I am really excited… it’s a huge honour and I would like to make the most of it,” Anurag told t2. “To be selected for the jury of a festival like Venice is truly a huge thing.”

If Venice is warming up to Bollywood, Toronto has reinstated its faith in mainstream Indian movies. After inviting Kabir Khan’s Kabul Express a couple of years back, this year they have invited both Yash Raj Films’ Dil Bole Hadippa! and UTV’s What’s Your Raashee?.

Dil Bole Hadippa! will be presented in the Gala Presentations section of the festival as a World Premiere. The film, being produced by Aditya Chopra and directed by Anurag Singh, stars Shahid Kapur and Rani Mukerji in the lead.

In a village where girls don’t play cricket, Veera (Rani) has to put on a turban and beard and become a man to fulfill her dreams. Her brilliance on the field earns her a place in Rohan’s (Shahid Kapur) team and Veera Kaur becomes Veer Pratap Singh!

The movie’s cast and crew will grace the red carpet and attend the screening of the film on September 13 in Toronto.

Six days later, on September 19, What’s Your Raashee?, directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and starring Hurman Baweja and Priyanka Chopra, will have its world premiere at the same festival, with a matinee show at the Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto.

Based on the novel Kimball Ravenswood by Madhu Rye, What’s Your Raashee? revolves around “a young Gujarati man in pursuit of his dream girl with the catch to find her within 10 days in order to save his family from an unforeseen ordeal, which leads to an array of confusion, chaos and a hilarious joy ride”.

The stars of the film along with Ashutosh Gowariker and producers Ronnie Screwvala and Sunita Gowariker will be present at the festival.

But given Akshay’s popularity in Canada, TIFF should seriously consider premiering one of Akki’s films ther