‘MAMOULIAN’ AND ‘MUNNABHAI’ ARE OFFERED FOR LOCAL MOVIEGOERS
Rick Bentley and Donald Munro,

The Fresno Bee – California – KRTBN
Published: May 18, 2007

Two film events are on tap at Fresno State next week. The first
features the works of French director Patrick Cazals. The other is
the showing of a rather offbeat look at Mohandas Ghandi that became
a major hit in India.

The Armenian Studies Program, in conjunction with Fresno Film Works,
is presenting two films at 3 p.m. Sunday at the California State
University, Fresno, Student Recreation Center, Leon P. Peters
Educational Auditorium. Admission is free. Cazals will be here to
present the films.

The movies to be shown are:

"Rouben Mamoulian: The Golden Age of Broadway and Hollywood" Grade:
B: When he was a little boy, Mamoulian’s grandmother told him to fill
his heart with love so it would crowd out everything else. Known as an
authoritarian director, there were likely some actors in Mamoulian’s
career who looked long and hard for any evidence of that love. But
if you look at the director’s amazing body of work, including the
groundbreaking 1929 film "Applause," you certainly find overwhelming
evidence for Mamoulian’s desire to make great art. This well-crafted
documentary draws from various archives and interviews with Mamoulian
and Mamoulian specialists. (DM)

"SergueA Paradjanov: The Rebel": This is a portrait of the
Georgian-Armenian filmmaker who died in July 1990. Paradjanov is
considered to be one of the great contemporary filmmakers.

Cineculture Club

Fresno State’s Cineculture Club will present "Lage Raho Munnabhai"
at 5:15 p.m. next Friday at the Student Recreation Center, Leon
P. Peters Education Auditorium. The film looks at how a witless
gangster converts to the Gandhian teachings of nonviolence. The movie
has English subtitles.

Sudarshan Kapoor, a former Fresno State professor who grew up in
India, says that after the movie debuted in India, people started
to treat each other with more respect and with more tolerance. He
admires how the filmmaker was able to get across Gandhi’s teachings
about nonviolence in such a comical fashion.

"Lage Raho Munnabhai" Grade: B+: The film mixes elements of Bollywood
with comedy and real sentimentality to produce a charming film.

Sanjay Dutt, as the thug who falls for a voice on the radio, is
able to pull off both the tough guy part of the role as well as the
sensitive part.

Even if you have no interest in the film’s message about peace and
love, it works well as a light, romantic comedy. (RB)

The reporters can be reached at _rbentley@fresnobee.com_
(mailto:rbentley@fresnobe e.com) or at _dmunro@fresnobee.com_
(mailto:dmunro@fresnobee.co m) or at (559) 441-6355.