Germany prepares to host 'Bollywood and Beyond' festival

Around 60 Indian films are set to travel to Germany as the city of Stuttgart readies to host the fourth annual Bollywood and Beyond Film Festival that starts July 11.

The five-day event will showcase recent feature films from or relating to India that present diverse portrayals of the country. John Jeffcoat's "Outsourced" will kick start the festival. The film revolves around a young office manager in Seattle who is forced to travel to India after his service call centre is relocated to Mumbai.

Organised by the Baden-Wurttemberg Film Office, the movies that will be screened include works of independent Indian filmmakers as well as high-profile Bollywood productions.

This year approximately 60 films from all sections and category will be shown. Rajnesh Domalpalli's directorial debut "Vanaja" will be the highlight of the event, reported varietyasiaonline.com

The film is about a young woman's sexual awakening that examines caste, gender and sexuality in India and fetched the director golden bear for the best debut film at this year's Berlinale.

Malayalam director Rosshan Andrrews' "Notebook" and Nitin Shingal's "Kindle" - a 20-minute short film starring Sushant Singh and Dipannita Sharma, will also be screened.

This year the festival will honour veteran Indian filmmaker Chetan Anand, an early Cannes winner who took the Grand Prize for his 1946 movie "Neecha Nagar". His son, Ketan, will attend the special ceremony dedicated to his late father.

Prizes will be given in four categories - German star of India, short film prize, documentary film prize and audience award.

Bollywood and Beyond was launched in 2004 by an Indian producers' association and Stuttgart city officials who were part of a delegation to Mumbai.

Showcasing the strong ties between the two cities, the event is expanding into a cultural and economic forum too and will include an Indian food festival and the Indo-German Business Forum.