Hybridity is nothing new to Indian cinema. For decades, Bollywood films have wowed audiences with their head-spinning textual leaps, MTV-goosed song numbers, and art direction that is pure Fredericks of Bollywood. This was postmodernism before the term was coined. The attention-getting scale of these films, along with their staggering numbers, has overshadowed homegrown efforts to move beyond the mainstream. Desire Under the Banyan steps out from the shadow of Bollywood to explore the edges of convention and cultural practice in modern-day Indian cinema and its global diaspora. Spirited and provocative feature films like the bristling but darkly comic Throne of Death or the crisply iconoclastic Masala, addressing given notions of the family, gender, national identity, and the cinema itself, will be complemented by a handful of surprisingly gripping documentaries, such as John & Jane Toll-Free, a refreshingly agile look at call centers. Performances by local Indian American poet Summi Kaipa and others, along with a smattering of smart experimental films, will further ruffle the periphery of this convention-collapsing series. Desire Under the Banyan adds resonance to the BAM exhibition Edge of Desire by extending its polycentric aesthetic into the realm of the moving image.
