Well, a festival celebrating India in the French city of Lille has decided to make Mumbai its theme this year.
There is a lot of Mumbai in France these days. Confused? Well, a festival celebrating India in the French city of Lille has decided to make Mumbai its theme this year.
Titled Bombaysers de Lille, the festival encompasses different facets of the city in its various exhibitions, multi-media shows, cinema and literature.
Lille 3000 was inaugurated recently and continues through January of next year. Residents and visitors of Lille will get a peek into not only India and its contemporary lifestyle but also an in-depth look at the city of Mumbai and its multi-dimensional milieu.
Says Miriam, deputy cultural attaché at the French cultural centre, that facilitated the festival, "The organisers of Lille 3000 festival have been visiting India for the last three years researching on India. The city of Mumbai particularly struck them and hence they decided to have it as one of the central themes. In fact Bombaysers is actually a play of words in French — Bon (meaning good) and Baiser (meaning kiss).”
Suketu Mehta’s popular work titled Maximum City has been used as one of the titles of the festival, which will see participation by writers from different walks as well.
Artists like Shilpa Gupta, Jitish Kallat, Subodh Gupta, Anita Dubey, Bhartari Kher have travelled to Lille to participate in the festival.
Filmmaker Mira Nair's multi-media installation has already become a talking point amongst most visitors to the festival that also features French artists who have depicted India through their own creativity.
Jyotindra Jain who just concluded his exhibition on contemporary India says, "The festival has drawn immense interest in France. There were at least 25,000 people on the inaugural day. It's India, and especially Mumbai through and through at Lille."
A major part of Lille 3000 is "Round the clock Mumbai," a theme involving a daylong expedition through exhibitions, tete-a-tete’s with authors, fashion shows, dance events and tastings of Indian cuisine — all characteristic of the maximum city. From December 30 to January 1, a 48-hour event comprising concerts and performances in honour of Bollywood will also be held.
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