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The Arts

Awara, Pyaasa to be screened at UCLA series

Nitish S Rele

The University of California, Los Angeles Film and Television Archive will be screening two Indian classics in May during its ongoing series, 'Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance: Musicals from the World'.

The archive is showing 70 musicals from 20 countries such as France, Japan, Spain, USSR, Hong Kong, Brazil, Britain, etc. The spring program, which ends June 6, is being held to celebrate the millennium.

Raj Kapoor's Awara (1951) will be shown at 7 pm on May 14. Awara is the story of a vagabond who has taken to a life of crime after being rejected by his father. The classic, Awara Hoon, sung by Mukesh, with music by Shankar Jaikishan brought fame and recognition to Kapoor in many foreign countries. The lyrics were by the late Hasrat Jaipuri and Shailendra.

Another film to be screened, at 7 pm on May 28, is Guru Dutt's Pyaasa (1957). It tells the story of a poet who meets a young woman singing one of his poems by the river one night. He falls in love with her. An incorrect report of his death finally brings him fame, but when he turns up alive, he is sent to an asylum. The music director was S D Burman and Sahir Ludhianvi provided the lyrics.

National Endowment for the Arts provided the major funding for the musical program. Credit also goes to The Edna and Yu-Shan Charitable Foundation; Dr and Mrs. Robert Sung, the UK/LA Foundation; All Nation's Forwarding; the Dorothy and Carl Anderson Fund; the George Burns Fund at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television; the California Arts Council; the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department; Dini and Les Ostrov; Technicolor; Turner Entertainment Company; Lynn Wasserman; and the Grand Marnier Foundation.

The two films among others will be screened at the James Bridges Theater on the northeast corner of UCLA's campus.

General admission is $ 6, and $ 4 for students and seniors. Tickets are available an hour before the show.

For information, check out the web site at www.cinema.ucla.edu.

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