Prakash Jha’s Pareeksha to open IndoGerman Filmweek 2020, Geetu Mohandas’s Moothon to close festival

More than 20 films on the themes of women and men in transition and upheaval will be screened at the eighth edition of the IndoGerman Filmweek in Babylon, Berlin, from 24–30 September.

Prakash Jha’s Hindi-language drama Pareeksha (2020, Hindi), starring Adil Hussain and Priyanka Bose, and Geetu Mohandas’s action thriller Moothon: The Elder One (2020, Malayalam) will bookend the extravaganza.

Festival-goers will also be treated to Arun Karthick’s Nasir (2020, Tamil), Vinod Kamble’s Kastoori: The Musk (2020, Marathi), Vijay Jayapal’s Nirvana Inn (2020, Hindi), Sajin Baabu’s Biriyaani (2019, Malayalam) and Roam Rome Mein (2019, Hindi), the directorial debut of actress and author Tannishtha Chatterjee.

Besides these, some commercial Hindi fare such as Salman Khan's Dabangg 3 (2019), Rani Mukerji's Mardaani 2 (2019), Ayushmann Khurrana's Bala (2019) and Sushant Singh Rajput's Shuddh Desi Romance (2013) will also be screened.

Mardaani 2 and Anant Mahadevan’s Mai Ghat: Crime No 103/2005 (2020, Marathi), featuring women who fight for justice in their own ways, will have their German premieres at the festival.

An ecstatic Adil Hussain shared the news of two of his films, Pareeksha and Nirvana Inn, being screened physically at the festival on Twitter.

Apart from the feature films, two new short film categories have been added this year, and the documentary section will see the screening of Breaking Barriers: The Casteless Collection, in which German director Maja Meiners captures the successful journey of a protest band from Chennai that campaigns against the caste system. Meiners will present her film in Berlin as a festival guest.

The festival has also been organizing weekly live talks with select filmmakers and performers before the IndoGerman Filmweek. These talks are being streamed on their social media platforms.

Tickets for the festival are available online and measures are in place to ensure that hygiene standards are met. Click for the complete IndoGerman Filmweek festival schedule.