FilmMAD, SAD & BAD |
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2:00pm Director: Avie Luthra The eldest, Hardeep, is a sex-addict and a psychiatrist. In the middle there's Rashmi who is symptomatically single and desperate for a baby. The youngest of the lot, Atul, is a sitcom writer who is in love with his best friend's wife. And the source of all their psychoses is Usha—an alcoholic and their mother. Anglo-Indian director Avie Luthra, a practicing psychiatrist, "brings a sharp observational eye" to this black & biting “dramedy” about a dysfunctional, yet endearing, family and their individual journeys towards finding function in their lives. Will Atul succeed with his production of a comic opera about cheese? Will Rashmi's creative solution provide her the family she wants? Will Hardeep successfully diagnose his own problems? With a cast drawn from the who's who of British Asian BBC, including Zubin Varla (Little Dorrit), the multi-talented Meera Syal (Goodness Gracious Me, Bhaji at the Beach), Nitan Ganatra and Leena Dhingia (both from East Enders and Coronation Street), this is one talented family indeed! Even more talent comes in the form of Andrea Risborough (Happy-go-Lucky) and Ayesha Dharkar (The Terrorist, Outsourced), the women caught in the cross-fire of this eccentric family. Luthra's earlier shorts Lucky and Cross My Heart previously screened at 3rd i and made him a name to watch out for. Mad, Sad & Bad is his first feature film and is nominated for the Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film at Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009. Artistic Director of the SF Asian American Film Festival, Chi-hui Yang, will conduct the post-screening Q&A with Avie Luthra. |