‘Short Cuts' in its fourth edition brought forth this month's theme titled ‘The Indian Connection' on Sunday, July 24th 2005, 7pm at Prasad Lab Preview Theatre. The venue was bristling with who is who of Hyderabad and there was an overwhelming demand for the entry passes for the screenings as ‘Short Cuts’ had run out of the entry passes three days before the screening!

Worldwide millions of men and women are waking up to the Indian Ragas, Masala Chais, Sales Calls…the Jhatkas and Matkas, Chicken Tikka Masala and……. Mallika Sherawat!

So, if India is the next big thing, Indian cinema is definitely not far behind. Amongst the attention, Indian Cinema is dancing and singing much vibrantly than ever in the global village. Interestingly it is not just the Indian cinema that is fuelling the Indian phenomenon; it is the Indian-ness that is emerging to be the threshold of this new movement.

‘Short Cuts' decided to bring to its viewers this element of Indian-ness among movies being made worldwide in the form of these simple films. Each of these five short films has been made in different parts of the world with nothing in common except an Indian Connection.

The short films that were showcased this month are Student Oscar Winner ‘Helicopter' by Ari Gold, which has the cinematographer of Indian origin Andrij Parekh. Interestingly, the film's music is inspired by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Graham Higgins latest comedy ‘Me My Swami & I' that premiered recently at Cutting East Festival and Rain Dance Film Festival in London had its exclusive Asian Premiere here at ‘Short Cuts'. Writer-Director Graham Higgins won the Best New Talent Award at the Merseyside Arts & Entertainment Awards for earlier his short film, Pride. ‘Anand's No Exit' by Anand Alagappan, has been officially selected and critically acclaimed at Los Angeles International Short Film Fest, World Cinema Naples - Florida, South Asian International Film Festival - New York, etc., And finally ‘True love is just Filmi' is a look at Bollywood cliché through the eyes of a German filmmaker Bernd Luetzeler which was premiere at the Berlin Asia Pacific Film Festival, Berlin. Bernd Luetzeler has won the prestigious Hans W. Geissendoerfer – Newcomer-Award, in Germany.

As part of ‘Short Cuts’ effort to promote local filmmakers we had the exclusive world premiere of ‘The Salesman' directed by Hyderabad based filmmaker Imran Khan. ‘The Salesman' has been shot in Australia by Imran Khan who has previously assisted Nagesh Kukunoor and Mani Shankar who have taken Hyderabad cinema to the World.

These simple movies were a welcome to the audience following the hard hitting theme of ‘Women in Cinema' screened last month featuring this year's Oscar winner ‘WASP' exclusive for ‘Short Cuts'.

For more details about the films that were screened on 24th July 2005 please click the links below.