Badnam Basti (Alley of Ill Repute)
(Prem Kapoor, 1971, India, digital, 100 min)
Badnam Basti is considered one of the first Indian films to explore queer relationships. Based on a novel by Hindi writer Kamleshwar Prasad Saxena, it centers on a love triangle between two men and one woman on the margins of society. The film is noted for its adventurous editing, strong performances, neorealist style, and the music by Vijay Raghav Rao, one of postcolonial India’s most innovative composers. Although Badnam Basti was recut and rereleased in 1978, it has since faded into obscurity; until recently, the film was presumed lost. This screening may be the film’s US debut, in a new digital transfer from the only known 35mm print.
Courtesy of Arsenal Institute for Film and Video Art, Berlin. In Hindi with English subtitles.
Cost: FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC