Indian American filmmaker’s movie premieres in Washington, DC.
By Surekha Vijh
Follow @ambazaarmag
The Washington, DC, premiere of Indian American filmmaker Tirlok Malik’s new movie, On Golden Years, brought tears, laughter and varied other feelings to the audience. The film brings home a powerful message: love your spouse, especially in golden years.
On Golden Years was filmed in America and has cast from Hollywood, TV drama actors and some plain regular people. Most of the cast of the film, who were present at the July 19th premiere, seemed excited with the outcome of the movie, which was shot in 22 days in Florida.
Speaking on the occasion, Malik said, “Movies which are thought-provoking sometimes can provide the healing experience to the audience.” The director said he is a “student of cinema and hope to continue telling immigrant stories.”
Malik, who shot to fame with his first film Lonely in America, in early 1990s, said this was an effort to bring joy in elderly couples, whose children have all gown and who now are looking for a place to retire. The movie gives a gentle message: “We are not born together, we don’t die together at least we must cherish the time together.”
“It is the journey that matters,” Malik added.
Noor Naghmi, a popular Pakistani American actor, said he enjoyed doing the movie and all members were like a big family. He hoped to see more films on Asian American topics, because we (the Desis) are the fastest growing community in America.
The overarching theme of On Golden Years is this: As an immigrant, when we come in search of the “American Dream.” However, at times, we find that we are “Lonely in America.” After achieving and living the American Dream, we also realize that, if we want real happiness, we need to make time to visit our aging parents and family in South Asia, now in their “golden years.” When it is time for us to retire and look for places to retire, we realize that some of us have conflicts, some of them related to our identities, such as India verses America; and some of them, personal in nature, such as contentedness verses regrets. We need to come to terms with life as an immigrant, and the retirement of American dream.
The film On Golden Years portrays the complex emotions, which come at the time of retirement for immigrants. Through various characters, who are residents of an Indian retirement community, the film deals with the conflicts such as India verses America, contentment verses Regrets, and of course, where to retire. This is the story about the retirement of the American Dream.
The film stars Ranjit Chowdhary — who was also the lead star of Lonely In America — Jyoti Sinh, Reeves Lehmann, Shetal Shah, Noor Naghmi, Tirlok Malik, Shruti Tewari, Farokh Daruwala, Indu Gajwani, Indrajit S Saluja, Lovllien Kaurr, Sandeep Suri, Iggy Ignatius, Kamlesh Gupta and many more. There are some new talents making their debut in the film.
Singer Falu makes her film debut doing the item number song “Raba Raba” in On Golden Years. Falu has sung at Carnegie Hall and has sung twice in the White House in the presence of President Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey, along with the composer of Slumdog Millionaire A.R. Rahman.
The opening song of the film “Gayatri Mantra” is sung by Sumitra Iyer, an award-winning Bollywood singer, who now lives in the United States. She has performed all over the world with top names of Indian music industry such as Anu Malik, Sonu Nigam, Shankar Ehsaan Loy and Hariharan.
Written and directed by Malik, On Golden Years is coproduced by Iggy Ignatius, who is also the co-director of the film. It was shot at the only Indian retirement community in the United States, Shantiniketan in Florida. Other credits of the film are director of photography Christo Bakalov., music by Peter Lobo, art direction by Sunita Babbe and editing by Tom Knight.
Grammy-nominated filmmaker Malik, a winner of “Pride of India” for his work from the Indian Ambassador and the New York Citizen Award from the New York Mayor’s office, has acted in many TV dramas and films. He is the CEO of the New York-based Apple Production. Since the 1990 movie Lonely in America, which was shown in 74 countries, as well as on HBO, and participated in 37 film festivals and won many awards, Apple Production has produced a number of movies.
Malik has also started a new website for the Indian American movies made in America, www.nritvfilmclub.com.
Earlier, at a premiere held in New York, Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer presented a proclamation to Malik for his works, “Tirlok Malik Appreciation Day”.
The Chair of the Film Division of the School of Visual Arts (SVA) Reeves Lehmann, who acted in the movie, said he was grateful to be part of this venture. SVA, a prestigious film school and a great supporter of Tirlok Malik’s work, was where Ranbir Kapoor got his initial training before joining Bollywood.
On Golden Years is in English language and is made for the South Asian diaspora and an international audience. It is a romantic emotional comedy. Its length is 85 minutes.
The premiere in Washington, DC, was organized by Noor Naghmi, one of the lead actors of the film. It was held at the Lehman Plaza Movie Theatre in Falls Church, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC.
Many of the cast members showed up along with Malik. Among the more than three hundred people that attended the premiere many were prominent Asian Americans, who have contributed in various fields.
Representatives from Indian and Pakistani embassies were present, too. Indian Ambassador Arun Kumar Singh sent best wishes for the film through his emissary, Community Affairs Counselor from the Indian Embassy Shiv Ratan. Congratulating the director and cast of the film, he said that it was great to see an important topic about Asian Americans portrayed, as we all give our best, then retire and eventually grow old.
1 Comment
WISHING YOU MR TRILOK MALIK AND YOUR FAMILY A VERY HAPPY , HEALTHY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2016 . YOU HAVE CHARTED A NEW ERA WITH TRAILS BLAZING HIGH
KEEP IT UP NAND GOING . JAGDISH BAHL