Time was when Indian film was synonymous with a single name --Satyajit Ray. The famous Bengali director, generally recognized as a major world class cinema auteur, made 28 films between 1955 (Pather Panchali) and 1991, most of which were religiously shown in the west, primarily for the benefit of a tiny coterie of esoterically inclined foreign language film buffs, while the works of numerous other Indian directors, some far more interesting than Ray, were studiously ignored. This lamentable dis...

   Guru Dutt in PYAASA (1957) With the continued  appeal of Bollywood and last year’s Oscar win by SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, the history of Indian cinema is en vogue. This year as part of its Masterworks section, the New York Film Festival is offering the first compete New York retrospective of the works of Indian film artist Guru Dutt.   Born in 1925, Dutt was an Indian film director, producer and actor, who is often credited with ushering in the golden era of...