BOMBAY MIX: Indian cinema meets the rest of the world in a mix of movies that share themes, stories and genres. Part of an on-going programme of double bills that invite audiences to explore cinema and make new connections.
SUPAKINO presents a “Psychedelic Marketing” double bill of Roger Corman’s THE TRIP (1967) & Kamal Swaroop’s OM DAR-B-DAR (1988). Ranjit S. Ruprai will be exploring the connections between these cult films and will be joined by special guest Dr. Omar Ahmed, film scholar and curator.
Intro + The Trip 13:00 Tickets / Intro + Om Dar-B-Dar 15:15 Tickets / £10.00 per film
THE TRIP (1967) Dir. Roger Corman
Harvard professor and self-proclaimed prophet Timothy Leary had turned on the college youth of America to possibilities of a shortcut to enlightenment via doses of Lysergic acid diethylamide, that is taking “LSD trips”. Roger Corman wanted to capture the LSD experience and culture around it on film. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper were very much in the culture already at the time. Corman thought audiences would be curious about LSD and this film would allow them to take a trip without actually taking it.
Jack Nicholson wrote what would have been a 50 million dollar movie but Corman had to keep it simple and shoot it for 300 thousand within 3 weeks. The result is an authentic snapshot of a very particular West-coast sub-culture filled with groovy music and with-it nudity.
OM DAR-B-DAR (1988) Dir. Kamal Swaroop
Om Dar-B-Dar was commercially unreleased for many years, with bootleg VHS copies and dodgy VCDs passed around those in the know. Experimental and unclassifiable, it is no surprise that when a distributor needed to entice film festival audiences to watch this newly-restored Indian film, the pull quote used was “the Great Indian LSD trip”. Om Dar-D-Bar was made in 1988 but set in a similar time to Roger Corman’s The Trip with 60s events referenced in a world that is otherwise mythical and fairytale. A world of absurdities, puns and word-associations that try to make sense only through nonsense.
The stories of The Trip & Om-Dar-B-Dar are those of metamorphosis and revelation within the modern world of brand names, advertising jingles, scientific progress and global popular culture references. Coca Cola, moon landings and James Bond. They complement each other in more than just the marketing tactics used to promote them.
Programme supported by Film Hub London, managed by Film London. Proud to be a partner of the BFI Film Audience Network, funded by the National Lottery.