Aug 17 2025 to Aug 17 2025 5:30 p.m.

Where

Bangalore International Centre

7 4th Main Rd, Stage 2, Domlur 560071

Event Description

130 minutes | Malayalam with English subtitles | 1978 | G Aravindan

A circus tent rises by the river, and with it a world both real and imagined.

Thampu (The Circus Tent) is a luminous blend of documentary and fiction, capturing the arrival of a travelling circus to a quiet village on the banks of Kerala’s Bharatapuzha river. Featuring real circus performers, local villagers, and a cast of non-actors, the film becomes a portrait of the everyday lives that unfold around a spectacle.

Directed by G. Aravindan and shot by Shaji N. Karun, Thampu marked the second collaboration between two of Indian cinema’s most visionary artists. Filmed in stark black and white on a modest budget, it is a masterclass in restraint and imagination. Every frame holds the weight of directorial decisions: what is showcased, and what is obscured.

Recently restored by the Film Heritage Foundation and digitised by the National Film Archive of India, Thampu has been rediscovered by global audiences. From the Cannes Classics to the British Film Institute’s Treasures segment, and most recently at the Festival of 3 Continents in Nantes, its revival is a tribute to Aravindan’s enduring cinematic voice.

Filmmaker and scholar Dr. Soudhamini will introduce the film and moderate a post-screening Q&A.

Note:
This special screening concludes a two-day tribute to the creative partnership between director G. Aravindan and cinematographer-turned-director Shaji N. Karun – both of whom we remember with great reverence. BIC aims to pay homage to the iconic duo, and the Parallel Cinema movement they pioneered, through the screening of two films bound by their unique, shared cinematic vision. Read more about the first film in our tribute here.

Speaker

Soudhamini
Filmmaker & Scholar
Soudhamini began her professional career assisting avant garde film-maker Mani Kaul in his film Before My Eyes and has since then worked across platforms and genres making short fiction, feature length non-fiction and experimental installations. Commissioned by the Government of India, the ZDF, Dept Das Kleine Fernsehspiel, Germany, the Prince Claus Fund, Netherlands and most recently the Australia Council for the Arts these films have been creened globally, at the Oberhausen Film Festival, the FID Marseille, Creteil International Women’s Film Festival, Cinema Du Reel, Festival du Popoli, Asia Society, New York and Leningrad International Documentary Festival to name a few, they have also had regular screenings at the Indian International Film Festivals (MIFF and IFFI). She has recently completed her first Cinematic VR feature length film Ode to Uśas: This time let’s get the Dawn right.  (2023).

Soudhamini has a PhD in Film and Immersive Media from Deakin University, Melbourne (2023) a Post Graduate Diploma in Screenwriting and Direction from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, FTII (1986) and an MA in English Literature from Stella Maris College, Madras University (1995).  A Fulbright Nehru Research Scholar (2017-18) and a Senior Research Fellow (2002-04) Department of Culture, Government of India, she is also trained in the Carnatic Saraswati veena.  She publishes regularly in peer reviewed journals on film and immersive media globally and has taught at both undergraduate and graduate levels in India, USA and Australia.