“The Playback Singer,” starring Bollywood legend Piyush Mishrato, is slated to premiere at the 23rd Cinequest Film Festival and feature at the Omaha Film Festival.
In “The Playback Singer,” an aimless, would-be, jungle-gym architect finds his existence disrupted – and his marriage upended – when his prickly, Indian, B-movie playback singer father-in-law comes to visit and overstays his welcome.
“The Playback Singer” marks the feature film directing debut for the Emmy nominee and TV veteran Suju Vijayan. An Indian American filmmaker, she has crafted a truly second generation Indian American film – one that looks less towards India than towards the experiences of Indian Americans as a part of the rich cultural tapestry of the United States.
“The Playback Singer” stars Ross Partridge (Baghead, The Freebie), Navi Rawat (Numb3rs, The House of Sand and Fog, The O.C.), and Piyush Mishra (Maqbool, Gulaal) – one of India’s leading actor/singer/songwriters. Hailed as a “genius” by Rolling Stone magazine, Mishra makes his English language debut in “The Playback Singer” and wrote and performed the film’s decidedly non-Bollywood but Indian soundtrack.
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; however, it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centres producing films in multiple languages.] Bollywood is the largest film producer in India and one of the largest centres of film production in the world.