Award-winning actor and musician Samrat Chakrabarti scores another trifecta starring in three short films at the Tribeca Cinemas – Rehana Mirza’s Zameer & Preeti: A Love Story on Friday, May 6, and Soham Mehta’s Fatakra and Shiva Bajpai's Raju on Saturday, May, 7, as part of the 11th Annual New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF).

Last year, Chakrabarti’s talents were on display in three films at the Festival. He created the score for Sundaram Tagor’s documentary The Poetics of Color: Natvar Bhavsar, and had roles in Claire McCarthy’s The Waiting City opposite Radha Mitchell and Joel Edgerton, and in Ajay Naidu’s Ashes.

The New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF), presented by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC), is the oldest and most prestigious Indian film festival in the country. NYIFF continues through May, 8, 2011 and tickets are available online at http://www.iaac.us/nyiff2011/

Friday, May 6, 2011, Tribeca Theater 1, 3:30pm
Chakrabarti plays a Muslim groom about to wed a Hindu bride in New Jersey in Rehana Mirza’s Zameer & Preeti: A Love Story. When the groom gets a case of cold feet, will the wedding become just another case of religious conflict? Buy Tickets

The 11th Annual New York Indian Film Festival kicked off in spectacular fashion on Wednesday night, May 4, with the Opening Night celebration which featured the U.S. Premiere of the Delhi-set comedy “Do Dooni Chaar,” Disney’s first live-action Hindi film. The star-studded red carpet premiere, held at Manhattan’s prestigious Paris Theater, was attended by special guests Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh Kapoor along with writer/director Habib Faisal. Also attending the premiere were Aparna Sen, Madhur Jaffrey, Aditya Bhattacharya, Ajay Naidu, Samrat Chakrabarti, Meetu Chilana, Rehana Mirza, Pulitzer Prize winner Siddhartha Mukherjee, Sarita Choudhury, Ami Sheth, Poorna Jagannathan, and many other actors and filmmakers whose films will play at NYIFF through Closing Night on Sunday, May 8, 2011.

Following the screening of “Do Dooni Chaar” was a discussion with Faisal and the Kapoors moderated by festival director Aseem Chhabra which had the audience laughing throughout. A gala benefit dinner followed at the opulent Jumeirah Essex House on Central Park South.

The 11th Annual New York Indian Film Festival came to a close on May 8 with the Closing Night premiere of Rituparno Ghosh’s film Noukadubi at the Asia Society in New York, which was attended by Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Singh Kapoor, Salman Rushdie, Mira Nair, Aparna Sen, Madhur Jaffrey, Ambassador Prakash Shah, Consul General Prabhu Dayal, and many other notable celebrities. After the screening, this year’s awards were announced. Sthaniya Sambaad (Spring in the Colony), directed by Arjun Gourisaria & Moinak Biswas was named Best Feature Film. Iti Mrinalini scored two nods with Best Actress for Konkona Sen Sharma and Best Director for Aparna Sen. Rishi Kapoor was named Best Actor for Disney’s Do Dooni Chaar. Mohan Raghavan received Best Screenplay for T.D. Dasan Std. VI B., Max Carlson’s Bhopali ,which covered the 1984 Union Carbide factory gas leak that contaminated and killed thousands in Bhopal, India, was named Best Documentary, and Abhay Kumar’s Just That Sort Of A Day was named Best Short Film.