Bollywood and Beyond

Bollywood & Beyond is an annual Indian film festival based in Melbourne, Australia. It travels to Sydney, Adelaide and Auckland showcasing new releases, classics and regional language films from across the sub-continent.

The festival encourages emerging young film-makers from India, Australia and New Zealand through the Western Union Short Film Competition. The winning film-makers are invited to the festival's opening night gala in Melbourne to be awarded their prize and the winning films are screened in cinemas during the festival and broadcast on SBS in Australia, Triangle TV in New Zealand and UTV in India.

Outside of cinemas, the festival also holds an annual Bollywood Dance Competition. In 2011 the competition was held during Melbourne's Moomba festival and was judged by item star Malaika Arora Khan and film director Kabir Khan.

History
The festival was founded in 2010 by Mitu Bhowmick Lange, the director of Mind Blowing Films, a Melbourne-based distributor of Indian films throughout Australia and New Zealand. Her vision for the festival is to act as a "showcase of India".

In March 2011, Bollywood & Beyond earned a Guinness World Record for the 'Largest Bollywood Dance Class', an event that was covered by Australian and Indian news channels celebrating the multiculturalism of Melbourne.

Previous events
Special guests: Rani Mukerji, Imtiaz Ali, Rajkumar Hirani
 * 2010

Special guests: Vidya Balan, Ali Zafar, Onir, Juhi Chawla, Kabir Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Malaika Arora Khan, Raj Kumar Gupta
 * 2011