The Bayou is having quite the February.

In New Orleans, the city continues to be festive as it welcomes Mardi Gras on the heels of its Super Bowl victory celebration. Meanwhile, Shreveport is putting on its own grand party, with the ever-so-popular Bollywood-style song-and-dance making its way the largest city in northwest Louisiana.

Starting today, the first-ever Louisiana Bollywood Film Festival kicks off at Shreveport’s Robinson Film Center, with the five-movie cinematic showcase running throughout Valentine’s Day weekend and continuing until February 21st.

Put together by the Friends of the LSU-Shreveport India Studies Program, the India Association of Shreveport-Bossier and the Centenary Film Society, the Louisiana Bollywood Film Festival aims to introduce Hindi films to the region.

If all goes well, Shreveport-area residents may continue to be treated to Bollywood films, as part of the festival’s campaign is to establish monthly screenings of Hindi cinema in northwest Louisiana, organizers told the media.

“Films are a significant part of Indian culture, and Bollywood is the largest film industry in the world,” festival spokesman Sanjay Menon told the Shreveport Times. “Locally, many people have been asking for such a festival. In July 2009, the India Studies program presented a Bollywood Night featuring dances from Bollywood movies. That intensified the calls for a festival, so here we are.”

Menon added that he feels the five films slated to be screened at the festival all are representative of what Indian cinema has to offer.

Among those films include A Wednesday! (2008), The Namesake (2006), Devdas (2002), Sholay (1975), and Water (2005).

Each film offers a unique aspect of Indian cinema. For example, Mira Nair’s The Namesake (Kal Penn, Irffan Khan) and Deepa Mehta’s Water are both socially conscious Indian films produced in Northern America.

Meanwhile, Devdas (Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit) is a modern interpretation of one of India’s greatest heartbreak stories — a tale complete with a love triangle and colorful song-and-dance.

Perhaps the greatest representation of classic Hindi cinema is Sholay, which was one of Amitabh Bachchan’s greatest works early in his career. The film is considered to be the first-ever Curry Western and is hailed today as one of Bollywood’s greatest.

Finally, A Wednesday! (Anupam Kher, Naseerudin Shah) is a socially conscious Bollywood production, with the political thriller delving deep into the psyche of a series of apparently random events taking place in one day.

Kicking off the festival today (February 13th) is A Wednesday! (3:30 p.m. screening) and The Namesake (5:00 p.m.).

Devdas will screen on Valentine’s Day with a 3:30 p.m. start-time, with Sholay (February 20th at 3:30 p.m.) and Water (February 21st at 6:00 p.m.) rounding out the festival.

The Namesake will also screen on February 16th at 7:30 p.m. and February 21st at 3:30 p.m., making it the only film with multiple showings.

Following the screenings of A Wednesday! and The Namesake on Saturday afternoon, the festival announced it will host an opening night gala at 7:00 p.m. and will feature Indian cuisine along with the music of DJ Abid Nazeer and film clips.

Additional information about the film festival can be found at the The Robinson Film Center website.