Directory of World Cinema: India
Vol 28
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36 titles
- DirectorRaj KapoorStarsNargisKamini KaushalNigar SultanaFailing to move on from his loss of childhood love, a man turns to his passion for theater.
- DirectorShyam BenegalStarsShabana AzmiSadhu MeherAnant NagBelonging to a lower caste, Lakshmi and her deaf-mute husband Kishtayya serve the landlord's son, Surya. When Surya's young wife finds out about his affair with Lakshmi, they all find themselves at crossroads.
- DirectorDebaki Kumar BoseStarsPahadi SanyalDurgadas BannerjeeChhayadeviClassic celebration of Mithila's King Shiva Singha's (Bannerjee/Kapoor) love for his wife while chronicling the influence of the pacifist court poet Bidyapati (Sanyal). Invited to the royal court by the king, Bidyapati arrives with his faithful follower Anuradha (Kanan Devi). Queen Laxmi (Chhaya Devi) falls in love with the poet, much to the distress of the king. The king falls ill and starts neglecting his royal duties until Anuradha persuades him that true love does not need reciprocation. The queen, equally distressed by her divided loyalties, contemplates suicide, encouraged by the prime minister who is worried by the nefarious impact of Bidyapati's poetry on the king. Both the king and queen sacrifice their lives before the statue of the god Vishnu who appears to weep at the tragedy.
- DirectorMichael PowellEmeric PressburgerStarsDeborah KerrDavid FarrarFlora RobsonA group of nuns struggle to establish a convent in the Himalayas, while isolation, extreme weather, altitude, and culture clashes all conspire to drive the well-intentioned missionaries mad.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsShashi KapoorJennifer KendalZia MohyeddinLucia Lane, an English writer by way of the US, arrives in Bombay to watch the filming of one of her novels. She's nearing middle age, she's had several husbands, she's lonely and self absorbed. Hari, a screenwriter, offers to show her around. She's interested only in the film's leading man, Vikram, younger than she, married, and building a career as a matinee idol. Lucia takes every opportunity to be near "V," making scenes in front of his wife, demanding his attentions. Hari is long suffering, carrying Lucia's messages to V, helping her out when the affair gets out of hand. Meanwhile, V's career suffers, with unpleasant repercussions. Who will bring things to a halt?
- DirectorAditya ChopraStarsShah Rukh KhanKajolAmrish PuriWhen Raj meets Simran in Europe, it isn't love at first sight but when Simran moves to India for an arranged marriage, love makes its presence felt.
- DirectorMrinal SenStarsMadhavi MukherjeeGita SenBinota RoyAn angry young man on trial in 1971,a rainstorm in a slum in 1933,a lower-middle-class family during the 1943 famine,teenage smugglers in 1953 and a middle-class group in a posh hotel in 1971.
- DirectorIsmail MerchantMadhur JaffreyStarsGreta ScacchiMadhur JaffreyJames WilbyA British family is trapped between culture, tradition, and the colonial sins of the past.
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsOwen WilsonAdrien BrodyJason SchwartzmanA year after their father's funeral, three brothers travel across India by train in an attempt to bond with each other.
- DirectorP.C. BaruaStarsK.L. SaigalA.H. ShorePahadi SanyalDevdas (Saigal/Barua), son of a zamindar, and Parvati (aka Paro)(Jamuna), his poor neighbour's daughter, are childhood sweethearts. Status and caste differences prevent their marriage and Devdas is sent to Calcutta while Paro is married off to an aged but rich widower. In Calcutta the hero meets the prostitute Chandramukhi (Rajkumari/Chandrabati Devi) but remorse drives him to alcohol and (after a long train journey in which he attempts to run away from himself) he comes to die in front of his true love's house.
- DirectorSaeed Akhtar MirzaStarsPawan MalhotraMakrand DeshpandeAshutosh GowarikerAn unemployed Muslim youth aspires to become a big-shot criminal but mends his ways with the help of his educated brother-in-law.
- DirectorAnurag KashyapStarsManoj BajpayeeNawazuddin SiddiquiTigmanshu DhuliaA clash between Sultan and Shahid Khan leads to the expulsion of Khan from Wasseypur, and ignites a deadly blood feud spanning three generations.
- DirectorMrinal SenStarsSatya BanerjeeRadhamohan BhattacharyaDhritiman ChatterjeeA film crew comes to a village to make a film about a famine, which killed five million Bengalees in 1943.
- DirectorJyotiprasad AgarwalaStarsAideu HandiquePhanu BaruaSwargajyoti BarooahJoymoti, an Ahom princess, is killed by Borphukan, the Ahom King, as she refuses to betray her husband Gadapani.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsChhabi BiswasKaruna BannerjeePahadi SanyalAn upper-class Bengali family is on vacation in Darjeeling, a popular hill station and resort near Kanchenjungha.
- DirectorGulzarStarsOm PuriTabuChandrachur SinghA realistic, hard-hitting portrayal of terrorism and youth in the Punjab after the 1984 riots.
- StarsErika AlexanderMamadou DiouméGeorges CorrafaceJealousy and hatred is what separates the Pandavas and Kauravas. The Kauravas fear the Pandavas are after the throne of their father. Yudhishthira of the Pandavas gets told by the deity, Krishna, that he will become king. A war is inevitable.
- DirectorAdoor GopalakrishnanStarsVishwanathanMini NairAranmulla PonnammaAgainst the history of Kerala, we see a young man grow up without a father, relate to the working class people employed in his feudal household, become an intellectual, land in prison, and find a cure for the stuttering that afflicts him.
- DirectorGuru DuttStarsMadhubalaGuru DuttLalita PawarA young woman must be married to claim her inheritance; her misandrist aunt uses the newly-passed 1955 divorce bill to find her a temporary husband.
- DirectorShekhar KapurStarsAnil KapoorSrideviAmrish PuriA poor but big-hearted man takes orphans into his home. After discovering his scientist father's invisibility device, he rises to the occasion and fights to save his children and all of India from the clutches of a megalomaniac.
- DirectorMehboob KhanStarsNargisSunil DuttRajendra Kumar TuliIn this melodrama, a poverty-stricken woman raises her sons through many trials and tribulations. But no matter the struggles, she always sticks to her own moral code.
- DirectorP.C. BaruaStarsP.C. BaruaKanan DeviAmar MullickThis classic adultery story tells of an artist, Prasanta (Barua) presented in the stereotypically romantic image: dedicated to his vocation, paying no heed to his scandalous reputation (he paints nude models) and with a cavalier attitude to his conservative father-in-law's (Choudhury) demands for a good social behaviour. He is married to the rich Chitra (Kanan Devi). The couple are in love but neither partner is prepared to compromise their ideals. The marriage falls apart. Prasanta concedes his wife's demand for a divorce and goes to the jungles of Assam, where for many years his closest associates are a wild elephant and Jharna (Menaka), the wife of an innkeeper named Pahari (P. Mullick). He also makes a sworn enemy of a local trader (Nawab/A. Mullick). Chitra marries the millionaire Bipul (Mukherjee) and they go an elephant hunt. They kill Prasanta's pet elephant. Since Chitra believes Prasanta to be dead he avoids meeting her, but is forced to rescue her from the villainous trader.. Prasanta succeeds but dies at Chitra's feet. The film interprets his death as Chitra's final achievement of the freedom she had craved. Barua contrasts the regressive story presented as static and unresolved, both as narrative and as performance, with a hyperactive environment that overwhelms the trivial nature of the lead couple's desires.
- DirectorKaran JoharStarsShah Rukh KhanKajolSheetal MenonAn Indian Muslim man with Asperger's syndrome takes a challenge to speak to the President of the United States seriously and embarks on a cross-country journey.
- DirectorShyam BenegalStarsGirish KarnadShabana AzmiAnant NagA man whose wife is abducted seeks to have the culprits prosecuted for their crime, but no one will help him. Meanwhile, the wife-abused and berated by her abductors-cannot bring herself to face her husband.
- DirectorMrinal SenStarsDhritiman ChatterjeeSimi GarewalPravas SarkarA political activist escapes the prison van and is sheltered in a posh apartment owned by a sensitive young woman.