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.
- StarsLouis MalleThomas Frederick HowardRajani Desai"Phantom India" is regarded as the crowning achievement of Louis Malle's career.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsDhritiman ChatterjeeAsgar AliArabinda BanerjeeA young college graduate is struggling to find a job. He lives in a flat with his younger, employed sister, revolutionary brother and widowed mother. The strain of the situation ultimately causes him to hallucinate.
- DirectorGuru DuttStarsGuru DuttWaheeda RehmanMala SinhaVijay, a talented but indigent poet, struggles for love and recognition in this selfish world.
- DirectorAdoor GopalakrishnanStarsJalajaKaramana Janardanan NairRajam K. NairThe protagonist is trapped within himself and is unable to comprehend the changes taking place around him.
- DirectorJean RenoirStarsPatricia WaltersNora SwinburneEsmond KnightThe growing pains of three young women contrast with the immutability of the holy Bengal River, around which their daily lives unfold.
- DirectorMehboob KhanStarsChandra MohanSheikh MukhtarSitara DeviRoti made in the early 1940s inspired by the German Expressionism, is a real critique of Indian society with prophetic insight. It deals with two models - one of a millionaire, possessed by money and power in an industrial civilisation, the other of a tribal couple living in a primeval state of nature. The millionaire is saved by the couple after an air crash, the tribal couple emigrate to the city, do not find happiness and return. The millionaire is ruined in the city, tries futilely to find salvation among the tribal. (Not my own synopsis, taken from a website on the history of Indian Cinema which Imdb wouldn't let me include because it doesn't accept links or htmls in plot synopses)
- DirectorRitwik GhatakStarsRosy SamadKabori SarwarRawshan ZamilAfter their wedding night, a fisherman's young wife is kidnapped on the Titas River in Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh.
- DirectorRamesh SippyStarsSanjeev KumarDharmendraAmitabh BachchanAfter his family is murdered by a notorious and ruthless bandit, a former police officer enlists the services of two outlaws to capture the bandit.
- DirectorAamir KhanAmole GupteStarsDarsheel SafaryAamir KhanTisca ChopraAn eight-year-old boy is thought to be a lazy trouble-maker, until the new art teacher has the patience and compassion to discover the real problem behind his struggles in school.
- DirectorFranz OstenStarsSeeta DeviHimanshu RaiCharu RoyTwo neighboring Indian kingdoms are ruled by cousins - King Ranjit and King Sohat. Unbeknownst to Ranjit, Sohat is plotting to seize control of his kingdom.
- DirectorSatyajit RayStarsSoumitra ChatterjeeSharmila TagoreAlok ChakravartyThis final installment in Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy follows Apu's life as an orphaned adult aspiring to be a writer.