Hindi

Synopsis

A painter’s journey into the source of his inspiration in the landscape surrounding him and within him.

Notes:

Shot on super-16mm film, this is an abstract exploration of the creative process. Starting with ‘Nainsukh’, his 2010 film on the eponymous 17th century master-painter, Amit Dutta started making a series of films located in the Kangra Valley of the Lower Western Himalayas. This film approaches another shade of the same landscape through the modernist paintings of Paramjit Singh, whose mud home-studio in the hills sets the stage in the film.

The film’s musical score is notable for Amit Dutta’s collaboration with Rudra Veena maestro Bahauddin Dagar.Read More »

This much-discussed film was Kapoor’s first to feature his trademark Chaplinesque character “Raj/Raju” (“little Raj,” though the homage to Chaplin is less pronounced than in the sunnier SHRI 420), here a hapless “vagabond” (avaaraa) who, as the film opens, is on trial for the attempted murder of a pillar of society, Judge Raghunath (brilliantly played by Prithviraj Kapoor, R. K.’s real-life father). He is defended by a beautiful young lawyer, Rita (Nargis), an orphan who also happens to be the Judge’s ward. Read More »

After the sudden death of her dad, Sameer, and mom, Preeti, Sahila goes to live with her grandmother and cousin in Bombay. Years later, now fully matured, she returns home to Chandanagar to live with her uncle, Mahendra Pratap, and cousin, Jasmin. This is where she will be exposed to a resurrected evil witch, Nikita, who has manifested herself in the body of Jasmin. Aided by a priest named Baba, she is determined to kill each and everyone of the remainder of the Pratap family members. And there is no known power on Earth that can stop Nikita.Read More »

Synopsis:
Lizzie (Felicity Kendal) is an actress in a Shakespearean theater troupe that has seen better days. The troupe tours India to dwindling crowds who are less interested in all things British in the wake of Indian independence. When she has an affair with the Indian playboy Sanju (Shashi Kapoor), Lizzie feels the wrath of her disapproving father Tony (Geoffrey Kendal) and her mother Carla (Laura Liddell). Madhur Jaffrey plays the role of the Indian actress Manjula in this romantic drama with musical score from Satyajit RayRead More »

Synopsis:
Michelle McNally is “special” in more ways than one. She cannot see – nor hear nor speak – She inhabits a world of infinite black – of a seamless, endless void where nothing reaches her and she reaches nothing. Her world is frightening in its complete remoteness. On the sheer will of her ferocious rage against destiny, Michelle struggles to stay afloat in the impenetrable whirlpool her life has become. into this devastating isolation enters a battle weary teacher, Debraj Sahai, life’s wounded but arrogantly insolent warrior. Read More »

Synopsis
Khayal Gatha (English: The Saga of Khayal) is a 1989 Indian experimental film written and directed by Kumar Shahani. The film is about the history of the Khayal genre of Indian classical singing. The film also traces the relationship of Khayal genre with Indian classical dance.

Examining the genesis and development of the khayal, a form of northern Indian classical vocal music, which developed in the 18th century from earlier musical and poetic traditions.Read More »

Bandh Darwaza is the Indian version of Dracula. A childless woman visits the lair of an evil magician in order that she may conceive. When she gives birth to a baby girl the magician demands that she hand her over. She refuses and has the magician killed. Years later he is revived as a fully fledged member of the undead. He comes looking for the now teenage girl intending to make her his slave.Read More »

Along with Franz Osten and Himanshu Rai, Niranjan Pal was extremely important in the making of this film. A synopsis from his memoirs:

This story was about “the ill-fated love of a Brahmin boy for a scheduled caste girl. As no equivalent film title could be found for Level Crossing, Himansu agreed to Achhut Kanya much to my disgust. The film was shot, edited and readied for release in just eight weeks and turned out to be an outstanding success. The Congress leader, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, specially came to Bombay to see the film at the Roxy cinema and gave it unstinted praise. Devika was hailed as the Queen of the Indian screen, though Ashok Kumar was to wait for a few years before having a similar distinction.” (Such is Life), ed. Lalit Mohan Joshi and Kusum Joshi, p. 240).Read More »

Mani Kaul’s early short filmRead More »