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 »
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Aravindan’s finest b&w film chronicles three days with a circus in a small town in Kerala. A series of high-angle shots, as the circus drives into its new location, introduce us to the village. Several sequences use a remarkable quasi-documentary effect combined with minutely choreographed action e.g. the sunset as the manager (Gopi) directs the raising of the big top. The episodic film tells of a soldier who befriends the circus strong man in a toddy bar and shows how the bizarre characters from the circus including the dwarf merge with the local populace.Read More »
Synopsis
Shiva, a lonely designer gets obsessed with an image from a random encounter. Caught in a web of imaginary delusions, he awaits release by an arrival, from somewhere.Read More »
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Amar Lenin is a 1970 black and white documentary film directed by film director Ritwik Ghatak made for Government of West Bengal in the centenary year (1970) of the birth of Vladimir Lenin.
After making the film, countries such as the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of Poland approached Ritwik Ghatak for him to show the movie in those countries. However, issues arose with the National Film Censorship Board of India which did not approve of the movie and banned it in India. Ghatak and his team had to work hard to have the movie passed by the censorship board. Ritwik Ghatak personally met with Indira Gandhi on this matter.Read More »
Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne, directed by the late Satyajit Ray and based on a story by Upendra Kishore Ray, is a popular Bengali children’s film. It is sometimes released in the English-speaking world as The Adventures Of Goopy And Bagha. It is one of Satyajit Ray’s few films with an abundance of musical numbers.Read More »
Adoor’s second feature film made five years after Swayamvaram achieved commercial success in Kerala, while reaching an artistic height.
Its structure is that of a festival in a village temple. I wanted to create an intimate experience of everyday rural life. It is structured in such a way as to look natural, as if there are no outside interventions. During the course of the film, the festival comes full circle, parallel to it is the inner development of the character as well.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 »
Nainsukh is a 2010 film directed by Amit Dutta based on the life and works of Nainsukh, an 18th-century Indian miniature painter.The film contains meticulous recreations of Nainsukh’s paintings through compositions set amidst the ruins and environs of Jasrota palace. where the artist was retained.
The film premiered at the 67th Venice film festival, where it was received by Film Comment as one of top 10 films shown. It’s North American premiere was at the San Francisco International Film Festival of 2011.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 »