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A political activist escapes the prison van and is sheltered in a posh apartment owned by a sensitive young woman. Both are rebels: the activist against political treachery and the other on a social level. Both are bitter about badly organized state of things. Being in solitary confinement, the fugitive engages himself in self-criticism and, in the process, questions the leadership. Questions are not allowed, obeying is mandatory. Displeasure leads to bitterness, bitterness to total rift. The struggle has to continue, both for the political activist, now segregated, and the woman in exile.
"A landlord orders the murder of a benevolent schoolmaster whose progressive influence seems to be sinking in. A very poor labourer Naurangia retaliates by murdering the landlord’s brother. This turns him and his wife into fugitives overnight. After struggling for sustenance elsewhere, they decide to return home but an insurmountable task awaits them – that of crossing the wide and treacherously swift river. How Naurangia and a heavily pregnant Rama cross the river to return home to safety is what Paar as a movie takes you through."
With hopes to improve an impoverished lifestyle in Lucknow, Ghulam Hasan, on the insistent advice of his friend, Lalulal, shifts to Mumbai, leaving an ailing mother and his wife behind in Lucknow. His friend helps him get a job as a taxi cleaner. After months, despite his best efforts, he is unable to make it to Lucknow to visit his family. Lalulal meanwhile is dealing with his own set of troubles with his sweetheart Yashodhra, with the pair of them struggling to rent a decent apartment in the city. It is a story of struggle in the city of dreams. Is it really a city of dreams or is it a city that traps you, always keeps your dream just within reach whereas it is constantly deluding you.
"Kishunsah is a self-respecting, wise old man who decides to divide his property among his family the moment he suspects that all is not well between his sons and daughter-in-law. After the division, Kishunsah settles down with his youngest son, but his tranquil life comes to an end sooner than expected. He has to face the rewards of old age – the humiliation, the insults. He has no value now. One day he is thrown into the junk room to live. He feels completely detached from the family and decides to snap all ties and renounce the world forever."
The story revolves around that timeless and controversial concept of power. The story is a powerful and graphic representation of power and its ability to corrupt. The movie set in a remote and parched village in India sometime in the future serves
After years of painstaking research at the cost of his domestic pleasure, Dr. Dipankar Roy discovers a vaccine for leprosy. News is flashed over television and overnight, an insignificant junior doctor receives international recognition. After suffering humiliation at the hands of his seniors, Dr. Roy suffers a mild heart attack. His wife and a few colleagues stand by him but Dr. Roy is transferred to a remote village. The last straw is two American doctors receiving credit for discovering the same vaccine.
Rajanna and Geeta arrive in the city in the fond hope of building a cosy little home. When they discover just such a house, their happiness knows no bounds. Things are fine till, one day, a workshop opens up next door and brings with it a wide variety of sounds. When the noise crosses the bounds of tolerance, Rajanna is indignant but cannot do much, until he discovers that his wife has achieved the impossible task of getting the shed vacated, but only by yielding to the demands of the police inspector. Rajanna now wants to take Geeta away from the environment. He seeks the help of the workmen who had earlier occupied the shed, but discovers that their slum is being demolished to make way for a multinational.
Hari, a runaway rag picker, lives with his uncle in Mumbai’s squalid slums. Mirror, a short film project will begin filming soon, and the makers want to cast Hari as their main lead. Here begins Hari’s dream, where his only aspiration is to be a hero. After an incoherent wait and watch game for two long months, Hari confronts the darker side of society that renders him practically helpless.
This film evokes the effect of years of subordination of the struggling classes. It is about the signs of simmering fire and about cleft tongues that want to rise in unison, about the possibility of inchoate desire and the first cry of love.
Agantuk is Satyajit Ray’s last film and adapted from his short story Atithi, meaning guest. A family is paid an unexpected, and rather unwanted, visit by a man claiming to be Anita’s long lost uncle. The initial suspicion with the man slowly dissolves as he regales them with stories of his travels. The family is suspicious of the stranger, believing him to be an imposter with a financial scam to sell, only to find him leave unexpectedly, leaving behind some insightful observations.
Ghare Baire is symbolic of a philosophical revolution in pre – independent Bengal. Ray brings out the pros & cons of the Swadeshi movement through the charismatic Swadeshi leader Sandip who fights for the cause by basing his parasite like existence on Nikhil, a liberal, who urges his wife, Bimala to explore and expand her understanding of the world beyond him. Nikhil quietly pushes Bimala towards discovering her world at the cost of witnessing her falling in love with another man. Ghare Baire is a story of the trials & tribulations of the human mind coming to terms with its own learning.
The film deals with an individual’s ordeal in the face of an indifferent establishment. It revolves around the payment of an electricity bill for a farm pump-set.Velu owns a small sugarcane field and has immense faith in the establishment, in this case, the Electricity Board, to condone a delay in payment of his electricity bill. But when the power is severed he and his wife Sita are devastated. Friends and well wishers raise their hands helplessly and can only offer suggestions for restoration of power. Help comes finally from the most unexpected quarters. Their neighbour Radha who is looked down upon by the villagers, restores the power and reinforces one’s faith in basic human values.
"Rudaali is based on a short story by renowned author Mahashweta Devi. The film is a riveting tale set in Rajasthan (India) of a young woman, Shanichari’s life and her inclusion in the group of professional woman mourners. The music by Bhupen Hazarika is widely celebrated and considered haunting and enthralling till date. Rudaali is directed by the fierce Kalpani Lajmi, a celebrated filmmaker who advocated the cause of woman emancipation in all her artistic endeavors"
"Ambi comes to Kumbakonam from Delhi and is shocked to see Vembu Iyer, his Vedic scholar father, unable to recognize his own son. Ambi learns from his mother that Vembu Iyer has retreated into silence ever since he heard about his son’s unhappy marriage. Gradually the old man’s self-guilt begins to surface."
The film opens with a wedding procession followed by the ritual sacrifice of a sheep and invocation to God. A teenage bride, Yesu has been married to the mentally retarded son of a lecherous old man. On the night of the wedding, the father-in-law tries to rape Yesu and in the scuffle he is killed. A frightened Yesu runs away and hides in an abandoned warehouse. The very next day a new warehouse keeper Edekar and his attendant Dharma, take charge of the warehouse. Yesu is discovered hiding behind some old bags of wheat. They feed her and let her stay for the night, but Edekar is afraid of giving refuge to the girl. As time passes, Dharma becomes friendly with herl and develops a protective attitude. His head office decides to send truckloads of food grain to the warehouse. Edekar is scared of the girl being found out. He starts drinking heavily and losing his sanity. Finally, in a fit of drunken fury, he ask Yesu to leave immediately. Back to his room he suffers from hallucinations about Yesu and the impending arrival of trucks. He runs to the warehouse. When he opens the door, he finds that Yesu has hanged herself.
A story based on a custom called Natha Pratha, which states that for any reason, if a woman wants to leave her husband, her father or any other person who supports her, has to pay compensation to her husband. If the said amount cannot be paid, villagers punish the woman. On the contrary, if a husband wants to leave his wife, he need not give any reason or explanation for doing so. One tortured woman throws away her inhibitions and stands up against this custom and gives a new definition to womanhood
Sunil, an NRI married to an American girl is returning to Kolkata after 15 years to see his father who has never reconciled to his marriage. A shock awaits him when he learns that his father has disappeared and no one knows where he has gone. The only people who could know are his sister Ruma who lives in Banaras, his younger brother Anil in Mumbai and their old servant Sambhu. With a deep sense of guilt Sunil hits upon a clue that suggests his father had spent the last few years at an old age home near Kolkata. The final blow is the discovery that his father had died a few months earlier and had been cremated because no one had claimed the body. It is at the home that Sunil meets Satyababu, who tells him that his father cared more for his children than they did for him.
Calcutta – one day the city is crippled by a heavy downpour. Everything goes topsy-turvy. A professor who has gone out for a while doesn’t return home for months, leaving his family in great anxiety. In the vacuum created by his absence, the family finds itself trapped in a new emotional world.
"Mammo marries a man from Lahore. After Partition, she and her husband become Pakistan citizens. Although childless, her marriage is a happy one until her husband’s death. Over property matters, Mammo is thrown out of the house by her relatives. She comes to India and unable to extend her visa she has to go back – political priorities defeat humanitarian ones!"
