Ghashiram Kotwal
A stylized version of Vijay Tendulkar’s radical Marathi play chronicling the Peshwa regime in western India, a collective effort of direction and cinematography made by an independent group of young filmmakers.
Vijay Tendulkar
Saeed Akhtar Mirza
Mani Kaul
Kamal Swaroop
Krishnan Hariharan
Casts & Crew
Also Directed by Saeed Akhtar Mirza
Arvind Desai is the only son of a rich businessman who deals in luxury handicrafts and products. His feelings for his father are mixed—while he hates his dominating nature, he admires his power and lack of scruples. He has long discussions on art and politics with a Marxist friend Rajan, is seeing his father's secretary Alice, and sometimes he visits a prostitute, Fatima. Much against his wishes, his marriage is arranged to a girl from a high-class family that has just returned from Paris; much to the dismay of Alice's mother, who realizes that Alice was just time-pass for Arvind and nothing more.
An old couple, Mohan Joshi and his wife, sues their landlord for not maintaining their 'collapsing' apartment building. For this, they hire two cunning lawyers. The court case drags on for years and the lawyers milk the old couple dry, while they become rich. Back home in the society, the old couple is ridiculed for fighting the landlord, but they fight on nevertheless.
'Albert Pinto Ko Gussa Kyun Ata Hai' revolves around the Pintos and the people connected to them. There's Albert who's pretty much angry at everybody. His brother Dominic who thinks it's better to be jobless than to work an underpaid job, his patient sister Joan who works at a sari shop, his independent girlfriend Stella who feels under-appreciated by her boyfriend, his father and his colleagues, client and Stella's family. The film is very much a social commentary about Middle-class life in Bombay during the late ’70s and the conflicts arising in the labour force because workers were getting severely underpaid.
Salim has been born lame, and lives with his mom, dad, and a sister who is old enough to be married. He and his dad search around for a suitable groom for her, and he meets Aslam. Salim rejects Aslam, as Aslam is not making enough wages that are commensuerate with his qualifications. Salim meets with some gangsters, who promise him that they will make him rich soon, and all he has to do is incite religious riots, pitting Hindus against the Muslims, and he will be well rewarded. Salim has always wanted to be rich, but will he take this opportunity to be wealthy
Naseem means Morning breeze, and charts the story of a young school going girl Naseem (Mayuri Kango) in the months leading up to the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992. She shares deep and loving bond with his ailing grandfather (Kaifi Azmi) who represents the era of communal harmony between Hindus and Muslims in India, as he fondly recalls the times he spent in pre-Independent Agra. As communal tension erupts in the city of Bombay, Naseem get increasingly bewildered by changing dynamics at her school and in the neighbourhood, while her grandfather watches helplessly at a city getting deeply divided over the Babri Masjid issue. The film ends with the grandfather passing away on the day of demolition of Babri Masjid.
Also Directed by Mani Kaul
Collaborative film made in Denmark.
Mani Kaul's diploma film shot at Ajanta Caves
A documentary story told through images, poetry and the Dhrupad, a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition.
A documentary on the role of women in India.
Taking an experimental approach to the relationship between the written text and moving image, Mani Kaul has a series of texts read aloud in voice-overs (poetry, essays, and stories), while the characters within the texts walk through real or imaginary landscapes.
In a poetic hour and a half, director Mani Kaul looks at the ancient art of making pottery from a wide variety of perspectives.
Chitrakathi is about the folk artists of western India who narrate with the help of leather puppets. Mani takes us to the sleepy Konkan coastal village and introduces us to the family that has preserved this unique art for several centuries.
Based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "The Meek One", Nazar is the saga of a Bombay-based antique dealer-cum-money lender (Shekhar Kapur), who at the age of 40, marries a woman (Shambhavi Kaul) who is 17, and brings her home to his spacious flat in a multi-storied building with a magnificent view. Their marriage is not a happy one, even though he hopes it will get better. But the bride, who had until her wedding lived her life in an orphanage, is immersed in her own thoughts, and at one point even holds a revolver against her husband's head while he slept. The film explores their complex life in a manner unusual for Indian cinema.
A very clever parrot lives in a Hindu palace, surrounded by many beautiful girls, but the parrot escapes, and is trapped far from the palace. One day, when its new owner is sleeping, the bird convinces a young boy to open the cage door. In return, it shows the boy a secret passage to get into the palace.
This film suggests a network of hierarchical relations between people through sometimes subtle and at other times blunt illustrations.
Also Directed by Kamal Swaroop
Dada Saheb Phalke ( 1870 – 1944) the father of Indian film industry & his own eight children. The film traces his life & career through the reminiscence of his surviving children, family photographs and his films.
An observation of the political climate in India leading upto a highly anticipated election.
At Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest congregation of religious pilgrims, a troupe of theatre actors stage a play based on an origin myth of Hinduism – the churning of the cosmic ocean. The legend tells of an epic battle between the gods and the demons for an elixir of immortality. The mela (or fair) is celebrated at the site where the elixir was believed to have fallen. Today, millions of Hindu pilgrims gather there to bathe in the holy river over a two-month period.
Om Dar-Ba-Dar is a 1988 Indian postmodernist Hindi film directed by Kamal Swaroop and starring Anita Kanwar, Aditya Lakhia and Gopi Desai in lead roles. The film set in Ajmer and Pushkar in Rajasthan, employed nonlinear narrative and an absurdist storyline to satire mythology, arts, politics and philosophy.
Rangbhoomi follows Kamal Swaroop as he attempts to trace the contours of Dada Saheb Phalke's life in Varansasi after he withdrew, disillusioned, from the world of cinema and decided to take up theater. While in Varanasi, Phalke wrote a semi-autobiographical play titled "Rangbhoomi" which forms the core of this cinematic exploration.
An attempt to engage with the historical, mythical and the contemporary worlds of the city of Pushkar
Also Directed by Krishnan Hariharan
Anand, a skilled engineering graduate, comes to a village from Madras to work in a cement factory. He is shocked when he learns about the exploitation and mistreatment of the workers there. Arjun, the corrupt manager of the factory, takes half of the wages from every worker as his commission. Anand complains to Ramkumar, the son of the factory owner, who used to be a college friend, and Ramkumar gives Arjun a warning. Meanwhile, Anand befriends Senthamari, a labourer in the factory, and is attracted to Gowri, Senthamari's sister
The Film revolves around life and struggle of Farmer, who has to pay his electricity bill and is tired of dealing with the corrupt systems in bureaucracy and politics in India.