Pallavi Joshi
Hiding truth, denying justice and no value of human life are blots on our democracy.
The Tashkent Files is a thriller that revolves around the mysterious death of India's 2nd Prime Minister Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri and attempts to uncover if he had actually died a natural death, or, as alleged, was assassinated.
Vikram is a happy-go-lucky management student from a top Business School of India. He becomes an overnight sensation after a successful internet campaign against the radical fundamentalism of moral policing in India. This prompts his university teacher - Professor Ranjan Batki, to throw him a challenge for yet another internet campaign that would help raise money via a non-profit Pottery Club for poor people living in Maoists areas of India. Little does Vikram know that he is about to become a part of a plot that would risk his life and the nation. He gets entangled between two corrupt facets of India - Socialism and Capitalism, both of which are deeply rooted in India. It's a story inspired from true life incidents of Underbelly India.
The film grapples with multiple issues, but primarily the changing nature of love and its impact on the twin institutions of marriage and family.
Dong, the ruler of a small mountainous kingdom is keen to wreak havoc (terrorism, these days) on the general populace in various peaceful countries (mostly India), with the help of assorted people including spies in high positions in India. When he managed to kill the prime-minister (or is it the president?) of India, a small band of commandos takes it upon themselves to bring him down with some unconventional warfare.
Two childhood friends have become bitter enemies. So much so, in fact, that they have divided their territories and sworn to kill anyone who crosses the boundary. Against this backdrop, their grandchildren fall in love and when their romance surfaces, the rivalry between is rekindled. The two young lovers are told never to see each other again, on pain of death ... when they get together, it's too late for their grand family ..
The film, which won the 1988 National Film Award for Best First Film of a Director for its "excellent exploration of complex philosophical theme for the first time in Indian cinema," is set in the Buddhist town of Sariput in the desert of Central Asia in the 1st century B.C. The town is struck by a devastating sand storm that leaves behind only four survivors: two monks and two children taking refuge in the monastery. Twenty years later, the monks have become old, while the boy and the girl have grown and fallen in love. The jealous monk deceitfully persuades the boy into becoming a monk, yet the girl wins him back, as a result both are expelled from the monastery, and that is when the sandstorm strikes once again..
Geeta falls in love with a blind radio singer named Mohan, but his disability hampers their happily-ever-after.
