Cinemas of India - Twenty Films (A Set of 20 DVDs)

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Credits (DVD 2 Mirch Masala)
Director: Ketan Mehta
Producer: NFDC
Camera: Jahangir Chowdhury
Editor: Sanjiv Shah
Music: Rajat Dholakiya
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Samita Patil, Om Puri, Suresh Oberoi, Deepti Naval and Raj Babbar

Credits (DVD 3 Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro)
Director: Kundan Shah
Producer: NFDC
Story and Screenplay: Suddhir Mishra, Kundan Shah
Dialogues: Ranjit Kapoor
Music: Vanraj Bhatia
Cinematography: Binod Pradhan
Editor: Renu Saluja
Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Vaswani, Neena Gupta, Om Puri, Bhakti Barve, Pankaj Kapur, Satish Shah

Credits (DVD 4 Ek Doctor Ki Maut)
Director, Story, Music: Tapan Sinha
Producer: NFDC
Editor: Subodh Roy
Music: Rajat Dholakiya
Cast: Shabana Azmi, Pankaj Kapur, Ifran Khan, Deepa Sahi, Vijayendra Ghadge

Credits (CD 5 Anhey Ghorey Da Daan) Director: Gurvinder Singh
Producer: NFDC
Creative Producer: Mani Kaul
Camera: Satya Rai Nagpaul
Music: Catherine Lamb
Cast: Mal Singh, Samuel John, Serbjeet Kaur, Dharminder Kaur, Emmanuel Singh, Kulwinder Kaur, Lakha Singh

Credits (DVD 6 27 Down) Director: Awtar Krishna Kaul
Producer: NFDC
Camera: Apurba Kishore Bir
Music: Hari Bhuban
Cast: Sudhir Dalvi, Gulzar, Sadhu Meher, M K Raina, Rekhat Sabnis, Om Shivpuri, Nilesh Vellani

Credits (DVD 7 Ek Hota Vidushak)
Director: Jabbar Patel
Producer: NFDC
Camera: Harish Joshi
Editor: Anil Vishwas
Music: Anand Modak
Cast: Laxmikant Berde, Varsha Usgaonkar, Dilip Prabhavalakar, Dr. Mohan Agashe, Nilu Phule, Madhu Kambikar

Credits (DVD 8 Parinamam)
Director: Venu
Producer: NFDC
Camera: M J Radhakrishnan
Editor: K Rajagopal
Story: Matampu Kunjukutton
Music: Johnson
Cast: Matampu Kunjukuttan, Nedumudi Venu, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, Ashokan, Shalu Menon, Archana, T.P. Madhavan, Baby Nithya Ranjith

Credits (DVD 9 Diskha)
Director: Arun Kaul
Producer: NFDC
Camera: A K Bir
Editor: Adesh Verma
Music: Mohinder Jit Singh
Cast: Nana Patekar, Manohar Singh, Ashish Mishra, Rajashri Sawant

Credits (CD 10 Marupakkam)
Director: K S Sethu Madhavan
Producer: NFDC and Doordarshan
Camera: D Vasanth Kumar
Editor: G Venkitraman
Music: L Vaidyananthan
Cast: Shiv Kumar, Jaya Bharathi, Radha, Shekhar

Credits (DVD 11 Paltadacho Munis)
Director: Laxmikant Shetgaonkar
Producer: NFDC
Camera: Arup Mandal
Editor: Sankalp Meshram
Music: Ved Nair
Cast: Chittaranjan Giri, Veena Jamkar, Vasanth Josalkar, Prashanti Talpanker, Deepak Amonkar

Credits (DVD 12 Stri)
Director: K S Sethumadhavan
Producer: NFDC and Doordarshan
Camera: S Saravanan
Editor: D Rajagopal
Cast: Rohini, Viay, P.L. Narayanan, S Bheemeswara Rao, K.K. Sarma, Bachori, Gopalaraju

Credits (DVD 13 Char Adhyay)
Director, Script: Kumar, Shahani
Camera: K K Mahajan
Editor: Sujata Narula
Music: Vanraj Bhatia
Cast: Nandni Ghosal, Sumanto Chattopadhyay, Kaushik, Gopal, Ramchandra Pratihari, Shruti Yusufi

Credits (DVD 14 Salim Langde Pe Mat Ro)
Director, Story: Saeed Akhtar Mirza
Producer: NFDC
Camera: Virendra Saini
Music: Sharang Dev
Cast: Pavan Malhotra, Makarand Deshpande, Ashutosh Gowariker, Rajendra Gupta, Neelima Azim, Vikram Gokhale and Surekha Sikri

Credits (DVD 15 Massey Sahib)
Director, Story: Pradip Krishen
Producer: NFDCCamera: R K Bose
Music: Vanraj Bhata
Cast: Raghuvir Yadav, Barry John, Arundhati Roy, Birendera Saxenai

Credits (DVD 16 Party)
Director, Screenplay: Govind Nihalani
Producer: NFDC
Editor: Renu Saluja
Cast Vijaya Mehta, Manohar Singh Amrish Puri, OM Puri, Rohini Hattangadi, Nasseeruddin Shah, Deepa Sahi, Ila Arun, K. K. Rana, Pearl Padamsee, Gulan Kripalni, Jayant Kripalni, Vijay Kashyap, Deven Khote

Credits (DVD 17 Uski Roti)
Director: Mani Kaul
Producer: NFDC
Camera: Arup Mandal
Cas:t Gurdeep Singh, Garima, Richa Vyas, Lakhanpal, Savita Bajaj

Credits (DVD 18 Mammo)
Director: Shyan Benegal
Producer: NFDC and Doordarshan
Camera: Prasan Jain
Music: Vanraj Bhatia
Cast: Farida Jalal, Surekha Sikri, Amit Phalke, Himani Shivpuri, Rajat Kapoor

Credits (DVD 19 Dharavi) Director: Suddhir Mishra
Producer: NFDC and Doordarshan
Editor: Renu Saluja
Music: Rajat Dholakia
Cast: OM Puri, Shabana Azmi, Raghuvir Yadav, Virendra Saxena, Madhuri Dixit

Credits (DVD 20 Train to Pakistan)
Director: Pamela Rooks
Producer: NFDC and Pan Pictures Rooks A V
Camera: Suuny Joseph
Editor: Sujatha Nirula
Music: Kuldip Singh
Cast: Nirmal Pandey, Mohan Agashe, Rajit Kapur, Smriti Mishsra, Divya Dutta, Mangal Dhilion
Format: DVD NTSC

DVD 1 (Gandhi 1982)
The film spans 56 out Gandhi 79 years. It starts with his days in south Africa, where Gandhi is seen as young attorney, who is thrown out of a first class compartment in spite of having a valid ticket. Angered at this humiliation, Gandhi decides to protest for the right of Indians and other coloured people. It is here that he meets with his first success. His fame spreads of India and he is invited to return home to take part in the freedom struggle. On arrival he is shocked at the poverty in the country and undertakes to travel all over the country to witness at first hand the atrocities of the British empire. Gandhi struggle to win freedom for India through his non-violent approach his belief that men are more good then evil and his spirit spiritual ideas all form a part of this saga the biography of a fascinating world leader both spiritual and political.

DVD 2 (Mirch Masala 1986)
In a isolated village in pre independence India, Subedar’ the tax collector, the agent of colonial power, arrives with his and of solider and the aura of authority. At the village celebration in his honour the spots a dusky, beautiful, spirited woman Sonbai, whose husband away to the city on work.

Subedar desire Sonbai. Sombai snubs his advances, escapes from his clutches and takes refuge in the local spice factory where she works with other women grinding chillies and spices. The old watchman of the factory, realizing ht e situation, bolts the giant gates of the factory and refuses to surrender Sonbai to Subedar’s soldier.

For the Subedar this is a challenge to his authority an affront to his ego. He has to have the woman at any cost. He summons the owner of the factory and the village headman and demands Sonbai like a tax. Otherwise he will destroy the entire village. The village gets totally polarized. Is a woman honour worth all the trouble?

With the Subedar stuck on his demand the women inside the factory defiant and the men outside scared of the consequences, stage is set for a final confrontations

DVD 3 (Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro 1983
A Photographer duo start a studio only to find wrong things happening right from its launch. However their photographic assignment lead them to expose shady facts about the city builders municipal officer and other. The film exposes many evils through its hilarious style, which weaves into is narrative slapstick comedy as well as epic ( a la Mahabharata) episodes to incisive effect.

DVD 4 (Ek Doctor Ki Maut 199)
After years of painstaking research at the cost of his domestic pleasure, Dr. Dipanka Roy discovers a vaccine for leprosy. The news is flashed over television and overnight an insignificant junior doctor receives international recognition. Professional jealousy and abuse of power threaten Dr. Roy even as the secretary of health reprimands him for breaking the news to the press. He is asked to report to the Director of health. Professional colleagues Dr. Arijit Sen and Dr. Ramananda invite him to lecture but it is merely a pretence to humiliate him. Dr. Roy suffers a mild heart attack but he refuses to go to the hospital. His wife and few others like Dr. Kundu Stand by Dr. Roy but the harassment continues a letter from American foundation is suppressed a Dr. Roy transferred to a remote village. The last straw is two American doctors receiving credits for discovering the same vaccine Dr. Roy is shattered.

DVD 5 (Anhey Ghorey Da Daan)
On a foggy winter morning Dalit family in a village in Punjab wakes up to the news of the demolition of a house of one of their community member on the outskirts of the village. Father a silent sympathizer joins his community in demand for justice for the affected family. The same day his son melu, a cycle rickshaw puller in the city, is participating in a strike by his union. Injured and alienated melu spends the day quietly resting and later joins his friends as they tease him over his state of affairs. Hesitantly he drinks with them in the night as they debate the meaning of their existence. Cycling through the city streets Melu feels lost and wonders where to go and what to do. Back in the village his mother fells humiliated at the treatment meted out by the landlords in whose fields she works. Gunshots are heard in the night and the village is tense it’s the night of the lunar eclipse. A man waders asking for the traditional alms while father decides to visit the city with a friend even as his daughter Dayalo walks through the village streets in the night.

DVD 6 (27 Down 1974)
Sanjay wanted to study art but his domineering father an engine diver in retirement after a crippling injury insisted that a railway job with its security was the best thing for him. So Sanjay ended up as a train conuctor. He is unhappy with the career forced upon him and the mechanical meaningless life that he lives. In the course of his course of his duty on the train he runs into a working girl, shalini and feels attracted to her. His father hears about his interest in Shalini, strongly disapproves of it and intervenes in Sanjay life one again. Unable to stand up to his father Sanjay soon finds himself married to a village girl. Life becomes even more unbearable for sanjay. He takes to wandering and seeks comfort in drink and brother. On final chance comes his way to break loose from his shackles and plan a new life with shalini. He lets it pass.

DVD 7 (Ek Hota Vidushak 1991)
Aburao a songaday (clown) in the world of Tamasha (a folk theatre form) is known for his humour. His humour comes from the humiliation he suffered as illegitimate child of a tamasha artiste and exposed to the cruel world of deceit, poverty and power play.

Bewitched by the beautiful actress Manaka, Aburao leaves the tamasha world using the opportunity to enter the world of cinema. In the process he betrays his beloved Subhadra who is pregnant by him.

Gunwant, Abura’s schoolmate and now the chief Minister with his political shrewdness realizes that he can use the popularity of his actors clown friends to his advantage. Initially unwilling Aburao soon finds himself a willing accomplice in the power game until he is confronted by his mentor and the genesis of his rise to stardom.

DVD 8 (Parinamam 2003)
Parinaman tackles the age old issues of loneliness and redundancy among the aged. Balakrishna Marar faces callous treatment from his family after his retirement. Parallel to his story is that of the mentally disturbed and lonely former judge Damodaran Nambeeshan who goes to Kashi in search of peace. There are five other senior citizens whose problems form the basis of the film. The story is about all these good people whose lives fall apart when they grow old. They lose everything they hold darn ad start feeling rejected as if they are burdens on their family and society.

DVD 9 (Diksha 1991)
Acharya Udupa is a Vedic scholar running a residential school a gurukul. An austere man demanding rigorous discipline from the novices under training he accepts the latest disciple, Nanni, with utmost reluctances. Nanni traning begins at two levels the formal one with the acharya the informal one with a couple of fellow novices. Also living with Udupa is Yamuna his young daughter a widow whose life has a secret side to it. She is in love with the local schoolmaster a forbidden abhorrent idea for the Brahmin society. One night during the Acharya absence from the village Yamuna has an intimate meeting with the schoolmaster. She becomes pregnant and a target for the orthodox society.

DVD 10 (Marupakkam 1990)
Ambi father vembu Iyer revered for his knowledge in Vedic studies is now ill having only his memories to accompany him. The state of his father is a shock to Ambi. The two fell out over Ambi love and subsequent marriage to a Christian girl in Delhi.

Before his marriage to Janaki vembu Iyer intensely loved Avayam much to the anger and disapproval of his mother. Eventually Avayam and Vembu separated because of the pressure. Beginning to understand that guilt might be a reason why his father has retreated in to silence Ambi suggests bringing avayam to the house. Janaki is upset the proposition becoming frustrated at the prospect of sharing her husband with another woman.

DVD 11 (Paltadacho Munis 2009)
Vinayak a forest guard lives a lonely life with just the memories of his dead wife in a Government house in the dense forests of Goa Karnataka border. His repeatedly rejected pleas for a transfer by his superior in the Departments of forests have left him bitter. One night he comes across a filthy unkempt mentally challenged woman lying in the compound outside his house. He drives her away but she keep returning from his initial irritation with her filthy appearance and irate behavior he slowly gets used to her daily visit looking for food and sleeping in the courtyard with time he begins to derive comfort from her presence.

Vinyaka growing relationship with the woman initially attracts some comments but evokes a strong protest in the village only when she gets pregnant. The villagers question Vinayak right over the mentally challenged and helpless woman. They maintain that his relationship is morally incorrect and should be ended. However for Vinayak the women is his companion and the mother of his child and there is no dilemma in his mind over this. Thus begins a conflict between a society that refuses to take responsibility of such a woman and one man endeavour to integrate her in his life.

DVD 12 (Stri 1995)
A chance encounter on the boat! Rangi and Pattalu wheedle their way onto the boat much against the boatman wishes. The next morning it is discovered that Pattalu has made away with the cargo on the boat. Rangi is still around. Probably to delay the police from catching the culprit. When asked, Ranti frankly tell her story Pattalu is really not her husband but “her man”. She is aware that the booty will not be shared with her but Pattalu beautiful young wife. Why then does she help Pattalu in his nefarious activities? Because he is my man”, is her simple answer which has eons of female subservience hidden within it.

DVD 13 (Char Adhyay 1997)
Char Adhyay is a subtle delineation of human relationship based on a novel by Rabindernath Tagore. Energies of Painting threat music and dance come together in his film set in Bengal of the 30s. its narrative and its poetic depiction of pain is unique to Indian art cinema.

DVD 14 (Salim Lande Pe Mat Ro 1989)
Salim the young man with a limp, inhabits a twilight Zone. At one level, he belongs to a respectable proud though poor family Salim roots go deep into this congested impoverished Muslim nighbourhood. But Salim has also discovered another world a world of deceptive charm and fatal allurement organized crime. Where a little intimidation flashing of a knife unspoken threats of concrete mob action bring in quick easy bucks. Tear and the price to be paid come later.

DVD 15 (Massey Sahib 1986)
In a small tribal district town of central India in 1929 francis Massey is the ‘English Type Babu’ at the deputy commissioner office. Massey believes that because he is Christian and can speak English he is a cut above other Indian and not very different from the white sahibs he serves.

For a man of lowly birth Massey has risen to a dizzying height. On the other hand he acknowledges no realistic limits to his own free spirit. Whether the real world fails him he improvises boldly, imaginatively. Alas the unsmiling implacable machinery of the Raj has no room for Massey Sahib the travelling salesman road foreman and entertainer. Right up to the bitter and Massey believes that deputy commissioner Adam Sahib will step in and save him…

DVD 16 (Party 1984)
Rich middle-age widow Damayani a high society patron of the arts hosts a party in honour of diwakar Barve a celebrated playwright and novelist who has received a prestigious literary award. The party attracts the literary and cultural elite of the town as also the fawning cognoscenti which trail in their wake. One name keeps cropping up in the course of the conversation Amrit a writer of immense talent and potential once very much patronized by this set. Amrit the powerful poet leaves a promising literary career to join the tribal people in their struggle against exploitation. His attempt to bridge the chasm between worlds and deed hunts all other at the party. He is the invisible thread binding the tapestry of the film together his enigmatic presence finally becoming more meaningful and poignant than the rest.

DVD 17 (Uski Roti 1970)
A desolated bus stop on a highway… figure of a village woman Balo waiting to deliver a meal to sucha singh the husband a bus driver. He expects the traditional duties of an average Indian rural wife. Balo in turn accepts her husband in independent lifestyle. Balo hurries to the bust stop. She is late delivering the meal trying to save her younger sister, Jinda, from being seduced by the village rake.

DVD 18 (Mammo 1994)
Mammo is a nickname given to Memhooda Begum by her sister. She marries a man from Lahore. After partition she and her husband automatically become Pakistan citizens.

Although childless her marriage is a happy one until her husband death over property matters Mammo is thrown out of the house by her relatives. She comes to India to stay with her only kin her two sister. Unable to extend her visa she has to go back political priorities defeat humanitarian ones!

DVD 19 (Dharavi 1991)
Dharavi brings to life the squalid corruption and crime ridden expanse of the largest slum in Asia. The fast paced plot brings us a buoyant and susceptible Rajkarna who hires rides as a cabbie and lives in a cubbyhole with the wife Kunda (Shabana Azmi) and son. Rajkaran is possessed with the desire to won a cloth factory and making better his life situations: he pledges all his resources to this sole dream of making it big.

His only respite from hostile realities and underhanded friends that threaten to destroy his dream is the gorgeous Bollywood starlet Madhuri Dixit: his make believe fantasy and only solace.

DVD 20 (Train to Pakistan 1991)
Based on the novel by Khushwant Singh the film has a message that transcends the border of the little village where the actions take place.

Mano Majra is a sleepy town on the Punjab border between India and Pakistan where Sikhs and Muslim have lived peacefully for years.

As the freedom struggle reaches its climax the frontier becomes a scene of rioting and bloodshed. But the Village carriers on its tryst with peace and bonhomie until a train rattle in at an unusual time with an unusual cargo. This train from Pakistan is bursting forth with corpses of Hindus and Sikhs.

A few days later the gory incident is repeated and the village is unwittingly thrown into the cauldron of violence and hate.