Sally Hawkins

Sendhil Ramamurthy

Shabana Azmi

Mark Addy

It's a Wonderful Afterlife

It's a Wonderful Afterlife (2010)

Anushka Sharma Kohli

Imran Khan

Lekha Washington

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola (2013)

Nandita Das

Kabir Chowdhury

Avijit Dutt

Fire

Fire (1996)

Dalip Tahil

Anant Nag

Priya Tendulkar

Ankur

Ankur (1974)

Meenakshi Sheshadri

Anil Kapoor

Dulari

Prabha lives a wealthy lifestyle with her widowed dad, Thakur Jasbir Singh and brother Kunwar Ranvir. She receives a marriage proposal from equally wealthy Thakur Shamsher Singh, but rejects him, gets married to Rajendra, re-locates to move-in with him and his widowed and principled mom, Amba Bhanupratap Singh, & wayward brother Suraj, where she soon gives birth to Rajat. Rajendra, who secretly visits local courtesan, Munnibai, returns home intoxicated one night and sexually molests and then kills Geeta, who is their servant, Bhiku's daughter, but is treated like a family-member. Then when Amba returns home after watching Ram Leela, she apprehends Rajendra, has him arrested, he is eventually tried in Court, found guilty after Amba's testimony, and hanged. A devastated and humiliated Prabha swears to avenge his death, and leaves to live with her equally vengeful dad and brother, and together they plot to turn Amba and Suraj's lives upside down - so much so that Amba and Suraj not only lose their ancestral estate, their house is burned down, they are blacklisted by the community, where Amba is the Sarpanch, and to top it all up, Suraj is arrested for killing Shamsher and sexually molesting Prabha, and if found guilty will also be hanged like his brother.—rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Amba

Amba (1990)

Nasir Hussain

Amitabh Bachchan

Tom Alter

A ex-convict must flee his mob boss, leaving his family to fend for themselves. His wife goes blind and his children are abandoned. They are adopted by a Hindu policeman, a Muslim tailor, and a Catholic priest. The Hindu-raised son becomes a policeman in his turn; his Muslim-raised brother becomes a singer; and the last son, played by Amitabh, becomes a happy-go-lucky Catholic who lives on the edge of the law. The boys meet again and their lives become entangled in an incredible plot full of unlikely coincidences and furious action sequences interspersed with songs. In the end, the grieving mother recovers her sight, the evil mob boss is punished, and the family is at last re-united.—gavin@sunny_deol2009@yahoo.com

Amar Akbar Anthony

Amar Akbar Anthony (1977)

Richard Attenborough

Amjad Khan

"The Chess Players" (Shatranj Ke Khilari) is a 1977 Indian film directed by Satyajit Ray. It is based on a short story by Munshi Premchand, set during the British colonial era in India. The plot revolves around two wealthy and aristocratic friends, Mirza Sajjad Ali and Mir Roshan Ali, who are obsessed with playing chess. They spend most of their time engrossed in the game, neglecting their responsibilities and oblivious to the political turmoil brewing around them. Meanwhile, the British East India Company, led by General James Outram, is planning to annex the kingdom of Awadh, ruled by Nawab Wajid Ali Shah. The British perceive the Nawab as a weak and ineffective ruler, making him an easy target for their expansionist ambitions. As the British forces advance towards Awadh, the Nawab remains indifferent, preoccupied with his lavish lifestyle, poetry, and music. He fails to grasp the gravity of the situation, much to the dismay of his loyal subjects. Amidst the political upheaval, Mirza and Mir Roshan continue to indulge in their obsession with chess, oblivious to the chaos unfolding around them. However, their decadent lifestyle and indifference to the plight of their countrymen eventually catch up with them. The film serves as a critique of the decadence and complacency of the Indian aristocracy during the colonial era, juxtaposed with the ruthless ambition and exploitation of the British Empire. It also explores themes of power, privilege, and the consequences of apathy in the face of oppression. In the end, "The Chess Players" serves as a poignant reminder of the complexities of history and the importance of remaining vigilant and engaged in the face of political turmoil and injustice.—SunMaximusOne

The Chess Players

The Chess Players (1977)

Emma Thompson

Lily James

Alice Orr-Ewing

How do you find lasting love in today's world? For documentary-maker and dating app addict Zoe (Lily James), swiping right has only delivered an endless stream of Mr. Wrongs to her eccentric mother Cath's (Emma Thompson) dismay. For Zoe's childhood friend and neighbor Kaz (Shazad Latif), the answer is to follow his parents' example and opt for an arranged (or "assisted") marriage to a bright and beautiful bride from Pakistan. As Zoe films his hopeful journey from London to Lahore to marry a stranger chosen by his parents, she begins to wonder if she might have something to learn from a profoundly different approach to finding love.

What's Love Got to Do with It?

What's Love Got to Do with It? (2022)

Ox Baker Jr.

Molly Callinan

Molly Brennan

Zaynab is a thirty-something lesbian Pakistani, Muslim, lesbian in Chicago who takes care of her sweet, TV-obsessed mother. As Zaynab falls for Alma, a bold and very bright Mexican woman, she searches for her identity in life, love, and wrestling.

Signature Move

Signature Move (2017)

Patrick Swayze

Art Malik

Sam Wanamaker

Independent of each other, the Pal family--parents Hazari and Kamla and their three offspring Amrita, Shambu and Manooj--and Max Lowe arrive in Calcutta, their initial dealings there being less than positive. After losing their farm in the nearby countryside to the "money lender", the Pals are in the city in search of a better life, especially in wanting to build a dowry for Amrita who is now of marrying age. Max, a Houston-based surgeon who fell into the career as a matter of family obligation, quit his job, unable to cope with the emotional toll especially of losing patients, and has come to Calcutta in search of spiritual enlightenment. Their lives converge by chance in the slum neighborhood nicknamed the City of Joy, most specifically at the makeshift City of Joy Clinic and School opened and operated by Irishwoman Joy Bethel who came to Calcutta on a whim and never left. While the Pals eventual settle in the City of Joy, Joy herself tries to convince Max to provide his much needed medical services to the clinic, which he eventually but reluctantly agrees for as long as he is in Calcutta, which is longer than he may have originally planned if only in having troubles trying to get back to the US. In addition to some seeing Max as having no long term commitment to the neighborhood like the Pals who are now residents, two others issues in combination threaten the lives of those in the City of Joy, including Max, Joy and the Pals, and the livelihood of the clinic: the broadening of the services to include a nearby leper colony, some in the neighborhood who do not want to associate with them; and the control of the neighborhood by the corrupt Ghatak family--the patriarchal Godfather as he is referred to and his more violent son Ashok--who own much of the neighborhood property, own many of the neighborhood services (such as the rickshaw services; Hazari has become one of their drivers) and who require "protection money" from other neighborhood businesses such as from the clinic to maintain the peace.—Huggo

City of Joy

City of Joy (1992)

Ayesha Dharker

Raghuvir Yadav

Parikshat Sahni

Mansi and Bansidhar are two daughters of renowned singer Vrundavan. After Vrundavan's wife passes away, the responsibility of the household is shouldered by Mansi. When the two sisters grow up, Mansi focuses on her career in singing and becomes accomplished and know nation-wide. Mansi feels threatened by Bansi's voice, and she gets Bansi married to an alcoholic, debt-ridden, and abusive husband. Things do not improve even when Bansi give birth to a daughter, and she finally separates from him. Good fortune smiles on Bansi, when she is invited to sing in Mansi's place. She goes on to have an affair with her sister's boyfriend, Indraneel, resulting in bitterness all round, though this does improve Bansi career, leaving Mansi out in the cold. When Bansi's daughter grows up, she too excels in singing, and is in love with Hemang Desai, little knowing that her very own mother has also been having an affair with him and wants to marry him.—rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Melody

Melody (1998)

Trevor Baxter

Shirley MacLaine

Peggy Ashcroft

Bengali Sushila Sen and her son, Manek, relocate from India to London after Sushila's relationship with her husband fails. Sushila struggles with everyday living. A child piano prodigy, Manek's schoolteacher refers him to a piano teacher, Irina Sousatzka, a Russian immigrant renowned for her teaching skills. Irina forms a strong bond with Manek, not only teaching him piano but also valuable life lessons. Disagreements arise, as Manek does not want anyone to run his life for him, but nevertheless the training progresses. Sushila, a baker and seller of Indian cuisine, loses an important client after her hair is found in one of her baked goods. To help his mother, Manek feels pressure to use his piano skills to earn some money. This is against Irina's wishes, however, as she is trying to protect Manek from her own negative experiences as a young concert pianist. She believes no student should perform until they are ready. But Manek, encouraged by a pushy music agent, decides to perform with the London Symphony Orchestra, ready or not.—Laura

Madame Sousatzka

Madame Sousatzka (1988)

Sonam Kapoor

Jim Sarbh

Anjali Khurana

The film opens with 22-year-old Neerja Bhanot (Sonam Kapoor) arriving late for a house party. Later that evening her mother (Shabana Azmi) expresses concern once about Neerja's job as a flight attendant and suggests Neerja to return to her old job of modeling. Neerja likes her job and is driven to the airport by her boyfriend Jaideep (Shekhar Ravjiani). Neerja's colleagues love Jaideep, he adores her and gives her an advance birthday present.Neerja reflects on her brief and unhappy arranged marriage. Her former husband Naresh (Kavi Shastri) was a professional in Doha, Qatar. He constantly harangued and abused Neerja over dowry. (It is revealed that Neerja's family had made it clear there would be no dowry, but the husband had expected otherwise) He also constantly abused Neerja as she could not cook or clean. She eventually returned home to honor a modeling contract. He sent back a humiliating letter attacking her parents about dowry, her lack of domestic skills and suggesting that she had better bring money back or not come back at all. She broke off with him and landed a highly competitive job with Pan Am Airways.As Neerja boards Pan Am 73 it is revealed that a terrorist group has planned to hijack the plane in Karachi. The plane takes off from Mumbai's Sahar International Airport and lands in Karachi where the four terrorists belonging to Abu Nidal's organization board the plane disguised as security officers escorting a Libyan diplomat. They reveal themselves and hijack the plane. Neerja quickly alerts the cockpit, and the three American pilots escape through the overhead hatch and run to the terminal despite firing by the terrorists.When an Indian American accompanied by his handicapped old mother inadvertently reveals himself to be an American one of the terrorists grabs him and shoots him dead and throws him down the aircraft before the Pakistani negotiators. The terrorists try to locate a radio engineer among the passengers by having Neerja make an announcement over the intercom. Emran Ali (Shashi Bhushan), a Pakistani radio operator gets ready to stand up, but Neerja signals him to sit down. Later the terrorists ask the flight attendants to collect the passports so as to locate the Americans and hold them hostage. Neerja and her colleagues collect the passports but skillfully avoid any American passports by kicking them under the seats or down the trash chutes. The terrorists, dejected over not finding any American passports, locate a British citizen and use him for negotiations.The Pakistan negotiators inadvertently reveal the name of the radio engineer Emran Ali, who is located and roughly brought into the cockpit to start the radio and begin the negotiations. Their main demand is sending the pilots back to the aircraft to fly it to Cyprus and to demand for the release of their imprisoned colleagues languishing in jail. The Pakistani authorities try to stall for time. The terrorist leader chastises the other, younger terrorist who has begun roughing up the passengers and molesting the attendants.
Angered by his public embarrassment the younger terrorist storms into the cockpit and shoots the radio engineer and in full defiance of his leader, screams wild threats over the radio. The terrorists are confused; the leader only wants to complete the mission, but the younger man is now mad with rage and out of control. Pakistani air control is still negotiating but they are slowly losing control and time and the terrorists are getting agitated by the minute.Around 17 hours later the plane loses auxiliary power, and the lights go out inside. Despite Neerja and the other attendants trying to explain this as a normal airplane reaction, the terrorists believe the power was cut deliberately by the Pakistani armed forces who will soon storm into the plane. In a panic mode, they now begin shooting down passengers indiscriminately. At great peril to her own life, Neerja opens the rear door and deploys the chute and begins directing passengers down the chute. Neerja chooses to let the passengers escape first.In the end, she is shot and fatally injured by the terrorists when she tries to shield young children from the gunfire. The film ends with a tributary message to Neerja who was eventually honored posthumously with the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest peacetime military decoration awarded for valor, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield.

Neerja

Neerja (2016)

Melissa Leo

Bill Bailey

Zia Mohyeddin

A childless Western couple visit a fertility shrine in Karachi run by eunuchs and set off a huge culture clash.

Immaculate Conception

Immaculate Conception (1992)

Salman Rushdie

Charles Dance

Sarita Choudhury

The film begins with narrator Saleem Sinai describing his birth at the exact moment of Indian independence. His narrative then jumps back to 1917 Kashmir where his grandfather Dr Aadam Aziz goes to the Ghani mansion to assess the landlord's sick daughter Nasim, whom the doctor eventually marries. Then the film jumps to Agra in 1942, where Saleem describes his grandfather as contracting a 'disease of optimism' of those times and being an ardent supporter of politician Mian Abdullah. Abdullah is assassinated returning from a party with his secretary Nadir Khan, but Nadir flees to Dr Aziz's house where Aziz shelters him in his cellar. Aziz and Nasim have three daughters, Alia, Mumtaz and Emerald, and during Nadir's stay, Mumtaz develops a bond with him resulting in their private marriage. Soon the marriage is broken up when General Zulfikar learns of his presence in the cellar.Devastated by the divorce, Mumtaz finds solace in the arms of wealthy entrepreneur Ahmed Sinai. The two marry and move to Bombay where they buy a villa from wealthy Englishman William Methwold, and Mumtaz takes up a new name, Amina Sinai. At the villa, an accordionist, Wee Willie Winkie and his wife used to come to sing and entertain and it transpires that the wife is carrying Methwold's child. Amina too is carrying a child then. Both go into labour on 14 August and give birth to boys at the moment of India's independence. However, a nurse Mary, driven by love for her revolutionary partner, decides to switch the name tags of the two rich and poor infants, altering their fates. Mary is soon consumed by guilt and tries to make amends by deciding to become Saleem's ayah (nanny). Saleem, meant for poverty, has a life of privilege and Shiva, the one meant for fortune, leads an impoverished life on the streets. But things are not ideal for Saleem as his family pressurises him to be different and special, and his father becomes an alcoholic. Saleem soon starts hearing voices that he realises he can control and discovers these are the voices of the other Midnight's Children born in the first hour of independence, all of whom have special powers. The most prominent of them however are Shiva, Parvati-the-witch who is Saleem's only supporter, and Saleem himself with telepathic capabilities.Wanting to make good use of his power he forms the Midnight's Children's conference, destined to serve the nation. But things go against him as an accident reveals that Saleem's blood type doesn't match his parents, revealing that he's not his parents' true child. In shock, they send him away to his aunt Emerald, now the wife of General Zulfikar and living in Pakistan. In exile, Saleem learns about power, politics and struggle. He grows distraught by the divisions in the conference caused by the loss of innocence and the seeping of language and class differences amongst the members, and he disbands it. He is eventually recalled back to his family which has now moved to Karachi, but finds that his father has still not accepted him. Mary realises that the only way to make amends is by telling his parents about the swapping of the name tags at birth. Enraged by this, Saleem's father forces him to undergo an operation on his enormous and constantly dripping nose.Some years later the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 starts, during which Saleem's parents are killed when their house is bombed. Being injured in the bombing, he suffers memory loss and wakes up in 1971. He is then enrolled in the army for his sniffing skills and becomes part of a crew sent to fight in East Pakistan which, with the help of India, becomes Bangladesh. Still suffering amnesia, he joins a celebrating crowd including victorious Indian soldiers led by Shiva, now a war hero owing to his powers, and also some magicians from India including Parvati-the-witch. Recognising Saleem she calls to him, breaking his spell of amnesia, and introduces him to snake charmer Picture Singh, the magicians' leader. On hearing of Saleem's tough journey, Parvati takes him to the conjurer's ghetto in New Delhi, smuggling him over the border in her basket of invisibility. They fall in love but Saleem, ambitious to do something big, leaves Parvati giving an excuse that he can't marry her because he is impotent. Realising the futility of his ambitions he returns but finds Parvati is expecting a baby from Shiva, whom she had summoned to visit her by casting a spell. Saleem says he will raise it as his own son and the baby, named Aadam, becomes one of many forming the next generation of magical children being born at the moment of the declaration of Emergency by PM Indira Gandhi.The PM, an ardent believer in horoscopes, is advised that the Midnight's Children have powers that are a threat to her supremacy, and so under the guise of a sterilisation programme, she orders their incarceration. Shiva, leading the project and in search of Saleem, bulldozes the entire ghetto (killing countless) and captures Saleem. Under torture, Saleem gives information about the other children, who are soon incarcerated and sterilised to drain their powers. The Emergency ends when the PM is defeated in an election, the children are all simultaneously released and Shiva dies in a road accident as he attempts to flee the country pursued by authorities for his crimes. Saleem finds his son living with Picture Singh, who tells him Parvati died in the ghetto clearance. Reunited, the three have lunch at a restaurant where Saleem realises the chutney he is eating is similar to the chutney his ayah Mary used to prepare for him in childhood. He obtains the address of the Bombay-based chutney company and they set out to find it. There Saleem and Mary, the company's owner, are overjoyed to be reunited and the film concludes as Saleem's son, Aadam, utters his first-ever word.

Midnight's Children

Midnight's Children (2012)

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