( ) An Nfdc Film

Transcript

The Lunchbox (2013) an NFDC Film Hindi - 104 min - Drama | Romance "Dabba" (original title) Director: Ritesh Batra The Dabbawalas (lunchbox service) of Mumbai deliver 170’000 lunchboxes every day and according to a Harvard study, only one in a million ever goes astray. This movie is the story of that one mistaken delivery which connects a young housewife Ila to a lonely widower Saajan in the dusk of his life as they build a fantasy world together through notes in the lunchbox…. Both find a dream to hold on to. Ila begins a fantastical affair with a mystery suitor, pouring her heart into cooking meals for him. Saajan looks forward to lunch box deliveries from a mystery woman every day. As the lunchbox goes back and forth, this fantasy becomes so elaborate that it threatens to overwhelm their reality. The film is the story of the life of which we dream versus the life we live in, and of the courage it takes to turn out fantasies into reality. The film was released in February 2014 in the US and the New York Times described it as “A perfect balance of tact and sentimentality”. Cast: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui Krrish 3 (2013) Hindi - 152 min - Action | Sci-Fi Director: Rakesh Roshan Krishna aka Krrish is living a happy married life in India with his wife Priya and scientist dad Rohit, while helping the masses with his superpowers and struggling to keep a steady job. In another part of the world, an evil handicapped man named Kaal has used his DNA to generate a team of human-animal mutants, particularly the ruthless chameleon mutant Kaya who can assume any form she wants. Kaya and other mutants create havoc among the masses of India but are counteracted by Rohit's scientific genius. Now Kaya has to figure out how Rohit managed to do that. Will she succeed? How will Krrish find Kaal and what will their final face-off entail? This is what Krrish 3 is all about. Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Hrithik Roshan, Amitabh Bachchan My Brother... Nikhil (2005) Hindi - 120 min - Drama Director: Onir The Kapoors have been living in Goa for several years, and are a well-known and respected family. Navin Kapoor is now retired, and lives with his wife, Anita, who has some Portugese blood, a sportsman son, Nikhil, and daughter, Anamika (Anu). Navin is thrilled to know that Nikhil has been selected for a sports scholarship and will be representing Goa in a national swimming championship. But his near-perfect life falls slowly apart as Nikhil is suddenly asked by his coach to take a break and let some fresh youngsters take over and eventually dismissed from the team. The Kapoors learn with shock that Nikhil has AIDS after he is arrested one day. Nikhil is kept in forced isolation since the law allowed the government to isolate HIV positive people. Will the Kapoors be able to accept the challenge together as a family or will they end up as embittered individuals who end up blaming each other? Cast: Sanjay Suri, Juhi Chawla, Purab Kohli Charulata (1964) Bengali - 117 min - Drama | Romance Director: Satyajit Ray Set in British India in the 19th century, the film revolves around Charulata, the beautiful wife of a learned Calcutta intellectual. She sits at home alone while her wealthy husband Bhupati runs his English language newspaper. Upon recognizing her profound loneliness, Bhupati invites his brother-inlaw Umapada and wife Mandakini as house guests. Amal, his handsome younger cousin also comes for a visit following his graduation from college. Charu and Amal spend hours reminiscing over literature, poetry and the arts while Bhupati works on his paper. For a short time everyone is content. Then, a tragedy occurs. Umapada absconds with Bhupati's savings, leaving the entrepreneur in terrible debt. But the betrayed man soon realizes that something much more precious than his money is lost. Cast: Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Shailen Mukherjee Dare to Dream (2013) an NFDC Film Hindi & Marathi - 110 min - Drama "Gangoobai" (original title) Director: Priya Krishnaswamy Gangoobai, a childless, elderly widow, has lived her whole life in the tiny colonial hill station of Matheran, near Mumbai. Mountain range about 4 hours' drive from Mumbai. She works hard and has very simple aspirations until one day she falls in love ---with a designer sari. She follows her dream to the big city of Mumbai. How does this affect her, how does she change the lives of people she meets in Mumbai, does she achieve her dream….. Audience review: “A simple story told so beautifully, you just wish the movie wouldn't end”. Cast: Sarita Joshi, Purab Kohli & Mita Vasisht 3 Idiots (2009) Hindi - 170 min - Comedy | Drama | Romance Director: Rajkumar Hirani Farhan Qureshi and Raju Rastogi want to re-unite with their fellow collegian, Rancchoddas "Rancho" Shyamaldas Chanchad. They remember their student days ten years ago at the Imperial College of Engineering, one of the best colleges in India. Farhan wants to become a wildlife photographer, but is pursuing an engineering degree to fulfil his father's wish, whereas Raju needs to improve his family's financial situation, and Rancho studies for the pleasure of building machines. Life at college was full of hilarious antics, including many run-ins with the Dean Viru Sahastrabudhe (ViruS). The search for Rancho takes his two friends to unexpected turns… Cast: Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Boman Irani, Mona Singh Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) Hindi - 153 min - Adventure | Comedy | Romance Director: Zoya Akhtar 3 young men Kabir, Imran and Arjun leave for a 3 week road trip for Kabir's extended bachelor party; a road trip where each one gets to do the ultimate sport of his choice and the other 2 just have to do it with him, whether they want to or not! And this makes them face their fears, alter their perceptions, unravel their confidence, force them out of their comfort zone and break out of the box. Ultimately it teaches them to seize the day… Cast: Katrina Kaif, Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar The Good Road (2013) Gujrati - 92 min - Drama Director: Gyan Correa Several stories are intertwined in the film with the center of the action being a highway in the rural lands of Gujarat. The film is the first Gujarati film ever to be selected to represent India at the Oscars. It unfolds over the course of a day and cross-cuts between a boy who gets separated from his parents, a truck driver and his cleaner who take in the boy, and a young girl who seeks shelter at a wayside brothel. The three sets of characters travel through the bleached landscape of the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, whose people are as taciturn as their surroundings are unsparing. Cast: Ajay Gehi, Rinkle Karelia, Keval Katrodia Like Stars on Earth (2007) Hindi - 162 min - Biography | Comedy | Drama "Taare Zameen Par" (original title) Director: Aamir Khan, Amole Gupte Ishaan Awasthi is an eight-year-old whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate; colors, fish, dogs and kites are just not important in the world of adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks and neatness. And Ishaan just cannot seem to get anything right in class. One day a new art teacher Nikumbh bursts onto the scene, who breaks all the rules of how things are done by asking the students to think, dream and imagine. They respond with enthusiasm, all except Ishaan. Nikumbh soon realizes that Ishaan is very unhappy, and sets out to discover why. Taare Zameen Par gives you a peep into a child's mind and makes you think about the need to understand, nurture and nourish. Cast: Darsheel Safary, Aamir Khan, Tanay Chheda Gandhi, My Father (2007) Hindi - 136 min - Biography | Drama | History Director: Feroz Abbas Khan The film paints the picture of the leaders’s intricate, complex and strained relationship with son Harilal Gandhi. From the onset, the two had dreams in opposite directions. Harilal wanted to study abroad and become a barrister like his father, while Gandhi hoped that his son would join him and fight for his ideals and causes. When he is not given the opportunity to study abroad, he decides to abandon his father’s vision and leaves South Africa for India where he joins his wife Gulab and kids. He goes back to school to earn his diploma but fails three times in a row and ends in financial stress. Sick of his failure, he turns to alcohol for solace and converts to Islam, only to re-convert to a different sect of Hinduism. With political tension heating up, the rift between Gandhi and his eldest son grows until it is beyond repair. Story of a man who lived in the enormous shadow of his father, striving to discover his own identity Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Darshan Jariwala, Shefali Shetty Liv & Ingmar (2012) Swedish & English - 89 min - Documentary Director: Dheeraj Akolkar This film by a young Indian filmmaker celebrates, for the first time in the last 50 years, something sacred, something delicate, something unrequited, unrealized, unspoken... Here, sitting in Ingmar Bergman's house on Faro, Liv Ullmann herself tells the story. Passages from her book 'Changing', Ingmar's love letters - seen here for the first time and many autobiographical sequences from their films become a part of this film's canvas. In the process, this film becomes homage, a salute... not only to two of the most important artists of our time, but also to two friends, companions and soul mates... Cast: Liv Ullmann, Ingmar Bergman, Samuel Fröler Let the Scream Be Heard (2013) English - 58 min - Documentary Director: Dheeraj Akolkar This film is an artistic investigation to discover and celebrate the secret behind the universality and timelessness in the iconic Norwegian artist Edvard Munch's creation spanning over 62 years and more than 40,000 works of art. It gains a unique focus from being made by a young Indian director. Stars: Edvard Munch, Ketil Bjørnstad, Marina Abramovic Enemy of the People (1989) Bengali - 99 min - Drama "Ganashatru" (original title) Director: Satyajit Ray The film is an adaptation of a play by Henrik Ibsen: Enemy of the People. Dr. Ashoke Gupta is the head of the main hospital a small town in Bengal. His younger brother, Nisith is the head of the committees running the hospital and a temple, both built by a local Industrialist. The temple is also a big tourist attraction. Dr. Gupta is convinced that the holy water of the temple is contaminated due to faulty pipe-laying. It is causing an epidemic in the town. He warns his brother Nisith. Nisith, the Industrialist and other town officials reject the idea that holy water might be the cause of the epidemic. They refuse to close the temple to carry out the repairs. Dr. Gupta wants to write an article in the newspaper to warn people, but giving-in to the pressure from the powerful people, the editor refuses to publish it. Left with no alternative, Dr. Gupta organises a public meeting that is also sabotaged and he is proclaimed an enemy of the people. Cast: Soumitra Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Dipankar Dey Baadshah (1999) Hindi - 175 min - Action | Comedy | Musical "The Emperor" (original title) Directors: Abbas Alibhai Burmawalla, Mastan Alibhai Burmawalla K. Jhunjhunwala would like to locate his missing/runaway daughter, Seema Malhotra, so that he can get her married to Nitin Dharampal. Prominent businessman, Mahindra, would like to negotiate with the kidnappers of his daughter Sonu and secure her release. And the Central Bureau of Investigation would like to protect the life of Chief Minister Gayetri Bachchan under the mission code-named "Maa", and officer in Charge is code-named "Baadshah" – which also happens to be the name of a bumbling Private Investigator, who has agreed to assist Jhunjhunwala and Mahindra. He gets mistaken for the CBI Agent, ends up working for the assassins, and must assassinate Gayetri or else… Cast: Rakhee Gulzar, Shah Rukh Khan, Twinkle Khanna Chalte Chalte (2003) Hindi - 167 min - Drama | Romance "While on the way" Raj and Priya come from two different strata of society. Raj owns a small-time transport business and belongs to the economically middle class section of society, Priya belongs to the affluent class and is on the road to becoming a famous fashion designer. But when a chance encounter brings them together, they are drawn towards each other but Priya is already engaged to marry her childhood friend Sameer. Raj follows her all the way to Greece to woo her. During the journey Priya realizes that Raj is her true soulmate and decides to marry him. But after a year of their marriage, the once-love struck couple begin to face the harsh realities of marriage. Misunderstandings make Priya leave their home. Will the story have a happy ending? Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Jas Arora Director: Aziz Mirza Black (2005) Hindi - 122 min - Drama Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali The McNallys, an Anglo-Indian family consisting of Paul and his wife, Catherine live in Simla. Both rejoice when Catherine gives birth to a baby girl, Michelle, but their joy is short-lived when they are told that Michellle cannot see nor hear. Michelle becomes increasingly violent and volatile and Paul considers admitting Michelle in an asylum. It is here that the alcoholic, eccentric Debraj Sahai enters their lives. Under his guidance, Michelle blossoms and gives up her violence. She even gets admitted in school with normal children but is not able to graduate. The years pass by, and it is time for Debraj to bid adieu. Twelve years later, at the age of 40, Michelle succeeds in graduating and meets her teacher again… Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Shernaz Patel Koi... Mil Gaya (2003) "I found ...someone" Hindi - 171 min - Drama | Fantasy | Romance Director: Rakesh Roshan Scientist Sanjay Mehra devises a computer that is capable of contacting aliens. His happiness is cut short when the scientists scoff at him and refuse to believe his claims. While returning home with his pregnant wife, he glimpses an alien spaceship, and, in the resulting confusion, crashes his car. His wife survives but their unborn child suffers brain damage. Rohit Mehra grows up with the thinking capacity of a child. He befriends the town Mayor's daughter Nisha, which angers Nisha's suitor Raj, a spoiled brat. One day, Rohit and Nisha find Rohit's father's computer in his shed and follow the instructions to operate it and that very evening, an alien spaceship comes to their town. When the police inspect the footprints, they discover that one of the aliens has been left behind. Rohit and Nisha find the alien and see their lives slide into virtual chaos... Cast: Rekha, Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta The Big City (1963) Bengali - 122 min - Drama "Mahangar" (original title) Director: Satyajit Ray Life in Calcutta in the early 1960's. Bhambal supports his wife Arati, his parents, and two children. Money is tight, so Arati goes to work. She's successful and enjoys it, but this untraditional step throws the household into chaos: her in-laws initiate a "cold war" of silence and disapproval. When Bhambal loses his job, her working is essential; he loses self respect, and the gulf between them widens. Arati questions whether to keep her daughter in school. At work, her friendship with Edith, a Euro-Indian who smokes, swears, and uses lipstick, brings Arati close to impertinence with her genial boss. Her job is imperiled, she acts impulsively, and who will understand her actions? Cast: Anil Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Jaya Bhaduri English Vinglish (2012) Hindi - 134 min - Comedy | Drama | Family Director: Gauri Shinde The story of a quiet, sweet tempered housewife who endures numerous small slights from her well educated husband and daughter everyday because of her inability to speak and understand English. She is resourceful and open-minded but somehow these traits don't get noticed by them. Then one day on a trip to visit her sister in Manhattan she decides to enroll in an English Learners class and meets a host of new people who teach her to value herself beyond the narrow perspective of her family. Cast: Sridevi, Adil Hussain, Mehdi Nebbou Yugant (1995) Bengali - 135 min - Drama "What the Sea Said" Director: Aparna Sen Deepak and Anasuya are an estranged couple meeting after 18 months of separation, at a small fishing village where they had once honeymooned. Deepak works as a Creative Director for a new advertising agency in Calcutta, while Anasuya is in the final stages of achieving her long cherished desire of building her own dance academy at Bhubaneshwar. The second honeymoon is an attempt to rediscover their lost relationship. Almost instinctively, they realize that they have changed and yet, somewhere deep down, they are the same. And then, a miracle occurs which makes them think about the bareness of their conjugal life. Cast: Anjan Dutt, Roopali Ganguly, Pallavi Chatterjee, Kunal Mitra. Om Shanti Om (2007) Hindi - 162 min - Action | Comedy | Drama "Let there be peace" Director: Farah Khan Om Prakash Makhija is a Junior Artiste in Bollywood, who is infatuated with actress Shantipriya, and hopes to marry her someday. His hopes come to reality when he rescues her from a fire but shortly thereafter he finds out that she is married to a film producer, Mukesh Mehra, and is expecting his child. He then watches in horror as Mukesh, after luring her in an abandoned studio, sets it afire. Om attempts to rescue her in vain, and he too is killed. 30 years later, Om is reborn as the only son of yesteryear Bollywood actor, Rajesh Kapoor, and is himself an aspiring actor. His memories start to return when he meets with his widowed mother and he decides to take revenge… Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Arjun Rampal Dil Jo Bhi Kahey... (2005) "Whatever the heart may say…" Hindi - 144 min - Romance Director: Romesh Sharma During the British rule in India, several Indians were lured by the British to travel to distant Mauritius for a better life but actually, on reaching this island, the Indians were enslaved, tortured and made to work like slaves as in the "Coolie Ghat". After the British left India, the Indians in Mauritius decided to continue to live there along with other nationals from different countries. Amongst them is the young man Jai, studying to be a chef who meets a beautiful Swedish girl Sophie Besson, in stockholm and falls in love with her. But her father Norman who used to be one of the slave-masters in the olden days, considers Indians quite inferior and does not approve of Jai. But Sophie is adamant and refuses to change her mind about Jai, both plan to run away together. But on the night they are to elope, he does not turn up… Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Revathy, Karan Sharma Iqbal (2005) Hindi - 132 min - Drama Director: Nagesh Kukunoor Iqbal tells the story of Iqbal, a deaf and mute boy, who dreams of playing cricket for India. However, he is discouraged by his father who thinks that Iqbal's daydreams are a waste of time. Instead, he wants Iqbal to help him tend to the crops and become a farmer like him, which would be a stable profession. Iqbal's sister, Khadija however, helps him try out for a nearby academy run by Guruji, an influential former India captain, who accepts him for his talent. However, when Iqbal competes with a rich boy, Kamal, who is also the star of the academy, he is thrown out by Guruji out of fear of Kamal's father, who bankrolls the academy. Iqbal seeks help from the local drunkard, Mohit, who was once a great cricketer and persuades him to be his coach. Will they succeed? Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Girish Karnad, Shreyas Talpade Ship of Theseus (2012) English & Hindi - 140 min - Drama Director: Anand Gandhi If the parts of a ship are replaced, bit-by-bit, is it still the same ship? A celebrated experimental photographer struggles with the loss of her intuitive genius as an unexpected aftermath of a physical change; an intellectual monk confronting a complex ethical dilemma with a long held ideology, has to choose between principle and death; and a young stockbroker, following the trail of a stolen kidney, learns how intricate morality could be. These disparate characters manifest philosophical dilemmas in their personal lives, but their narratives converge to reveal an even larger fabric of connections, meaning, beauty, existence and death in a delicately poetic finale. Cast: Aida Elkashef, Sohum Shah, Neeraj Kabi It Never Dies (2012) Bengali - 140 min - Drama "Na Hannyate" (Original title) Director: Riingo Inspired by Zhang Ling's essay, The Great Tangshan Earthquake, Riingo's latest offering, Na Hanaytte, is a poignant tale of a woman, Jui, who is caught in a situation where she could save only one of her kids and leave the other to die. As a mother, she can never forgive herself for having to choose between her two children Ratan and Shiuli. But life goes on... years go by... The film is about relationships and how they gradually change in times of crisis. Cast: Roopa Ganguly, Sayani Dutta, Rahul, Priyanka Sarkar Chaiti Ghosal Sada Kalo Abcha (2013) Bengali 112 min- Thriller | Drama "White, Black & Grey" On a holiday with his wife, a super model, Samrat, a writer meets with an accident and wakes up after three days in a hospital with his past in a blur to find an inspector questioning his identity. The only things he remembers are his name, his wife’s name and the hotel they are staying at. The Inspector takes him to his wife who refuses to recognise him and introduces her real husband. Samrat is stunned and starts questioning himself, torn between the shaky present and his foggy past... Cast: Samrat Chakraborty, Sayani Datta, Rana Mitra, Aparajita Ghosh, Chirodeep Mitra, Pratik Roy Director: Riingo Ray: The Mind Is The Story (2014) Bengali - 112 min – Psychological Drama Director: Riingo A renowned writer of romantic novels is asked to write a murder mystery by his publisher. Being a writer from his deeds, his novels have always been stories from his real life romantic liaisons and it begins to get difficult to write the plot as he has never witnessed murder in his lifetime. On vacation to a remote village in Arunachal Pradesh he meets a couple who take the initiative to inspire his writing pursuits. They strangely resemble characters from the detective fictions of Satyajit Ray Feluda series and they play a game of entrapment to lure our protagonist into the cunning web of lies, deceit and murder. Based on the legendary Satyajit Ray and his detective series Feluda, Ray indulges in the fear factor of fiction turning true. It is now just a matter of time when the final scene will be written and maybe the author himself will become the fiction. Cast: Samrat Chakrabarti, Sayani Dutta Ghuri (2014) (Premier) Bengali - 137 min - Action | Drama "The Kite" (original title) Director: Riingo A tribute to the award winning novel The Kite Runner by Khalid Hussaini, Ghuri is a film on the virtues and vices of adolescence and the web of fears and fantasies that surround every child in those early years. Inseparable as friends are Sunny and Sikander till an act of cowardice betrays the trust between them. Years later Sunny has to confront the ghosts from the past as he undertakes a journey into the realms of danger and deceit to make amends for a friend he once let down. An emotional drama of endurance and sacrifice that man takes to reincarnate faith and honor for a gift called friendship... and thereby complete the circle of redemption. Cast: Arindoi Bagchi, Rohit Bhattacharya, Kaushik Chakraborty Qissa (2013) An NFDC Film "In Two Minds" Punjabi - 109 minutes - Drama Director: Anup Singh The story revolves around how Umber Khan is obsessed with having a son to continue his clan's near-vanquished bloodline. His disappointment in seeing his wife deliver a fourth daughter drives him to extreme measures, as he turns to bringing her up as male. All this turns the girl, Kanwar into a torn and troubled being: confused and repressed, she takes up a chauvinist veneer, which eventually leads her into a bind, as she is forced to marry Neeli, a girl she's been aggressively flirting with… What next? Cast: Irrfan Khan, Tillotama Shome, Rasika Dugal Duvidha (1973) An NFDC Film "The Tale of a Lonely Ghost" Hindi - 82 minutes - Drama Director: Mani Kaul Based upon a Rajasthani folk tale, the story is simple: a lonely ghost falls deeply in love with a beautiful – but recently married – woman; after her husband departs home for business trading, the ghost proceeds to steal the identity of the husband in order to possess the woman’s love. Soon the wife finds herself pregnant. The husband returns and a dilemma arises… The film moves on two planes - inside-outside' dark-light' a structure that exists in the folk tales and myths the world over… Cast: Ravi Menon, Raisa Padamsee Firaaq (2005) Hindi - 112 min - Drama Director: Nandita Das In a nuanced, moving exploration of life and loss, the film traces the lives of a handful of characters struggling to come to terms with the tragedy of the 2002 riots in Gujarat. Old 'ustaad' Khan Saheb and his faithful companion Karim wonder if the sound of a 'raag' will ever reverberate again in their house. Sanjay is an unapologetic defender of the Hindu right while his wife Aarati is traumatized because she did not help a Muslim woman being chased by a mob. Half Muslim-half Hindu Sameer Shaikh plans to flee to Delhi, where he thinks his mixed parentage won't cause him as much grief. And a little child wanders through the dark night, looking for his lost father: the rest of his family was slain during the riots. Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Raghubir Yadav, Paresh Rawal, Deepti Naval, Tisca Chopra, Sanjay Suri Mala Aai Vhaychay (2011) "I Want to be a Mother" Marathi - 82 minutes - Drama Director: Samruoddhi Porey The story deals with growing surrogacy practices in India where women are used as surrogates by foreigners. The film is an emotional drama telling story of one such surrogate mother who bears a foreigner's child… The first Indian film on this important theme Mary is a model from a foreign comes to India to commission a baby but when the Doctor says that the child maybe handicapped, she leaves after arranging for the child to be put in an orphanage. All these happenings disturb Yashoda, the surrogate mother and she decides to keep the child even if it is born handicapped. By the grace of God, Yashoda gives birth to a lovely, healthy and normal child with blue eyes and Golden hair… He grows up in Yashoda’s hut and gets all the love and affection from her. The real drama still awaits. What if Mary comes back? Who does the child belong to by law? Fire (1996) Hindi - 110 min - Drama Director: Deepa Mehta Sita, newly married, does not succeed in evoking any emotion from her husband Jatin. They live in a typical traditional Indian joint family arrangement with his older brother Ashok, his sister-in-law Radha, his invalid mother (Biji) and the family servant Mundu and Sita begins to feel stifled. She learns that Radha too has many similar problems and is very sad. Radha and Sita go through the motions oscillating between their desires and disappointments. Radha, the older woman, remains bound by tradition and subdued into silence while Sita refuses to accept misfortune and wishes to break free. Shunned by their husbands, provoked by their unfulfilled longings, Radha and Sita seek solace in each other and become lovers and end up having to face fire... Cast: Nandita Das Shabana Azmi