HAPPENSTANCE

Director: Laurent Firodz

Language:French

Courtesy: Netflix

My Rating: @ @ @

Synopsis: I found this to be a very cute independent film... A kinda sorta believer in horoscopes and on a quest to find that "true love" myself... I was able to relate with Irene, the lead in the film. The film brings together several random characters whose paths cross intermittently in a span of 24 hours, all to bring together two strangers whose paths had crossed earlier in the day. There s very little dialogue of the lead characters and that to me signified the "Less is More" concept in the movie. Some parts were very philosophical and suddenly some parts so melodramatic that I honesty felt like it was straight out from a Bollywood movie, but all in all a kinda quirky approach to a standard love story. 

Watch it once..

PIECES OF APRIL

Director: Peter Hedges

Language: English

Courtesy: Netflix

My Rating: @ @ @ @

Synopsis: First off, I absolutely love the title of the film!! It is so damn apt. A low budget quirky, yet beautifully offbeat film, that is very touching and has a simple message about you wanting your family and your family being there for you no matter what!

As the name suggests, "Pieces of April", is about a reformed wild child April (Katie Holmes), who consciously unwilling from the outside, but sub-consciously and deeply willing from the inside, attempts to cook a Thanksgiving dinner, while battling a temperamental oven in addition to her conscience and eventually her neighbors, for her estranged suburban family, in her not so chic, New York City Apartment.

The whole point of this adventure / drama is to introduce her new boyfriend Bobby, to her dysfunctional family who eventually come together to address the past, and heal the future.

Katie Holmes is quite brilliant and keeps you engaged throughout... Oliver Platt & Oscar-nominated Patricia Clarkson co-star in this brilliant film... a must watch!

AMORES PERROS (LOVE'S A BITCH)

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu

Language: Spanish
Courtesy: NetFlix

My Rating: @@@

Recommended by my dear friend Dave Robinson

Synopsis: In this internationally acclaimed debut film -- which earned an Oscar nod for Best Foreign Language Film -- recounts three intertwining tales that unfold on the brutal streets of Mexico City. Octavio, has an obsessive crush on his sister-in-law; Daniel, dumps his family for a disturbed supermodel; and El Chivo, cares for a wounded dog while planning an assassination.

I must say this movie is really brutal, dark, violent, and very graphic, so watch it only if you can handle it. I saw this film a few weeks back actually and am still figuring it out in my head. All 3 stories seem to have these 3 things in common... Love, Lust and Dogs. All characters seem to have a connection with a dog at some point in the movie. This connection seems to play an integral part of the movie. I particularly loved not knowing that it was all going to come together, especially in the case of the homeless character. 

None of the animals were hurt during the making of the film. The photography, editing, and direction are brilliant and seamless.

MEMENTO

Director: Christopher Nolan

Language: English

Courtesy: My local DVD store

My Rating: @@@@@

Synopsis: Suffering short-term memory loss after a head injury, Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) embarks on a grim quest to find the lowlife who murdered his wife in this gritty, complex thriller that packs more knots than a hangman's noose. To carry out his plan, Shelby snaps Polaroids of people and places, jotting down contextual notes on the backs of photos to aid in his search and jog his memory. He even tattoos his own body in a desperate bid to remember. 

I saw this movie years back and was at the time was unable to grasp the pieces and so at times felt as vulnerable as the main character in the film.

And "GHAJANI" was a really bad bollywood remake, and so no where close to this... please!!

INTERMISSION - 01

Sorry for MIA... Life happened recently, so have been a little pre-occupied... ;-)

Promise to be back soon with more.... actually have been drafting a few reviews but have not had the time to proof and post it....

Keep visiting...

:o)

PARIS, TEXAS

Director: Wim Wenders

Language: English

Courtesy: Netflix

My Rating: @ @ @ @

Synopsis: The film is about a lost, almost empty, rugged, middle aged man, Travis, who has been MIA for the last 4 years. His family tries to locate him but can't seem to.. Life goes on for them, when one day a phone call changes everything for his brother Walt. When Walt meets Travis, at first he won't speak, then he won't eat, and finally he refuses to fly with his brother to LA, where Walt lives with his wife Anne, and Travis's son, Hunter. 

The movie is slow, and takes its own time to unwind the mysteries of Travis's past. He is a man who is not always making the best decisions, but he is trying, with hesitation, to become a person, a human. The entire film is a build-up for the final scene where Travis meets his past. I thought that scene was shot brilliantly. This is where the philosophy of "LESS is MORE" comes to life. This film is about the life and unforgettable love you once had and then lost, the life you wish you had. It also makes me wonder, if there is a hidden message about disillusionment or is it simply about men who can't communicate, or for that matter, the many ways in which people fail to communicate?

Ry Cooder's guitar soundtrack adds that perfect mystery to the beautiful cinematography capturing Travis walking aimlessly across the Texas desserts.

FOLLOWING

Director: Christopher Nolan

Language: English

Courtesy: Netflix

My Rating: @ @ @ @ @

Synopsis: OMG.. I just finished watching this film and what a brilliantly CLEVER film it was!!!! Absolutely loved watching it. I could not wait to write about it... so here goes... 

The main character of the film is an aspiring, young, unemployed male writer, who is obsessed with following random people on the streets of London, mainly to use them as characters for his writings and stories, until one of his leads confronts him, and before he knows the young male is entangled in a series of "wrong doings" and "double crossings". Scenes are shown out of chronological order, and as such the viewer becomes disoriented (typical Nolan style), having to deduce the elements of the story in the same way as the protagonist calculates what is going on around him.

I learnt something new today.... this film is typified as a "neo-noir" film... which in simple terms means, NEW BLACK or Dark film (Neo, means new in Greek, and Noir, means Black in French), and has elements from a "film-noir" or black film in it.

I decided to watch this film because it is directed by Christopher Nolan, director of Memento, which I thought was brilliant also. Following, is Christopher Nolan's first feature film released in 1996, and was made for just $6,000. He shot it on weekends, over the course of a year, working with friends he had met at the University College London film society. It began to receive notice after premiering at the 1998 San Francisco Film Festival, and was eventually distributed on a limited basis by Zeitgeist in 1999. There are a couple other movies by Nolan which are on my "have to watch" list. I have great expectation from them, and hope they make it to my blog as well!

MONSOON WEDDING

Director: Mira Nair
Language: Hindi / English

Courtesy: My local DVD store

My Rating: @ @ @ @ @

Synopsis:  In this romantic drama, the film's central story concerns a father, Lalit Verma (Naseeruddin Shah), who, as the monsoon rains begin to shower, is trying to organize an enormous, chaotic, and expensive wedding for his daughter Aditi, for whom he has arranged a marriage with a man she has known for only a few weeks. As any typical large scale Indian family (Punjabi in the film's case), Lalit Verma and his extended family reunite for this last-minute arranged marriage in New Delhi. As the story unravels, long-guarded secrets threaten to tear the family apart. As wedding preparations proceed, five stories intersect, highlighting different aspects of love and crossing boundaries of class and continent. This is all set within the four days preceding the wedding, predominantly at the Vermas' house.

Writer Sabrina Dhawan wrote the first draft of the screenplay in a week while she was at Columbia University's MFA film program. The film won the Golden Lion award and received a Golden Globe Award nomination. A musical based on the film is currently in development and is scheduled to premiere on Broadway in 2011.

RAINCOAT

Director: Rituparno Ghosh

Language: Hindi

Courtesy: My local DVD store

My Rating: @ @ @ @ 1/2

Synopsis: A freshly unemployed Manu, is in search of money to finance his new business. Off on his quest in Calcutta, on a rainy day, wearing a raincoat he borrowed, Manu visits his former intimate friend Neeru, to whom he was once engaged to be married, about six years back. Although Neeru broke Manu's heart by dumping him for a rich man, she's still the woman of Manu's dreams. The story follows Neeru, who pretends to be in happy and prosperous situation. During the rainy evening, the couple reminisce about their former love and how each ended up in their current situation. The raincoat comes to role when they are visited by the Landlord, who speaks to Manu in private of the real situation of the household....

DADDY

Director: Mahesh Bhatt
Language: Hindi

Courtesy: My local DVD store back home

My Rating: @ @ @ @ @

Synopsis: Everytime I listen to the songs of this film.... I get goose bumps.... and I tell my DAD how much I love him. Love you Pa! I miss you and Ma everyday...

A beautiful father-daughter story about a young girl who is trying to, and at times fighting with herself, to rediscover her father, a famous singer in his hay days, and eventually rescues him from from destroying himself at the hands of alcoholism. The story is very sensitively woven, and unfolds rather delicately to reveal the reason behind the fathers addition to alcohol. 

I absolutely love the songs.... my fav songs are.. "ghar ke ujiyaare so jaa re.... daddy tere jaage, tu soo jaare..." gosh!! I'm getting those goose bumps right now... my Dad used to sing me this song when I was younger... it translates to something like this... "O light of my life/home, try to sleep.... your daddy is awake, so please try to sleep..." and I am soooo not doing justice to this.... it is sooooooooo much better in Hindi..!!

.. and the final song in the movie..."aaina mujhse meri pehli-se surat maangey.... mere apne mere, hone ki nishane maangey....." just listen to the words ... the story and songs are writer by Suraj Sanim.

GREENFINGERS

Director: Joel Hershman
Language: English
Courtesy: NetFlix

My Rating: @ @ @ @

Synopsis: "Roses are Red, Violets are Blue...... I'm about to FUCK-up..... so what else is new???....." Yeah! that's how the movie begins. This film is an inspiring real life story in which Clive Owen plays Colin Briggs, a man imprisoned for a crime he will not discuss. He thinks of himself as a prisoner and nothing else. Colin and a few other inmates are chosen to be relocated to an experimental prison, an open system based on trust, to finish off their sentence.  All Colin wants here is his peace and quite, but when his rather talkative and artistic, elderly roommate, introduces him to gardening, Colin realizes he has an inner gift and passion to nurture this talent. Suddenly, Collin an his inmates find themselves with the task of growing and designing a garden on the prison grounds. This brings them the attention of renowned & celebrated gardener Georgina Woodhouse. Soon, the unexpected gardeners find themselves preparing to compete for England's highest flower show award, the Hampton Court Flower Show. And when Colin meets Georgina's beautiful daughter Primrose, he discovers another reason to fight for his freedom: True Love.

DEPARTURES

Director: Yogiro Takita
Language: Japanese
Courtesy: NetFlix

My Rating: @ @ @ @ @

Synopsis: This Oscar wining film is about Family, Love, Self Discovery, and Hope. It is about finding your goal and eventually being content with what you do, your purpose in life, the real reason of your existence. I would hate to ruin the movie for you by giving you the real synopsis... so I will try to "ambiguate" it a little for you.... Daigo is Cello player, married to a beautiful, caring and understanding wife, and who's dream job is to play in an orchestra. He is finally living his dream, but fate has something else in mind for him. Freshly unemployed, he realizes that maybe he is heading down the wrong career path. He decides to move back to his home town where he could live off his mom's house and look for a new direction. He does... He finds a job as a "nokanshi", the one who prepares the dead, and ends up working for the "undertaker".... 

Honestly, I learned something new about the Japanese culture and their rituals to celebrate life and death after I saw this movie. Even though it is a thought provoking drama it has many moments of comic relief that I found very hilarious at times. Pay close attention to the dialogues (sub-titles), there are some very intense and powerful lines that will move you deeply. My fav lines are "off you go..... we'll meet again....", "It's you last purchase, and someone else chooses it for you..."

WAITRESS

Director: Adrienne Shelly
Language: English
Courtesy: Netflix
My Rating: @ @ @ @

Watch the Trailer

Synopsis: Keri Russell stars as Jenna, a waitress whose passion is to make pies, fabulous, delicious pies, and for the most part, the ingredients of each pie is actually based, and thus named, after some frustrating episode of her life, cause they are about the only sweet ingredient in her otherwise dreary existence. She is married to an abusive and over protective husband who she does not love, can't leave with dignity, or divorce, so is planning to run away from home......well at least she hopes so, until an unwanted pregnancy breeds unexpected romance between Jenna and her attractive doctor, who btw is married. Written by director and co-star Adrienne Shelly (who was murdered shortly before the film's selection for Sundance), this light-hearted charmer is a frank and funny examination of the fears brought on by impending motherhood, and the courage to face and fight all odds that comes with it.

Love the song "Baby don't you cry" by Quincy Coleman.

BRICK LANE

Director: Sarah Gavron

Language: English / Bengali

Courtesy: Netflix
My Rating: @ @ @ @

Synopsis: Based on a novel by Monica Ali, Brick Lane is a street at the heart of London's Bangladeshi community. Set in the 1980s, this cross-cultural drama follows young 17 year old Nazneem (Tannishtha Chatterjee), a Bangladeshi woman who's immigrated to London for an arranged marriage to a middle-aged man, leaving her beloved family, including her sister Hasina, behind. While Hasina leads a life of adventure back home, Nazneem struggles to accept the isolation and unhappiness in her new life, until an unexpected visitor comes along and changes everything.

ONCE

Director: John Carney
Language: English / Irish

Courtesy: Netflix
My Rating: @ @ @ @ @ (I would give more if I could)

Watch the Trailer

Synopsis: Before I say anything I must warn you that there is a heavy Irish accent in the film. OK, so this is a charming contemporary musical helmed by John Carney in which a street musician (Glen Hansard) in Dublin, Ireland, strikes up a rather hesitant friendship with a migrant home cleaner and street hawker, (Markéta Irglová), but with a passion and background in music. The duo end up composing and recording a series of songs over the course of a week, the tunes and lyrics of which are a reflection of the blossoming romance between them. This simple yet deeply touching film is about music and romance at a completely different level between two people who probably were meant for each other, had they met under different circumstances, or in a different universe altogether.

The actors wrote the tunes and lyrics they perform, winning an Oscar for their efforts.The song "Falling Slowly", "Once" and "If you want me" are my favourites. Marketa's Czech accent is so sensual and seductive that it will touch your heart and turn you on!!  Glen Hansard is my new heartthrob...he is a rock star... no literally... he is the lead songwriter for the Irish rock group called "The Frames". I have been listening to some of the songs written by him and they are mind blowing. He has a great sense of humor too.

(500) DAYS OF SUMMER

Director: Marc Web

Language: English
Courtesy: Netflix
My Rating: @ @ @ @ 1/2

Synopsis: When his girlfriend, Summer unceremoniously dumps him, Tom, an architect turned greeting-card copywriter, and hopeless romantic, begins sifting through the year-plus worth of days they spent together, looking for clues to what went awry. As he recalls the good and bad times he spent with the commitment-phobic girl, his heart reawakens to what it cherishes most. Set in the backdrop of old downtown LA this movie was nostalgic.

BTW, I found out after watching this movie that Zooey Deschanel is Emily Deschanel's sister... Dr. Temperance Brennan from Bones. I love Emily and now I love Zooey too. The are beautiful and super TALENTED!

AMU

Director: Shonali Bose

Language: English / Hindi / Bengali
Courtesy: Netflix
My Review: @ @ @ 1/2

Synopsis: Raised as an American, 21-year-old Kaju (Konkona Sen Sharma) travels to India to spend time with her foreign relatives, only to uncover a shocking family secret that erodes everything she's ever believed about her origins. The more she learns of her family's involvement in a violent genocide that occurred some 20 years ago, the less certain she is of her own identity.

ABSURDISTAN

Director: Veit Helmer

Language: Russian
Courtesy: Netflix
My Rating: @ @ @ @ @

Synopsis: This totally cute romantic comedy by German writer-director Veit Helmer, was inspired to create the imaginary village of Absurdistan, after reading an article in a Turkish newspaper, about a town, whose women went on a "sex strike", to get the men to fix a water pipeline carrying necessary drinking and bathing water. The is very little dialogue in the film and if you have an open mind you will appreciate the underlying humor.

THE BICYCLE THIEF

Director: Vittorio De Sica

Language: Italian
Courtesy: Netflix
My Rating: @ @ @ @

Synopsis: Widely considered a landmark Italian film, this is a tale of a man who relies on his bicycle to do his job during Rome's post-World War II depression earned a special Oscar for its devastating power. The same day Antonio gets his vehicle back from the pawnshop, someone steals it, prompting him to search the city in vain with his young son, (who is cho chweeet), Bruno. Increasingly, he confronts a looming desperation.

RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

Director: Jonathan Demme

Language: English
Courtesy: Netflix
My Rating: @ @ @ @

Synopsis: Longstanding family conflicts resurface when drama queen Kym (Anne Hathaway, in her first Oscar-nominated role), a former model who's been in and out of rehab for 10 years, returns to her parents' home just before her sister Rachel's (Rosemarie DeWitt) wedding. Debra Winger co-stars as the girls' emotionally distant mother in this critically acclaimed portrait of family angst and unrest.

WHATEVER WORKS

Director: Woody Allen

Language: English
Courtesy: Netflix
My Rating: @ @ @ 1/2

Synopsis: While falling for a young Southern belle (Evan Rachel Wood), an aging New York City eccentric (Larry David) finds himself caught in a series of bizarre situations involving the girl's parents and his own Greenwich Village group of pals. Written and directed by legendary filmmaker Woody Allen, this romantic comedy also stars Patricia Clarkson, Ed Begley Jr., Michael McKean and Henry Cavill.

JULIE & JULIA

Director: Nora Ephron

Language: English / French
Courtesy: Netflix
My Rating: @ @ @ @ 1/2

Synopsis: Amy Admas stars in this truth-inspired tale as Julie Powell, a disenchanted government secretary who decides to enliven her uneventful life by cooking all 524 recipes outlined in Julia Child's culinary classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Based on Powell's book Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, this heartwarming dramedy also stars Meryl Streep as legendary chef Child, for which she won a Golden Globe.

KANNATHIL MUTHAMITTAL (A PECK ON THE CHEEK)

Director: Mani Ratnam

Language: Tamil
Courtesy: Netflix
My Rating: @ @ @ @ @

Synopsis: A beautiful and powerful tale about abandonment and reunion of a 9-year-old Amudha, whose blissful world collides with reality when she learns that she was adopted as an infant. Initially dismayed by the shocking revelation, she soon resolves to find her elusive birth mother, Shyama (Nandita Das) -- a life-altering decision that leads Amudha on an emotional odyssey of discovery to war-ravaged Sri Lanka.

STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME

Director: Michele Ohayon

Language: English
Courtesy: NetFlix
My Rating: @ @ @ @

Synopsis: This very moving documentary chronicles an unshakeable romance that blossomed despite the horrors of the Holocaust and provides a detailed look into the daily rigors of internment, as well as life in German-occupied Amsterdam. Deported to Nazi concentration camps at Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen during the war, Jaap Polak and Ina Soep met and fell in love, corresponding with love letters on any piece of scrap paper they could find.

AAMIR

Director: Raj Kumar Gupta
Language: Hindi
Courtesy: Netflix

My Rating: @ @ @ @

Synopsis: In this thriller, Aamir (Rajeev Khandelwal) is a young Indian doctor living in London. When he returns home to Mumbai for a visit, he expects to find his family waiting for him at the airport. Instead, a stranger approaches him and puts a cell phone in his hand. Now, the person on the other end of the line is calling the shots, threatening to harm Aamir's family if he doesn't carry out every order. The movie is very predictable, but still the anxiety and anticipation of what might happen next and how Aamir would react to the situation keeps your tushy gripped to the seat.

LUCK BY CHANCE

Director: Zoya Akhtar

Language: Hindi

Courtesy: My local DVD store

My Rating: @ @ @ @

Synopsis: The film is about the journey of an actor, Vikram, who arrives in Mumbai to become a movie star, with the help of Abhimanyu, an actor friend from his hometown, and their mutual friend Sameer, who works in a studio props department. Vikram befriends Abhi's neighbor, young actress Sona Mishra (Konkona Sen Sharma), with whom he eventually becomes romantically involved. Sona, the mistress of small-time producer Satish Chowdhury, who for three years has promised her a leading role in his dream project, meanwhile works in regional films and bit parts.The movie shows what happens behind all the glitter of bollywood by showing interactions between producer and the actors (new comers). Though not a fresh subject matter, the film has captured the essence of bollywood struggle in a very contemporary and fresh manner.

A WEDNESDAY

Director: Neeraj Pandey

Language: Hindi
Courtesy: NetFlix
My Rating: @ @ @ @

Synopsis: The film depicts an about-to-retire police commissioner narrating a sequence of events that unfolded on a particular Wednesday afternoon in Bombay, involving a series of threatening untraceable phone calls to release 4 terrorists. These events do not exist in any written record, but only in his mind and in those of several individuals who were involved in it, both willingly and unwillingly, and how those events affected the lives of all the people concerned. The movie shows the plight of a common man. A common man living his life, going by the rules, doing the right thing, taking care of his family like millions do, but, still struggling inside to understand why justice never prevails. This is an unusual thriller, with a very thoughtful twist at the end.

SUNSHINE CLEANING

Director: Christine Jeffs

Language: English
Courtesy: Netflix
My Rating: @ @ @ @ 1/2

Synopsis: Financially on shaky ground yet determined to send her son to a top private school, Rose Lorkowski (Amy Adams) teams up with her unreliable sister, Norah (Emily Blunt), to start a new company that specializes in biohazard removal and crime scene cleanup. Tired of doing all of the work for other people, whether in her job cleaning homes or in her failed relationships, Rose is finally ready to use her entrepreneurial spirit to tidy up her own life.

ANTAHEEN (THE ENDLESS WAIT)

MIAAC 2009 Film Festival

Director: Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury
Language: Bengali / English

Synopsis: Abhik Chowdhury is an IPS officer with a heart -- honest, upright, yet laidback. Having lost faith in the real relationships that he sees around him, Abhik seeks solace in the virtual world. While navigating through this virtual world, Abhik develops an online relationship with a young woman, Brinda, without knowing anything about her. Brinda is a young, dynamic television journalist. For both Abhik and Brinda, who do not know each other's real names or whereabouts, this online communication soon becomes an increasingly intense relationship, more real than virtual. Ironically the virtual lovers, Abhik and Brinda have an acrimonious first meeting in the real world - at the launch of a controversial mega project of a big-time real estate entrepreneur, V.K. Mehra.

Unaware that she knows Abhik so well on the Internet, Brinda, gets into a bitter exchange of words with him. Before leaving in a huff, she overhears a piece of conversation about Mehra's project, which gives her a lead to a potentially big scoop. Ranjan and Paromita, an estranged couple, become the bridge between Brinda and Abhik. Ranjan is Abhik's cousin, but he is more a friend, philosopher and guide. A stock market addict, Ranjan leads a lonely life after having separated from Paromita a few years ago. Paromita, is a senior marketing executive with the television channel where Brinda is a colleague and a friend. Ranjan and Paro still care deeply for each other, but they have separated because they feel togetherness would spoil that very love and tenderness. It is an irony they live through, each alone. As the film progresses, we follow the lives of these characters as they discover themselves and also each other; and when the credits roll up we see love is fragile, yet it continues endlessly, linking us to eternity.

DO PAISE KI DHOOP (TWO PAISE FOR SUNSHINE)

MIAAC 2009 Film Festival
Director: Deepti Naval
Language: Hindi
My Rating: @ @ @ @ @

Synopsis: Deepti Naval, the acclaimed actress in films such as Mirch Masala (1985) and Firaaq (2008), makes an impressive directorial debut capturing a series of events that can only happen in a teeming metropolis such as Mumbai. The story brings together a struggling gay lyricist, an ageing prostitute (Manisha Koirala) and her 12-year-old son. A film about the mystery of human relationships and the search for happiness, Two Paise for Sunshine is a lovely valentine to Mumbai’s lashing monsoons, changing cityscapes, and the lyrics of songs that have burnished its cinema. Rajat Kapoor is hillarious!!!

LIFE GOES ON.....

MIAAC 2007 Film Festival
Director: Navdeep Singh
Language: Hindi

Synopsis: When a woman suddenly dies in London, the void she leaves behind, bring into focus the role she has played - as a wife and as a mother - in the lives around her. Haunted by memories, and missing the mediating influence of his wife, the grief stricken father (Girish Karnad) is thrown into close proximity with his three daughters, assessing and carving out new relations with them. Shadowy memories of the Subcontinent left behind begin to come alive and cast a surprisingly powerful pall on the lives of these Londoners. Also with Sharmila Tagore, Om Puri and Soha Ali Khan.

THE KITE RUNNER

Director: Marc Forster

Language: Dari Persian
Courtesy: NetFlix

Synopsis: Based on the best-selling debut novel by Khaled Hosseini, this film is a touchingly honest story of family, friendship and bravery. Years after fleeing the Taliban and immigrating to the United States, a privileged Afghan man (Khalid Abdalla) returns to his war-ravaged homeland to try to repay his debt to a loyal childhood friend whose trust he once betrayed.

Unfortunately I never read the book before watching the film. I hope to read it someday!

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS

Director: Mark Herman

Language: English
Courtesy: NetFlix

Watch the Trailer

Synopsis: Based on a fable by author John Boyne, this is a beautiful and tender movie about a horrifying story, told through the eyes of an innocent 8 year old boy. When his family moves from their home in Berlin to a strange new house in Poland, young Bruno (Asa Butterfield) befriends Shmuel (Jack Scanlon), a boy who lives on the other side of the fence, where everyone seems to be wearing striped pajamas. Unaware of Shmuel's fate as a Jewish prisoner or the role his own Nazi father plays in his imprisonment, Bruno embarks on a dangerous journey inside the camp's walls.

This movie will touch your heart if you have one! The kids Asa Butterfield and Jack Scanlon are par excellent in their performance. I must warn you that the movie is disturbing, but it is so beautifully made that you will feel it deep in your guts!

BARAH AANA

NJISACF 2009 Film Festival

Director: Raja Menon
Language: English / Hindi

Synopsis: Barah Aana is an in-your-face tragi-comedy through the eyes of three migrant workers in Mumbai, Shukla the driver (Naseeruddin Shah), Aman the waiter (Arjun Mathur), and Yadav the night-guard (Vijay Raaz). The three are far from their loved ones; they live in the slum, spend their evenings drinking and talking about their lives. When Yadav needs money for his son dying of typhoid and his pleading to the apartment owners only brings ridicule, the three become accidental criminals.

ORU PENNUM RANDAANUM (A CLIMATE FOR CRIME)

NJISACF 2009 Film Festival

Director: Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Language: Malayalam

Synopsis: A compilation of 4 films based on 4 short stories by Thakazhy Shivashankar Pillai which have "CRIME" as the common thread, presents situations in which protagonists face human predicaments. In 'The Thief', a schoolboy rebuffs slurs on his father being a thief and a jailbird. But the boy is crushed when his desperate belief that his father will reform is proved wrong. 'The Police' is a story of a couple of corrupt policemen who frame a poor unskilled worker to cover their own tracks. In 'Two Men and a Woman', a student under the patronage of a rich family, thinks he has made a servant girl pregnant which initially unleashes his shame - and subsequent strength. Finally, 'One Woman, Two Men' sees two rivals, vying for the affection of a beautiful woman, who pay a heavy price to win her commitment while she remains enigmatic in her choices.

7 DAYS IN SLOW MOTION

NJISACF 2009 Film Festival

Director: Umakanth Thumrugoti
Language: English / Hindi

Synopsis: Set in middle-class India, 7 Days in Slow Motion marks the comical yet thoughtful journey of a 6th grader Ravi and his friends Hamid and Onka, whose lives change when they chance upon a camera of a visiting American tourist. Their insatiable love for movies pushes them into a film-making mission of their own, but, their path is riddled with problems: they only have 7 days to make the film as their final school exams begin in 7 days.

LOINS OF PUNJAAB PRESENTS

Director: Manish Acharya

Language: English / Hindi
Courtesy: LOPP website and Netflix

(not available on DVD yet)

Watch the Trailer

Synopsis: Manish Acharya directs this raucous mockumentary that follows the dreams and schemes of six Indian immigrants (and one non-Indian) as they go to war for big bucks in "Desi Idol," a low-rent New Jersey singing and dancing extravaganza presided over by the wily contest promoter Sudarsh Bokade, a man with a strong preference for Gipsy Kings music. "Idol" hopefuls include - A ruthless philanthropist. A bhangra rapper. An over-protected prodigy. A reckless actress. A lovelorn businessman. An entrepreneurial yogi. And a Loin King.

I laughed my guts out in this movie. A very witty movie, full of twists and turns... never a dull moment.. the character of a gay Sikh shock-rapper named Turbanotorious B.D.G. was hilarious, and my most unbelievable moment was when I realized a day later reading a review that.... WTF.... Shehensha Dude is the director!!

LITTLE ZIZOU

MIAAC 2008 Film Festival
Director: Sooni Taraporevala
Language: English / Parsi

Synopsis: Set in the heart of contemporary Bombay's Parsi community, Little Zizou is a lively and charming comedy about faith and hope, pain and loss, and is framed around a gentle, yet powerful parable of tolerance. One might also see this as a lighthearted spin on the classic tale of "Romeo and Juliet".

THE FICTION

MIAAC 2008 Film Festival

Director: Spandan Banerjee
Language: English / Bengali

Synopsis: A chance meeting on a Delhi summer morning brings a middle-aged salaried man and a somewhat undefined young man together. Soon, a short commute together across Delhi becomes a pattern to which both, recent arrivals from Bengal, comfortably succumb in this tale of the fictions of friendship and intimacy.

NALLU PENNUGAL (FOUR WOMEN)

MIAAC 2008 Film Festival
Director: Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Language: Malayalam

Synopsis: Four Women is four short films, joined together only by a credit sequence and separated only by title cards. The short stories by Thakazhy Shivashankar Pillai on which they are based are well known in India and appear to have been literally transposed onto the screen. It works because thematically they are all similar – women’s reactions, to the choices the men in their lives make. The first story “The Prostitute” is emphatically grounded in 1946, perhaps because it’s such a relief to think that this is not happening today. In the first story, the young prostitute of the title is able to change profession when a young laborer falls in love with her, only for her to learn how hard it is to change reputations when you’re still living on the same patch of sidewalk. “The Virgin” is about a business-savvy young woman whose parents arrange a match with a man whose reputation in business is her equal. But no one expects how his business skills affect their marriage (although the title provides a hint). In “The Housewife,” a loving married couple has come to terms with the loss of their children to early deaths, until the wife’s old boyfriend, a father of eight, hears of their misfortunes and proposes a solution. In the final story, In “The Spinster,” a family’s oldest sister (Nandita Das) must cope with the ramifications when her suitor decides to marry her younger sister instead.

AMAL

MIAAC 2008 Film Festival

Director: Richie Mehta

Language: Hindi

Synopsis: When Amal, an autorickshaw driver (a sensitive portrayal by Rupinder Nagra) in chaotic New Delhi, generously allows a dishonest, seemingly homeless curmudgeon to cheat him of his fare, strange events are set in motion that affect both in far-reaching ways. Amal is a powerful and touching story of one man’s decency, selfless willingness to help others and honesty.

LAKSHMI AND ME

MIAAC 2008 Film Festival

Director: Nishta Jain

Language: English / Hindi / Tamil

  

Synopsis: "What sin did I commit to be born a woman?" Lakshmi wonders out loud. A 21-year-old housemaid in Mumbai, she works ten hours a day, seven days a week. One of her employers is the filmmaker who makes over a year and a half, a documentary that explores their relationship, Lakshmi’s life at home, and at work in various houses, illness and romance. The filming begins to have its own impact on unfolding events, their relationship, forcing the filmmaker to question many of the things she has taken for granted.

THE BLUE UMBRELLA

Director: Vishaal Bharadwaj
Language: Hindi
Courtesy: Netflix

Synopsis: Based on a novel by author Ruskin Bond, this is a touching and thought-provoking film about a little girl who makes a valuable trade (her lucky charm) for a beautiful Blue Umbrella with a Japanese tourist, which captivates everyone in the village but no more than one stingy, cunning and miserly shopkeeper who wants to own it any cost. The story unfolds as the shopkeeper's quest for this umbrella brings him face to face with the inner power and maturity of the little girl.

This simple movie has a not so simple message about ego, pride, ethics and morals and the risks involved when you jeopardize them to try and attain attention and fame.

TAARE ZAMEEN PAR

Director: Aamir Khan

Language: Hindi

Synopsis: Aamir Khan the great!.. In his directorial debut film, Aamir Khan excels, as he voices concern for children with an active right brain, as in having an artistic talent, and are deemed failures as they can't comprehend and excel in the so called normal / logical way of life. In this film, 8-year-old Ishaan (Darsheel Safary), is a chronic daydreamer, and finds his life take a turn for the worse when his parents, frustrated that he keeps getting into trouble, send him away to a boarding school in hopes that he'll become more disciplined. But Ishaan's misery abates when the unconventional new art teacher, Ram Shankar Nikumbh (Aamir Khan), decides to try to help his imaginative young student discover his true identity.

MORNING RAAGA

Director: Mahesh Dattani

Language: English / Hindi
Courtesy: NetFlix

Synopsis: After losing her son and her best friend in a fatal bus accident, Carnatic singer Swarnalata remains stoic and silent in her grief for 20 years. But when Abhinay, the long-lost son of her late friend, arrives at her doorstep one day, she's confronted with the painful memories and melodies of the past. Slowly, the two learn that making music once again is the only way to reclaim the lives they've lost.

THE LAST LEAR

MIAAC 2007 Film Festival

Director: Rituparno Ghosh
Language: English / Hindi

Synopsis: When you frst meet veteran thespian Harish Mishra (Bachchan), he is gravely ill. The punishments of a film shoot have left the old man in a coma. His co-star, Shabnam (Preity Zinta), is wracked with worry, but their director, Siddharth (Arjun Rampal), keeps strangely distant and refuses to visit his ailing star. In flashbacks, their story emerges.
Siddharth first had to woo Harish from the comforts of his retirement, and the interaction between the two yields some of the film’s most delightful scenes. The impatient young auteur attempts to win the trust and collaboration of the aged performer, who sits raging against the modern world from the sanctuary of his study. Sporting a silver mane, Bachchan is irresistible here – vain, forceful and impetuous. He trumpets the superiority of Shakespeare over anything cinema can create. And yet, the movies hold out a new challenge. Once he agrees to act in the film, The Last Lear becomes a captivating reflection on the comparative artifices of stagecraft and cinema. As the outsider in the cast, Harish is hilarious in dismissing movie fakery. His theatre skills are grander. Standing on a hillside, he teaches Shabnam how to project her voice clear across a valley to the next hill.

MANORAMA SIX FEET UNDER

MIAAC 2007 Film Festival

Director: Navdeep Singh
Language: Hindi

Synopsis: A wannabe crime writer who spends his days as a junior government engineer gets a chance to play detective when a politician's wife asks him to spy on her husband. But upon starting the job, he begins to wonder whether he should have turned it down. As it turns out, his client isn't exactly who she said she was -- and now she's involved him in a plot that's led to her own murder.

APNA AASMAAN

MIAAC 2007 Film Festival
Director: Kaushik Roy
Language: Hindi

Synopsis: An allegorical tale of Ravi, Padmini and their mildly autistic, intellectually handicapped teenage son Buddhi, who is a promising artist. The parents’ obsession to make Buddhi a genius, leads them to an experimental drug, which makes him their dream child – only to reveal the dark side that they had not bargained for.

LIFE IN A ... METRO

Director: Anurag Basu

Language: Hindi
Courtesy: NetFlix

Synopsis:  Metro Mumbai's up-and-comers search for love and struggle for success in this ensemble drama about eager young call-center executive Rahul (Sharman Joshi), hard-nosed boss Ranjeet (Kay Kay Menon), Ranjeet's unfulfilled wife, Shika (Shilpa Shetty), and others. Behind the professionalism, Mumbai's bustling corporate world smolders with clandestine business meetings, extramarital affairs, unrequited love and more. The characters of Konkona Sen Shama and Irfan Khan are a hands down roit to watch. They are just too versatile!

WOH LAMHE

Director: Mohit Suri

Language: Hindi
Courtesy: NetFlix

Synopsis: Schizophrenia and lost love are at the center of this dramatization that tells of the real-life turbulent affair between filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt and actress Parveen Babi, who was gradually engulfed by mental illness. In the screen version, Aditya, a director, learns that his former lover Sana, a famous actress, has attempted suicide. Praying outside her hospital room, Aditya recalls what led to Sana's mental break three years ago and destroyed their love.