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.

HAZAARON KHWAISHEIN AISI

Director: Sudhir Mshra
Language: Hindi
Courtesy: NetFlix

Synopsis: Set against the backdrop of India's political turmoil in the late 1960s to '70s, this romantic drama centers on three idealistic youths: Siddharth (KayKay Menon), Geeta (Chitrangda Singh) and Vikram (Roshan Ahuja). In love with dedicated leftist Siddharth, Geeta is secretly coveted by Vikram, who's entered mainstream politics. But when the couple's revolutionary leanings put them in harm's way and tragedy strikes, Vikram comes to their rescue.

MITR, MY FRIEND

Director: Asha Menon Revathy

Language: English / Tamil /Hindi
Courtesy: Netflix

Synopsis: This movie is an emotionally charged drama and takes a unique look at the universal struggle about a woman coming to terms with her relationships, with her family . As a woman's family accuses her of being controlling and critical, she realizes that over the years, she had given up on living her own life, sacrificing her entire self for her family. Reclaiming her identity is essential, but not without intense struggles with those she loves. For the most part, this is a movie about a mother and daughter, their relationship, their differences, their viewpoints, and how eventually they each grow as individuals and reconcile their differences. There is an honest effort to show, what it's like to immigrate to the U.S. from India and then be socially isolated, and also what it's like to grow up in the U.S. and have cultural conflicts with your Indian parents. In the end, I think its simple, yet positive movie.

SORRY BHAI

Director: Onir

Language: Hindi
Courtesy: NetFlix

Synopsis: Traveling with his parents to attend his brother Harsh's wedding, shy scientist Siddharth falls hard for his career-minded brother's lovely fiancee, Aaliyah, who herself finds Siddharth deeply appealing. They fight their mutual attraction, but resistance is futile -- until Harsh and the rest of the family discover what's going on. Shabana Azmi and Boman Irani co-star in this light romantic drama.

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WATER

Director: Deepa Mehta

Language: Hindi
Courtesy: NetFlix

Synopsis: After losing her husband to illness, 8-year-old Chuyia is forced to live out the rest of her days in a temple for Hindu widows, communing with 14 other women and a cruel headmistress who agrees to take her in. But it's through the trials of another widow, a beautiful prostitute named Kalyani (Lisa Ray) who's being courted by a man from a higher caste, that Chuyia learns the true restrictions of widowhood.

MY BROTHER NIKHIL

Director: Onir

Language: Hindi
Courtesy: NetFlix

Synopsis: In this sensitive tale of love, affection, sexuality and dignity, a popular athlete is publicly condemned when it's discovered he's HIV-positive. As his parents desert him, his community shuns him and authorities isolate him, Nikhil struggles for self-respect in a world that no longer accepts him. Only the unconditional love of his sister and his boyfriend (Purab Kohli) remains.

SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER... AND SPRING

Director: Ki-du Kim
Language: Korean
Courtesy: NetFlix
Recommended by my dear friend Fang Zhao

Synopsis: Under the vigilant eyes of Old Monk, a Child Monk learns a hard lesson about the nature of sorrow when his childish games turn cruel in a story that's divided into five segments, with each season representing a stage in a man's life. This exquisitely filmed drama directed by Ki-duk Kim is entirely set on and around a tree-lined lake, where a tiny Buddhist monastery floats on a raft amidst a breathtaking landscape.

MR AND MRS IYER

Director: Aparna Sen

Language: English / Hindi / Tamil / Bengali
Courtesy: NetFlix

Synopsis: Did you read the poster - "emotions under curfew" - that speaks for itself.

Mrs. Iyer is traveling by bus to Calcutta to be with her husband, but a flare-up between Hindus and Muslim extremists closes the roads, and a curfew descends. While the passengers are trapped on the bus, a gang of Hindus boards to ferret out any Muslims. Mrs. Iyer was brought up to believe that Muslims were inferior, but during the journey, she comes to realize that it's who a person is, not their religions, that's the defining factor. Also, the film is a tribute to deeply felt and sincere love, a love that is probably on a different level and more touching and sometimes questionable than many love / relationship stories I've seen before.

I have watched this movie a couple times as the concept though beautiful, has disturbed me a lot. I could not quite relate to Mrs Iyers emotional feeling as a married woman with a child for another man, a stranger she just meets on the bus.

It is not until recently that this movie actually got me thinking about the difference between Love and Marriage. I have always believed that the two go together. Well that is how I have been brought up you see. There is no marriage without Love and affection, but I have strong reasons and experience to believe that  they are two separate identities. Love is an EMOTION, where as marriage is just an ACTION most of us do to either label this emotion or to fit into society. Not every one who is in Love with a person is happily married or even married period, and not everyone who is married to someone is necessarily in Love. Most of us perform this "action" mainly for "emotional security", when unfortunately it comes with no such warranty.....

Sorry I got a little carried away......... this is a topic for debate and the less I speak the better for all of us.

JOGGERS PARK

Director: Anant Balani

Language: Hindi
Courtesy: NetFlix

Synopsis: A sensitive movie that beautifully depicts how a relationship is evolved between a married, well-renowned, retired judge and an independent 30-something woman. Jenny Suratwalla, is a beautiful young woman who divides her time between her jobs as a model, event manager and hotel executive. An avid runner, she visits Jogger's Park every morning, where she meets retired Justice Chaterjee, who is twice her age. Chaterjee becomes infatuated with Jenny, and the feelings soon become mutual. Soon she realizes that he's a true gentleman -- unlike the men from her past. This movie wasn't preachy as it shows the dilemma faced by a man who is married and has grown-up children.

1947 - EARTH

Director: Deepa Mehta
Language: Hindi
Courtesy: NetFlix

Synopsis: A movie about the religious and civil wars that broke out in India and Pakistan in the 1947 battle to gain independence from the British. Earth is based on the autobiographical novel Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa and is told through the eyes of a little Parsi girl, Lenny.

TEEN (3) DEEWAREIN

Director: Naagesh Kukunoor

Language: Hindi
Courtesy: NetFlix

Synopsis: This movie takes an in-depth look at the lives of prisoners, especially 3 death row convicts, and the corrupt political system. Juhi wonderfully plays the role of a documentary filmmaker and a woman standing up to her abusive husband. She plumbs the psyches of the three inmates, but what she doesn't reveal is that she knows more about them than they can possibly imagine. An interesting twist at the end adds to the story and Juhi's powerful role and performance.

FIRE

Director: Deepa Mehta
Language: English / Hindi
Courtesy: NetFlix

Synopsis: Two Hindu women struggle with loveless, arranged marriages: Sita, who discovers that her husband has a mistress, and her sister-in-law, Radha, who cannot conceive . As the lukewarm coals of their long-term relationships fade, the women ignite passion in their lives by finding comfort in each other.

SAAZ

Director: Sai Paranjape

Language: Hindi

Synopsis: Saaz is a sensitive portrayal of how fragile relationships, even the most real ones, can be and how they can cripple. Shabana's portrayal of the younger sister, subjected to torture by a selfish, scheming older sister deserves mention. Her fight for survival, the complexity of relationships she gets into, really tell a compelling tale. It doesn't end with that, her failed affair with a younger man, who is loved by her daughter, brings the focus back on relationships, this time, between mother and daughter. So eventually, one is left wondering at the complexity of life and an individual's struggle to establish her own identity. The characters of the sisters has been rumored to be inspired and loosely based on the real life relationship of the legendary Bollywood singer sisters, Lata and Asha Mangeshkar.