“Village Rockstars” by Rima Das (2017)

Good script, personages, images, content
Excellent direction

The life of a young girl who dreams of having a guitar
A serene movie in which children possess the rural Indian landscape
interesting scene when the girl gets her first menstruation
A movie predominantly made by Rima Das and her family, and if you’re patient enough to get to the end of the credits, you’ll see how extended her family is 🙂

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 8,0
Metascore —
Roger Ebert —
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 9,3
IMDB 7,2
Average critics 8,0
Average public 8,3

Cast: Bhanita Das, Basanti Das, Boloram Das
Director: Rima Das
Writer: Rima Das
Music by Preetom Dutta
Cinematography by Rima Das
Film Editing by Rima Das

“Manto” by Nandita Das (2018)

Good script, personages, direction, music and message
Excellent dialogues and minority representation

IMDB 7,4

Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rasika Dugal, Tahir Raj Bhasin
Director: Nandita Das
Writer: Nandita Das
Music by Babli Haque, Sneha Khanwalkar, Raftaar
Cinematography by Kartik Vijay
Film Editing by A. Sreekar Prasad

“The Japanese Wife” by Aparna Sen (2010)

A Weekend Treat!

Good script and minority representation

A good story
I am tempted to summarize the movie as having a weak and manipulated man stuck between three women as its main character… but I don’t think Aparna Sen would approve 🙂

IMDB 7,6

Cast: Rahul Bose, Chigusa Takaku, Raima Sen
Director: Aparna Sen
Writers: Aparna Sen, based on the story by Kunal Basu
Music by Sagar Desai
Cinematography by Anay Goswami
Film Editing by Rabiranjan Maitra

“Viceroy’s House” by Gurinder Chadha (2017)

A Weekend Treat!

Great personages, images and minority presence
Excellent script and message

The multi-layer approach brings the viewer close to the personal drama through the (somewhat weak) romance between a Muslimah and an Hindu, to the community level inside the Viceroy’s house; to the national level with the political problems involved with the partition; and briefly to the geopolitical level… Smartly done!

The weak romance story is offset by a good depiction of the historical and political events surrounding the departure of the English from India.
At one moment in the movie, the partition of India is compared to that of Palestine and of Ireland, other British colonies that have suffered greatly. Unfortunately, Chadha does not dig deeper into the subject…

Rotten Tomatoes Critics 6,0
Metascore 5,3
Roger Ebert 6,3
Rotten Tomatoes Audience 7,2
IMDB 6,7
Average critics 5,9
Average public 7,0

Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Michael Gambon, Manish Dayal, Simon Callow, Om Puri, Lily Travers, Huma Qureshi
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Writer: Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges, Moira Buffini
Cinematographer: Ben Smithard
Editor: Valerio Bonelli, Victoria Boydell
Composer: A.R. Rahman

“Monsoon Wedding” by Mira Nair (2001)

Excellent direction: Mira Nair juggles with all the characters, bringing together their different stories in a natural flow while adroitly mixing traditional values with modern norms. Refreshing music, singing and dancing

Cast: Naseeruddin Shah Pimmi, Lillete Dubey, Shefali Shetty, Parvin Dabas, Vijay Raaz, Tilotama Shome, Vasundhara Das Hemant
Directed by Mira Nair
Written by Sabrina Dhawan
Music by Mychael Danna
Cinematography by Declan Quinn
Film Editing by Allyson C. Johnson

 

“Let The Heart Beat” by Zoya Akhtar (2015)

Great music and dance, a good soap

Cast: Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Priyanka Chopra
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Writers: Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti
Music by Shankar Mahadevan, Loy Mendonsa, Ehsaan Noorani
Cinematography by Carlos Catalan
Film Editing by Manan Mehta, Anand Subaya

“Viceroy’s House” by Gurinder Chadha (UK, 2017)

The weak romance story is offset by a good depiction of the historical and political events surrounding the departure of the English from India.
At one moment in the movie, the partition of India is compared to that of Palestine and of Ireland, other British colonies that have suffered greatly, without however digging deeper into the subject.

Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Michael Gambon, Manish Dayal, Simon Callow, Om Puri, Lily Travers, Huma Qureshi
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Writer: Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges, Moira Buffini
Cinematographer: Ben Smithard
Editor: Valerio Bonelli, Victoria Boydell
Composer: A.R. Rahman

“The Namesake” (Mira Nair, USA 2006)

“The Namesake” reminds us of what it means to be American.

Cast: Kal Penn, Tabu, Irrfan Khan, Sahira Nair, Jacinda Barrett, Zuleikha Robinson
Directed: Mira Nair
Photography: Frederick Elmes
Writers: Sooni Taraporevala; based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri

“Parched” (Leena Yadav, India 2015)

Director: Leena Yadav
Writers: Supratik Sen (dialogue), Leena Yadav
Actors: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Radhika Apte, Lehar Khan

Domestic violence, honor, infertility, prostitution, child marriage, rape… These themes are treated in a traditional gender setting in Rajasthan.

The message of the movie is straightforward: while most men drink, commit adultery, are jealous and violent, women have fun, bring changes… and are at least as sexualized as their male counterparts.