Films with: Mitra, Subrata

Bombay talkie

A troubled romance laced with barbed wit and pointed melodrama. An affectionate view of the Indian film industry (aka Bollywood).

DVD 3388

Charulata

Set in late 19th-century, pre-independence India, this film is about a woman's artistic and romantic yearning. It is about the lonely wife of a workaholic newspaper editor, Charulata, whose beautiful face masks a burning creativity. When her husband's poet cousin comes to stay with them, Charulata finds herself both inspired by him creatively and dangerously drawn to him physically. A delicate tale of a marriage in jeopardy and a woman taking the first steps toward establishing her own voice.

DVD 10410

Householder

The story of a shy, Delhi schoolteacher who marries and then, little by little, gets to know his wife during their first year together. This story, derived from the culture of modern India, is able to relate to the problems of young couples everywhere.

DVD 3382

Mahanagar The big city /

Set in mid-1950s Calcutta and directed by Satyajit Ray, this story follows the personal triumphs and frustrations of Arati, who decides, despite the initial protests of her bank-clerk husband, to take a job to help support their family. With remarkable sensitivity and attention to the details of everyday working-class life, Ray gradually builds a powerful human drama that is at once a hopeful morality tale and a commentary on the identity of the contemporary Indian woman. The coward: An aspiring screenwriter encounters a former lover, now married, when his car breaks down near her home.

DVD 10475

Shakespeare Wallah

The real-life adventures of a traveling theater group in India during the final days of English colonial rule. They try to uphold British tradition by staging Shakespearean plays but can't compete with the wildly popular Bollywood film industry.

DVD 3381