Ayesha Dharker Movies

A handful of Indian-Americans vie for overnight stardom in a competition for amateur singers in this mockumentary comedy. The Loins of Punjab meat company is sponsoring a televised contest in which fans of Indian pop music will be given the chance to put their talents to the test, with the grand prize winner claiming a 25,000-dollar purse. A diverse array of aspiring singing stars arrive in New Jersey for the competition; some are Indian émigrés who've made their way to America, others were born in the United States to South Asian parents, and one is a Jewish guy, Josh Cohen (Michael Raimondi), who picked up his fondness for Indian music from his girlfriend, Opama (Ayesha Dharker). Other contestants include Sania Rahman (Seema Rahmani), a would-be actress often accused of not being Indian enough by casting agents; financial advisor Vikram Tejwani (Manish Acharya), who is out of work now that his job has been outsourced to India; a militant gay rap artist who calls himself The Turbanotorious BDG (Ajay Naidu); Preeti Patel (Ishitta Sharma), a teenage girl who just wants to be noticed by her large and growing family; and Rrita Kapoor (Shabana Azmi), a wealthy and unscrupulous housewife who isn't above bribing the judges with money or sex. Loins of Punjab Presents was the first feature film from writer and director Manish Acharya, who also plays Vikram. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Director Paul Mayeda Berges adapts author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni magic realist tale about an enchanting Indian orphan who has leaned to harness the magical properties of spices. Orphaned by regional strife in her homeland of India, Tilo (Aishwarya Rai) is subsequently kidnapped by a vicious gang of bandits. A daring escape is quick to follow, and soon after washing up on mysterious shores the traumatized girl is sheltered by a benevolent old woman (Zohra Segal) who reveals to her the remarkable powers of common spices. Later, after moving to Oakland, California and opening her own spice shop, Tilo is compelled to follow three strict stipulations is she is to retain her ability to harness these magnificent powers: she must never use the powers for her own gain, she can never venture outside of her store, and she must never make contact with the skin of another person. When a handsome architect (Dylan McDermott) crashes his motorcycle just outside of the shop and the kindly proprietor rushes to his aid, the instant chemistry between the pair soon finds Tilo's resolve put to the ultimate test. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The second prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy takes place ten years after the events depicted in Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace. Now 20, young Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) is an apprentice to respected Jedi knight Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). Unusually powerful in the Force, Anakin is also impatient, arrogant, and headstrong -- causing his mentor a great deal of concern. The pair are ordered to protect Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), the former queen of the planet Naboo, now representing her world in the Galactic Senate. Someone is trying to assassinate her on the eve of a vote enabling Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) to build a military force that will safeguard against a growing separatist movement led by mysterious former Jedi Count Dooku (Christopher Lee). After another attempt on Padme's life, Obi-Wan and Anakin separate. The young Jedi and Padme fall in love as he escorts her first to the security of Naboo and then to his home world of Tatooine, where the fate of his mother leads him to commit an ominous atrocity. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan travels to the secretive planet Kamino and the asteroid-ringed world of Geonosis, following bounty hunter Jango Fett (Temuera Morrison) and his son, Boba (Daniel Logan), who are involved in an operation to create a massive army of clones. A vicious battle ensues between the clones and Jedi on one side and Dooku's droids on the other, but who is really pulling the strings in this galactic conflict? In late 2002, the movie was released in IMAX theaters as Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones: The IMAX Experience, with a pared-down running time of 120 minutes in order to meet the technical requirements of the large-screen format. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Ismail Merchant, best known as the producing half of the successful Merchant-Ivory team, once again steps behind the camera as director for this story of life among Indian expatriates in the 1950s. Ganesh (Aasif Mandvi) is a young man who was born to a community of Indian exiles living in Trinidad. Always bright, Ganesh hopes to hake a career for himself as a writer, but he lacks the money to pursue writing full-time, and his ideas about education clash with those of his employers after he gets a job as a teacher, leaving him with few prospects. Returning to Trinidad after the death of his father, Ganesh is pressured into marrying a local woman named Leela (Ayesha Dharker), whose father, Ramlogan (Om Puri), is a successful merchant. Ganesh and Leela move to a modest home in the hills, where he begins work on a book, but Leela chafes at the Spartan lifestyle dictated by Ganesh's finances, and for a time leaves their home to stay with her parents. In time, Ganesh completes his first book -- a book for lay people on the Hindu faith -- but sales are sluggish until Ganesh and Leela come up with a plan to boost interest in Ganesh's work. Ganesh is promoted as a "Mystic Masseur" with special powers to heal the infirm; Ganesh's routine quickly makes his work very popular with spiritual seekers, and his book becomes a top-seller. However, Ganesh becomes disillusioned with his newfound fame and power, especially after he attempts to take advantage of his celebrity by entering the political arena. The Mystic Masseur was based on a novel by V.S. Naipaul, who won an Nobel prize in the year of this film's release. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Veteran cinematographer Santosh Sivan made his directorial debut with this fact-based Indian drama, a winner of "Best Film" and editing awards in India. Teen terrorist Malli (Ayesha Dharkar) dwells on the death of her family members who have died for the cause. A veteran of killings during 30 covert operations with a resistance group, the 19-year-old is chosen to be a "thinking bomb," assassinating a dignitary with plastic explosives strapped to her stomach. Beginning her journey to the city where the explosion is scheduled to happen, Malli moves through the jungle and arrives at the farm of friendly landowner Vasuderan, aka Mad Vasu. On the farm, she poses as an agricultural student, but the waking coma of Vasu's wife in the adjacent room is disturbing. Memories and flashbacks also intrude, as Malli contemplates her forthcoming task. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In this unusual feature, Manika (Ayesha Dharker) is a girl born in a Catholic family in a south Indian fishing village is convinced that she has recently had a former life as a Brahman wife in Nepal. Her parish priest, Father Daniel (Julian Sands) is under orders to convince her otherwise, as reincarnation does not accord with official Catholic doctrine. Instead, he agrees to journey with her to the site of her dreams of a previous life. Once there, they discover that all is just as she had dreamed it, and her former husband has remarried despite promising not to. Her arrival on the scene does not disturb the man, but it really upsets his new wife, who departs with her baby. Manika decides that it helps no one for her to remain there in Nepal, and returns to her home in the south. However, all this has caused a genuine crisis of faith for the priest who, witnessing all this, has had to grapple with some irreconcilable issues. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide