Mita Vasisht Movies

In this taut psychological drama from Indian-American filmmaker Satish Menon, Joy (Murali Menon) is an easily corrupted journalist in the southern Indian state of Kerala -- a socially progressive, yet serenely tropical, locale. He lives with his beloved and idealistic wife, Lata (Jyothirmayee), who teaches Dostoyevsky at the local college. Into their domestic bliss stumbles trouble in the form of Subadra (Mita Vasisht), Lata's long-lost and sniffily urban sister. Subadra is pregnant and has lost her husband in a fire; before long, however, her sudden and unexpected presence begins to intimate a dark, desperate secret in her past, and she stirs up a hornet's nest of desire, jealousy, and guilt. Joy wrestles with his sexual desire for Subadra, Lata exhausts herself to please and comfort the sister who abandoned her, Subadra both needs and disdains the pair's middle-class domesticity -- and around and around they go. If this sounds like an upper-middle-class Indian remake of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, it is -- but Menon, quite ambitiously, adds a unique layer of social commentary by having his characters drawn into a high-stakes political debate. Joy, ever tempted by material things, cannot resist an opportunity to exploit his media power in championing private corporations' role in managing public utilities. Drawn into a corrupt political process, his decision wins him great wealth and favor while losing him the respect of his wife. At the crossroads of traditional love and marriage, sexual desire, and worldly ambition, Joy and Lata's crumbling marriage comes to represent the moral and intellectual divides of a rapidly globalizing society, making the film a curiously modern and localized twist on a universally compelling plot. In Malayalam with English subtitles, this film won five Kerala State Film Awards, including Best Picture, Best Debut Director, and Best Supporting Actress for Jyothirmayee. ~ Rovi

Mani Rathnam, who has proven with films like Bombay (1995) and Iruvar (1998) that it was possible in India to make quality films that could also be box-office hits, chose the 50th anniversary celebrations of Indian Independence as the backdrop for this film about the clash between love and ideology. Amar Kant Varma is the son of a deceased army officer and he lives with his family in Delhi. As a program executive for All India Radio, he travels all over the country to interview common people to mark the anniversary. On one of these trips, he meets a mysterious girl named Meghna at a train station, but loses sight of her before he can get to know her. He sees her again in another town and reminds her of their meeting. Meghna doesn't seem to recognize him. Although she doesn't really want him, he follows her all the way to Ladakh. After two days together, she leaves him to join a group of insurgents on a mission. Amar is heart-broken and marries a girl of his mother's choice. In the meantime, Meghna is chosen to be the main person on a suicide mission targeting the Republic Day Parade. She finds Amar and their destinies entwine. Director Ratnam uses the two characters as symbols for two distinct parts of India at odds with each other -- the big states on the one hand, and the border areas with minority populations on the other. The latter are angry at the central government for having neglected them, which have resulted in a recession. Dil Se, a good example of the energy and imagination of the "Bollywood" movies (referring to Bombay, the "Hollywood of India") from one of the masters of the genre was screened as part of the International Forum of Young Cinema at the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

This evocative film is an attempt to set the nuances of Thumri music to film. Specifically, this film enshrines the music of perhaps the greatest of all Thumri singers, Siddheswari Devi (1908-1977). Thumri is a popular semi-classical Indian musical tradition dating from time of the Moghul Empire (1526-1827). Over the centuries it has become quite a complex musical form, and because it is improvisational in nature, Thumri permits its practitioners to draw upon any other form of music, such as folk songs, for its themes. It is this characteristic, as much as anything, which accounts for its continued popularity in India. Among other things, the filmmakers show images from the songs, which describe the holy city of Benares, the boats on the river, its gardens, and so forth. Occasional black and white footage is used, and some shots of the great Siddeswari herself grace the film. The outline of the film loosely follows the life of the great singer as it is reflected in the lyrics of these songs. Various lovely women stand-in for the singer. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi