Nayeem Hafizka Movies
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
Ismail Merchant, best known as a producer for his work with director James Ivory (including Howards End and A Room With a View), takes possession of the director's chair in this drama. In 1954, seven years after India has gained independence from Great Britain, many Indians still feel like second-class citizens in their own country, as the nation's sovereignty has not immediately erased the perception that the British are superior to the Indian-born natives. Such a woman is Cotton Mary (Madhur Jaffrey), who works as a nurse for Lily Macintosh (Greta Scacchi), the wife of a BBC correspondent. Mary claims she's the daughter of a British regiment officer (although she has no firm evidence), and she sees herself as more British than Indian. While she takes offense at racist comments, she often states her belief that most of her people are unclean and dishonest, and her personal philosophy is informed by Christianity as much as the Hindu teachings with which she was raised. When Lily gives birth prematurely, Mary has to find a wet nurse for the child, and she uses this to win greater trust and confidence from Lily; in time, Mary persuades Lily to fire Abraham (Prayag Raaj), the household's loyal but proudly Indian cook, while she hides the fact that her sister Blossom (Neena Gupta) is nursing Lily's child. When not acting, Madhur Jaffrey is an acclaimed Indian chef and author, who has written a series of books on Indian cuisine; her daughter, Sakina Jaffrey, also appears in the film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madhur Jaffrey, Greta Scacchi, (more)
- 1998
- R
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James Ivory directed this drama adapted from Kaylie Jones's 1990 autobiographical novel in which the character Bill Willis is based on her father, James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity and A Thin Red Line. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's screenplay about expatriate Americans in Paris during the 1960s/1970s offers a portrait of a normal family (as opposed to the dysfunctional families of The Ice Storm and many other 1990s films), seen from the point of view of daughter Channe. Her father is Bill Willis (Kris Kristofferson), a successful novelist and WWII veteran who's married to enthusiastic poker-player Marcella (Barbara Hershey). Divided like the sections of a novel, the story's first chapter is titled, "Billy," in which French orphan Benoit (Samuel Gruen) is brought to the Willis household for adoption, while his unmarried biological mother (Virginie Ledoyen) writes about him in her diary. Six-year-old Benoit has been shipped through so many orphanages and foster homes that he doesn't unpack his suitcase. Benoit's presence prompts the young Channe (Luisa Conlon) to turn to her protective Portuguese nanny Candida (Dominique Blanc). After Benoit becomes acclimated to his new family, he asks that his name be changed to Billy. In the second segment "Francis" a strong friendship develops between Channe (Leelee Sobieski) and fatherless Francis Fortescue (Anthony Roth Costanzo). Obsessed with opera, Francis lives with his expatriate British mother (Jane Birkin). The family's French idyll is disrupted when Bill Willis plans a return to the United States because he wants American doctors to treat his bad heart. The closing act "Daddy" takes place in North Carolina during the 1970s as Bill's health worsens, Billy (Jesse Bradford) grows up, and an alienated Channe seeks acceptance through sex. A bedridden Bill dictates his fiction to Channe, who transcribes tapes and types his manuscript pages. During intimate conversations about boys and sex, Willis helps his daughter find her footing on the path of life. This movie arrived only 14 weeks prior to the release of Terrence Malick's 1998 adaptation of the elder Jones' The Thin Red Line. Shown at 1998 film fests (Venice, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kris Kristofferson, Barbara Hershey, (more)
- 1997
This French-British documentary (in English and Bengali) traces the career of Indian actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who is best known in the West for his frequent work with director Satyajit Ray. Gaach (English title, The Tree) profiles the reminiscences of Chatterjee's fellow performers and other associates. Chatterjee's first major role was in Ray's landmark 1959 film The World of Apu. Shown at the 1997 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Soumitra Chatterjee, Rabi Ghosh, (more)
Anita Desai and Shahrukh Husain adapted Desai's novel for this comedy-drama about an Indian university teacher who encounters numerous hassles in his attempts to document the final writings of an ailing, alcoholic poet whom he idolizes. Score by Zakir Hussain and Ustad Sultan Khan. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shashi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, (more)
This historical drama, based on a novel by John Masters that was in turn inspired by actual events, follows William Savage (Pierce Brosnan), a British agent of the East India Company, as he is sent with his new wife to India in the early 19th century. While Savage holds the unusually progressive view that the people of India are human and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, he is still a very proper subject of the British empire and behaves accordingly. One night, when he sees a group of seemingly crazed men rob and kill a defenseless woman, he demands to know what has happened. He learns that the killers were members of a bizarre cult called the Thugees; Savage is determined to do something about them, and he works his way into the group by disguising himself as one of their number; however, the more Savage tries to win the trust of the Thugees, the more he must act as one of them, which leads him into a murderous secret life of his own. The Deceivers was produced by Ismail Merchant, his first film with a director other than James Ivory. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pierce Brosnan, Saeed Jaffrey, (more)
