Kulbhushan Kharbanda Movies

A young courtesan kidnapped from her home and sold into slavery ultimately transcends her grim fate in director J.P. Dutta's adaptation of author Mirza Haadi Ruswa's classic 1905 novel. Previously adapted for the screen to great acclaim in 1981, Ruswa's novel tells the story of a middle class girl kidnapped by a habitual offender who had been imprisoned for ten years as a result of her father's damning testimony. Determined to curse his accuser with a fate worse than death, the vengeful ex-convict spirited the man's daughter away and sold the young girl - then known as Amiran - to a brothel in Lucknow. Subsequently given the name Umrao, raised in the lap of luxury, and trained to be a great entertainer, the young girl would grow up to become one of the most beautiful and popular entertainers of her time. Yet despite all of her success, something was missing in the life of the girl now known as Umrao. Though fortune seemed to smile down on her against all odds, Umrao soon fell in love with the powerful Nawab Sultan and longed to start a family with the influential figure despite the fact that their love seemed doomed from the onset. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Deepa Mehta directed this Indian-Canadian romantic drama, the second part of a trilogy. Based on Bapsi Sidhwa's autobiography, Cracking India, the story is set in 1947 in Lahore, where Hindu, Sikh, Parsee, and Muslim share a peaceful co-existence. Events are seen from the point of view of eight-year-old Lenny (Maia Sethna), a girl from an affluent Parsee family. Lenny's nanny, Shantya (Nandita Das), is involved with the Muslim Masseur (Rahul Khanna). When a train of Muslims arrives at the local depot and all the passengers are found murdered, the various sects turn against each other, and the city is soon aflame. Shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Framed by the increasingly tenuous peace between the Muslims and Hindus in 1992 Bombay, this Indian drama examines the tender relationship between 15-year-old middle-class Muslim schoolgirl Naseem and her elderly grandfather who, though confined to bed, fills her with many exciting tales of growing up in Agra while the British were in power. Though at first Naseem and her family remain insulated from the growing tensions outside, soon the political upheaval becomes impossible to ignore and people they know, including family members, get involved. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Filmed in the Hindi language, the Indian Hathyar spotlights Sanjay Dutt in the leading role. Dutt becomes disoriented when his family leaves their remote village for the city. Unable to successfully adjust to the culture shock, Dutt falls in with the wrong crowd. He becomes a petty criminal, while his parents can only stand aside in anguish. Director J.P. Dutta also collaborated on Hathyar's screenplay. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Liberally sprinkled with dashes of humor, this is a fast-paced comedy about a family and their friends who lived through the transition of Goa from a Portuguese colony to a district governed by India. Ana (Sushma Prakash) is about to become engaged (unwillingly) to the unappealing Erasmo when her beloved grandfather suddenly dies. Her grandmother is so overwhelmed by grief that Ana's engagement is put on hold indefinitely (along with everything else) while granny tries to contact the spirit of her dead husband. But her wires get crossed each time and instead of grandpa, she brings forth ghosts of people the family has wronged in the past. Meanwhile, Ana's real love is hiding out in the cellar. As Ana's marriage to Erasmo draws near, she faints dead away because (as he soon finds out) she is pregnant, but not by him. These and other events are revealed in flashbacks as a former resident in the house returns to visit 25 years later. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

During one of the many violent uprisings against the English colonial overlords in India, a church filled with people is massacred. The only people to survive are three generations of women in one family, hidden by a friendly Indian. They are then kidnapped by a Muslim (Sashi Kapoor), who wants to keep the youngest woman as his second wife, despite the objections of his first wife who despises the women for their Englishness. Also, the girl he is enamored of finds him frightening. He goes off to join the fighting and eventually comes back to a much-changed situation. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In India in 1945, at the time of independence, there were many isolated semi-autonomous states, which had their own laws. In this movie, a man whose wife is abducted by the rulers of such a region seeks to have the men prosecuted for their crime, but no one will help him. Meanwhile, the wife, abused and berated by her abductors, cannot bring herself to face her husband and finally submits to one of her captors. Eventually, the aggrieved husband is able to rouse the local populace and priesthood to enact a bloody revenge on these oppressors. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide