Seema Biswas Movies

When a destitute New Delhi rickshaw driver generously allows his eccentric passenger to dodge his fare, the generous act sends his fate careening in a wholly unanticipated direction in first time filmmaker Richie Mehta's heartfelt portrait of early-21st Century India. Amal (Rupinder Nagra) drives a motorized rickshaw on the crowded streets of New Delhi. One day, while spiriting a beautiful fare to her destination, the passenger's purse is snatched by a pint-sized cutpurse. Determined to rescue the woman's valuables, Amal gives chase to the little girl, who is stricken by a car after ducking into traffic. While Amal dutifully rushes the girl to the hospital and agrees to pay her medical bills, he realizes that he cannot afford the expense. But there is hope for both Amal and the injured young thief, because the fare that the rickshaw driver allowed to walk free was in fact an eccentric millionaire named G.K. Jayaram (Naseeruddin Shah). At the time Amal picked G.K. up, the ageing family patriarch was growing increasingly perturbed with his grasping children - all of whom seemed to hear a cash register ringing when their father fell ill. In one final act of anonymous generosity, G.K. bestowed Amal his entire fortune. But the executor of G.K.'s estate has only thirty days to find one common rickshaw driver in a bustling city of 14 million, otherwise the money reverts back to the millionaire's rightful family. While it's plain to see who would benefit from the money the most, the prospect of the estate executer actually locating Amal is growing slimmer with each passing day and G.K.'s greedy family is willing to get downright vicious in order to claim the inheritance as their own. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Sashi Kumar's Chrysalis stars Angad Bedi as a journalist named Preet who has been haunted by an interview with a child who describes a recent violent clash between Hindus and Muslims. Preet investigates a convent run by Sister Agatha (Seema Biswas) that houses nuns who are growing senile. He learns that twenty years earlier Sister Agatha allowed the two surviving members of a Sikh family to seek refuge there after their people were slaughtered following the assassination of Indira Gamdhi. The film parallels the day-to-day life in the convent with the actions Agatha took twenty years before. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Following the sudden and unexpected death of her husband, a widowed child bride lashes out against her fate in the Hindu ashram where she is expected to atone for her sins in this humanistic drama, the third installment of filmmaker Deepa Mehta's Elemental Trilogy. Chuyia's (Sarala) husband has died, and religious doctrine dictates that she now retire to an ashram to atone for the sins that caused her husband's untimely death. As Chuyia bides her time among widows both young an old -- some accepting of their fate and some bitterly resentful -- the preadolescent widow's spirit remains unbroken and hopeful for a brighter future. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

This Bollywood gangster movie stars Vivek Oberoi as Chandu, a young man who dreams of finding fame and fortune and escaping the slums of Bombay. By chance he meets and becomes friends with the dashing Malik (Ajay Devgan), who turns out to be the rising star of a criminal syndicate. Chandu joins the gang and the two friends soon become rich and move their operation to Hong Kong. Their life of luxury is soon destroyed by jealousy and anger, and the two become bitter enemies. Chandu flees to Nairobi, but Malik soon locates him, and their feud escalates into a full-scale gang war that forces each of them to question their loyalties and decide how far their mutual hatred will take them. ~ Tom Vick, All Movie Guide

The winner of India's 46th annual National Film Award for Best Film, Samar offers both commentary on India's caste system and a spin on those seeking to observe and provide their own commentary on it. In a small village located in the Madya Pradesh province, the Thakur and Dalit castes fight over the installation of a water pump. When a Dalit, Nathu (Kishore Kadam), fearfully protests against what he feels is an unjust situation, he arouses the ire of the nasty Thakur landowner Chamak Singh (Ravi Jhankal), who duly imposes economic sanctions that threaten to starve the Dalits out of town. After Nathu's house burns down in mysterious circumstances, he goes to the local temple to ask God for help, but his contrition only gets him beaten and urinated on by Singh for breaking the ban on Dalits (also known as India's "untouchables") in a place of worship. At this point, it is revealed that the conflict is the subject of a film that is being made by a pompous Bombay director (Rajit Kapur), and that the "real" Nathu (Raghubir Yadav) is actually an energetic fellow who, wife in tow, busies himself on the film set by providing advice and factual clarification. The real Singh is now dead, and the actor playing him is an egomaniacal hipster. Tensions abound on the set, resulting in the sort of violence that the film-within-a-film purports to denounce. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

Bandit Queen, based on the true story of legendary female warrior Phoolan Devi, is a confrontational epic that paints a far different picture of India from other arthouse productions. Devi (Seema Biswas) is married at age 11, abandoned by her husband when she resists his advances, and turned into a social outcast who, at one point, is gang-raped by the upper-caste men of one village. She later gets her revenge by organizing a massacre that leaves 20 villagers dead. Devi ultimately leads a band of latter-day Robin Hoods on bold raids against landowners in Central India during the late '70s and early '80s, often taking their spoils and redistributing them to poor tenant farmers. By the time she is arrested in 1983, Devi has become a folk hero, especially to the women who live in rural India's brutally patriarchal society. A full-fledged commercial production, handsomely produced and directed by talented Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur (who emerged from the country's vaunted "Bollywood" system), Bandit Queen painfully exposes a controversial aspect of Indian culture, while providing a triumphant portrait of female empowerment. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide