Shivaji Satham Movies
A crabby cab driver and an arrogant yuppie become locked in a battle of wills in director Milan Luthria's caustically hilarious comedy thriller. Raghu (Nana Patekar) is a temperamental working stiff whose penchant for getting fired has become an endless source of frustration to fed-up wife Sunita (Sonali Kulkarni). With only twenty-four hours to pay off a lingering debt of 30,000 rupees, Raghu reluctantly accepts a job as a taxi driver without his wife's approval. His cab hailed by wealthy playboy Jai (John Abraham), who is on his way to contest his late father's will, Raghu spots a ready opportunity to earn some quick extra cash. It seems that despite being completely shut out of his departed dad's revised will, the original document - stored in a nearby safe deposit box - favors him for a serious inheritance. When the cab crashes and the key to the safe deposit box goes missing, Jai panics. Though Raghu eventually finds the key, he refuses to hand it over to the man he views as a silver spoon brat as Jai embarks on a relentless quest to re-acquire what is rightfully his and walk away a rich man. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nana Patekar, John Abraham, (more)
- 1999
The sophomore feature effort of documentary filmmaker Dev Benegal is this portrait of the changing culture of modern-day Bombay. KP (Rahul Bose) is a small-time hustler working for the "Water Mafia," which sells well water from poor neighborhoods to the rich. He adores his ten-year-old adopted sister, who ekes out a meager living selling flowers at traffic intersections. When KP runs afoul of the Water Godfather, he is promptly dumped from the ring and beaten to a pulp. More frighteningly, his sister mysteriously disappears. Meanwhile, British-educated Nandita (Laila Rouass), who has just returned to India, hosts a popular talk show in which anonymous participants reveal their most intimate sexual secrets. As KP continues his desperate search for his missing sibling, he and Nandita begin an affair that never could have happened during India's more tradition-minded past. Split Wide Open was screened at the 1999 Venice Film Festival and the 1999 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rahul Bose, Laila Rouass, (more)
- 1994
Small town bureaucracy in a small Indian town provides the focus of this film. Upon receiving his education Agastya Sen, a Bengali, joins the public service where he is assigned to work in a tiny village as an assistant to the collector. He does not speak the local language. Sen is set up in a dreadfully primitive little place where his only company is a small frog. He misses his friends in the city. He has trouble adjusting to the quaint village and it's eccentric, provincial ways. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rahul Bose, Salim Shah, (more)
- 1994
Confronted with the Kafka-esque complexity of the Indian bureaucratic hierarchy after being transferred to the provinces, an open-minded urbanite struggles with the hopelessness and despair of being dislocated and misunderstood in this semi-absurdist drama starring Indian art-house icon Rahule Bose. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rahul Bose, Tanvi Azmi, (more)
