Naseeruddin Shah Movies

This Hindi language drama tells the story of three prison inmates who are all awaiting execution. Each confined by three walls and a row of bars, a lawyer, a simpleton, and a con-man all bide their time until their lives end, until they are visited by Chandrika, a woman who has fled an abusive husband, and is filming a documentary about the death row inmates. As Chandrika forms a kind of friendship with each of the men, the future begins to look different, even for those whose futures seemed to be set in stone. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

Released in India as Aakrosh, Cry of the Wounded is reportedly based on an actual government coverup. Idealistic attorney Naseeruddin Shah takes as his first client a man accused of murdering his wife. The accused is a political activist, and after a while it seems apparent that the prosecution is pursuing the case at the command of the Indian government. Shah himself falls victim to coercion and outright threats while preparing his defense. The political issue becomes a moral one when the accused, on furlough from jail to attend the death of his father, kills his own sister for complex reasons of honor. Now Shah must ponder whether it's worth getting his client off from the first murder charge when he will obviously be condemned for the second killing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

A police drama is a rare film for 1980s Indian cinema, and a successful police drama with a bit of a moral is even rarer -- which makes this film by Govind Nihalani an unusual item. Anant Welankar (Om Puri) is an ethically strait-laced Bombay police officer who reluctantly joined the force at his father's instigation -- his father had been a career policeman. Once working in the precinct, Anant learns about bribery -- it seems that Rama Shetty (Sadashiv Amrapurkar), a well-known political aspirant known to be involved in a murder, has several of the police officers in his back pocket. Anant finds himself caught between the police violence and bribery on the one hand, and his desire to fulfill his duties to the letter on the other. In one unhappy moment, he is carried away by his fury against immorality during an interrogation and beats a prisoner so badly that the man dies. Stricken and yet unwilling to simply accept his suspension, Anant has to either hew to his own conscience and face the consequences, or ask for help from the notorious Rama Shetty -- a difficult decision when one's future hangs in the balance. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Bollywood director Homi Adajania's English-language mystery-drama Being Cyrus concerns the enigmatic Cyrus Mistry (Saif Ali Khan), a foster child-turned-drifter who wheedles his way into a troubled Indian family. As the film opens, Cyrus accepts a position as the paid assistant to Dithnaw, once a highly-esteemed potter but now an eccentric, reclusive marijuana smoker who accomplishes little of note. Dithnaw lives with his wife, Katy (Dimple Kapadia) in the hill station of Panchgani, India where he holes up in his house in almost complete seclusion; his skeptical brother, the businessman Farokh (Boman Irani) lives with his wife Tina (Simone Singh) and the men's nutty father, Fardounjee (Honey Chhaya) - a millionaire forced by his two sons into living an impoverished life. Cyrus walks into this eccentric clan and virtually takes over, winning the confidence, step-by-step, of each family member. His constant strategizing and manipulation suggests that the situation is neither as placid nor as innocent as it seems on the surface, and indeed, the sociopathic Mistry harbors a hidden agenda that will soon tear the family apart. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The disastrous leak of poison gas from a Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India, which claimed the lives of 16,000 people, sets the stage for this drama. In 1984, Verma (Kay Kay) is an aspiring poet whose new bride Tara (Nethra Raghuraman) is eager to start a family. In order to build up a nest egg, Verma puts his writing on hold and takes a job as a supervisor at the Union Carbide plant. His friend Bashir (Naseeruddin Shah) warns him that the plant is unsafe. He quit his job with Union Carbide for just that reason, and he urges Verma to do the same. Verma decides to stay on, but while Verma is riding a train to Bhopal, he discovers that the tragedy Bashir predicted has come true, and that Verma is put in a race against time to save Tara's life as thousands are dying all around him. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A New Yorker, an Australian, and an Englishman return to their birthplace, Bombay India, in hopes of finding their identities and reorganizing their lives. All three arrive at the same time and end up sharing the same flat. Krishna, the American, has come back in hopes of launching a successful acting career in movies. He gets his big break when local gangster-turned-producer Matsana hires Krishna to appear in a musical extravaganza. Kris has no idea that Matsana desperately wants the movie to flop so he can reap big profits. The Englishman Xerxes is a flautist wrestling with his sexual identity. He knows that he is gay but is having trouble deciding whether or not to be open about it. The lonely apartment owner Persi is definitely homosexual and finds himself attracted to Xerxes. The third roommate, former Sydney resident Fernandes, has come to Bombay to search for his estranged brother. A complex mixture of slapstick, violence and sentiment coupled with a spoof on Indian masala movies, the film follows the three disparate protagonists as lives collide and split apart in increasingly chaotic ways. The first feature of NYU Film School-trained Kaizad Gustad, the film casts an eye upon the Bollywood (Bombay-based Indian Hollywood) film industry via an "A"-rate gangster and a "B"-Grade producer. The whole point is to show that India is not what it is supposed to be. Mobile phones have replaced Mantras, and Coca-Cola has taken over Karma. Bombay Boys has received attention in Toronto, Vancouver and London Film Festivals, but its real success is bound to be in the circuit it parodies, namely the commercial Bollywood cinema. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This ambitious and symbolic musical drama follows the eternal spirit of women as they inspire and confound men throughout the ages. As Science (Ashish Vidyarthi) and Art (Mohan Aghashe) debate who truly holds sway over the Universe, they ponder the story of Gaja Gamini (Madhuri Dixit), a mysterious and beautiful woman who, in her various incarnations over the ages, poses for Leonardo Da Vinci (Naseeruddin Shah) as he paints the Mona Lisa, acts as muse for Kalidas as he writes his poem Shakuntala, inspires a group of women to speak against their role as second-class citizens, and becomes a subject for a modern-day photographer (Shah Rukh). Gaja Gamini was the first feature film directed by well-respected Indian artist Maqbool Fida Husain, who also served as screenwriter, editor, and production designer for the project -- all at the age of 85! ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Rahul Dholakia's drama Heaven & Hell on Earth offers a human drama set during the riots that erupted in India in 2002. In the town of Ahmedabad, Cyrus (Naseeruddin Shah) enjoys a happy life with his wife and two children. His son Parzan (Parzan Dastur) is a dreamer with an interest in sports, and their dutiful younger daughter Dilshad (Pearl Bariswalla) completes the seemingly perfect family. Soon the family plays host to a visiting American college student who is studying the life of Mahatma Gandhi. After a religious attack, the town erupts in violence, resulting in the disappearance of Parzan. Cyrus sets about doing everything in his power to recover his son. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

This film by Indian director Ketan Mehta, whose socially conscious work has been compared to Spike Lee, centers around Holi, the Festival of Fire in India. A group of college boys are dissatisfied with their school's policies, including the announcement that they won't be getting the day off from classes for the holiday. The students are angered, and one of them is expelled for injuring the principal's nephew in a fight. The students gather in resistance, and as events and tension escalate, the students turn against the school and burn their furniture and textbooks in an impromptu festival of fire. Loyalties among the students are tested and broken, and tragedy becomes inevitable. The emotionally charged content of this film, tempered by the emotional distance of Mehta's directorial eye provides a rare glimpse of unrest in India. ~ Jonathan E. Laxamana, All Movie Guide