Nandita Das Movies

A young Pakistani boy and his father are imprisoned for years after inadvertently crossing the border into India in this drama based on actual events. Meanwhile, back in Pakistan, the boy's mother (Nandita Das) is left to wonder whatever became of her loved ones. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Inspired by the true story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, Jag Mundhra's Provoked tells the tale of a battered wife pushed to the ultimate act of defiance. As a nineteen year old girl living in a small Punjab village with her overbearing sisters and their husbands, Kiranjit Ahluwalia (Aishwarya Rai) aspired to get a college education and see the world. Despite her ambitious plans, however, Kiranjit put her entire future on hold the moment she met handsome family friend Deepak (Naveen Andrews). Later, after a whirlwind romance, Kiranjit and Deepak married and prepared to move into Deepak's home in a quaint suburb of London. Kiranjit's storybook romance would quickly give way to a terrifying reality however when, over the course of the following decade, the loving bride suffered a relentless torrent of emotional and physical abuse of her tyrannical husband. Eventually pushed to her breaking point and desperately fearing for the safety of her children, Kiranjit killed Deepak and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison. Though Kiranjit was at first reluctant to share the details of her harrowing experience, she eventually became convinced that the only way to break the cycle of violence was to share her story with the world. Miranda Richardson, Rebecca Pidgeon, and Robbie Coltrane co-star in a docudrama that encourages viewers to take a closer look at the proliferation of domestic violence. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

An Englishman intent on opening a spice plantation in Kerala attempts to gain the trust of the local villagers and destroys numerous lives in the process in this period drama from director/cinematographer Santosh Sivan. The year is 1937, and the power that the English wield over the citizens of India can be devastating even in the mildest of cases. Henry Moores (Linus Roache) is an entrepreneur and businessman who has singled out Kerala as the site where he plans to break ground on a potentially lucrative spice plantation. When Henry discovers that he will have to build a new road in order to make his plans feasible, he enlists the aid of trusted right-hand man T.K. (Rahul Bose) is warming the locals to the idea. The project is going to take plenty of manpower, and Henry is going to need all the help he can get. But while Henry relies on T.K. to help him realize his professional goals, his personal needs fall on the shoulders of his pretty housekeeper, Sajani (Nandita Das). One day, when their trip into the forest to collect honey takes a decidedly sensual turn, two local village boys witness the erotically charged tryst and word eventually gets back to Sanani's husband in the village. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Writer/director Suman Ghosh details the friendship between an elderly man and a little girl in this affectionate drama that studies the similarities between childhood and old age as filtered through the Hindu philosophy. In early childhood as in late adulthood, ambitions and superficial social roles simply don't exist. Like a child who hasn't yet experienced the pain or injustice of the world, the senior citizen is often able to simply accept the world at face value and not become wrapped up in the complexities and iniquities that can be so distracting to the masses. With this story, the first ashram and the fourth ashram meet, and two people who seem to have little in common discover just how the cycle of life ultimately comes full circle. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Based on a true story that sent shock waves through India in 1992, this drama concerns Sanwari (Nandita Das), a lower-caste woman with a husband, Sohan (Raghuvir Yadav), and two children, who is raising her family in a rural village. While it's generally Sanwari's nature to mind her own business and take care of her family, when she sees a neighbor woman being mistreated by an man from the city's upper caste, Sanwari is outraged and speaks out in public about the incident. Shobha (Deepti Naval), a social worker, is impressed by Sanwari's conviction and hires her as an assistant as the Indian government begins implementing a program to give greater rights and protection to Indian women. While she's timid at first, Sanwari soon comes to value her work as a feminist activist, but as she becomes more outspoken against sexism and abuse of caste position, she earns the enmity of many powerful men in the community. First Sanwari and her family are shunned by the local leaders, and then a group of men from the town's leadership take their revenge by subjecting Sanwari first to a savage beating and then to a gang rape. Sanwari, Shobha, and Sohan refuse to be intimidated or silenced, and when the local leadership refuses to bring Sanwari's attackers to justice, they bring the crime to the attention of the national media, leading people across the country to demand justice for Sanwari -- and for women all over India. Bawandar was directed and co-scripted by Jagmohan, an Indian filmmaker who has made a number of films in the United States under the name Jag Mundhra. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Janmadinam is a psychological drama about two generations of women who have spiritual links. The plot revolves around Sarasu, a TV reporter who is having a baby. She is unhappily married to Raghu and still dreams of her former love, Ajay. The actual time span of the film is a single night, which a mother and daughter spend at a maternity ward. By dawn, a baby is born. During the hours of waiting, time and space lose their meaning. The non-linear structure of the film is a novelty for Indian cinema, but it often unnecessarily obscures the plot. The same can be said of the sub-texts, one of which is violence -- violence within self (question of abortion), in the family, and communal riots in Mumbai (Bombay) on larger scale. Janmadinam was screened as part of the International Forum of New Cinema at the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide