Gita Sen Movies

When the Calcutta family in this drama discovers the body of their grandmother, who has hanged herself, they are understandably upset. In their efforts to understand the event, old family secrets are uncovered and fresh fuel is added to old fires, creating new rifts and alliances. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Burning with a desire to be a journalist, a young man gets his chance when a publisher -- the father of a friend -- suggests that he write a story on the daily life of the people in his house (several families worth of people). The material turns out to be too incohesive and abundant to work into a pointed, thematic article, and just when he is about to give up, his younger brother asks him a simple question: "How many coal burners are there in Calcutta?" This triggers an idea for a story about Calcutta's pollution -- and the aspiring journalist dreams of myriads of burner-toting citizens invading the publisher's home demanding redress. Maybe he is finally on the way to a story that matters. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

A moving film about the relationship between art and reality from well-known Bengali director Mrinal Sen, In Search of Famine is a movie about making a movie. A young, idealistic director arrives in a village to make a picture set during the Great Bengal Famine. It's a film that he hopes will reveal the problems and privations still current in rural India. Once in the town everything begins to go wrong. An actress walks off the set and a local girl quits when the film's subject becomes to personal, forestalling production. Most ironically however, the presence of the film crew begins to drive up the price of food in the village, leaving the residents angry and fearful of another famine. The tension increases and finally the film crew is driven from the town. In Search of Famine makes an important point: good intentions are not enough to overcome the demands of reality upon works of art. ~ Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide

This harrowing Indian film promotes the need for population control. It persuasively demonstrates the effects of overpopulation, overcrowding and famine on the people of India. Activity in an Indian courtroom frames the numerous sketches used to assist viewers in understanding the issues viscerally. One repeating scene has a young man, condemned to death, who comments on the population problem and its ramifications. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide