Nandana Sen Movies
Delicately beautiful Indian actress Nandana Sen grew up with a prestigious, distinguished lineage as the daughter of Bengali author Nabanita Dev Sen and Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen. A young woman who came of age on multiple continents (she spent various periods of her childhood in America, Europe, and India), Sen formally studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute, and experienced her first taste of cinema while still a student when director Goutam Ghose tapped her to play the lead in his dark and disturbing psychodrama The Doll as one of the targets of a middle-aged man's sexual obsession. After teaming up on a succession of projects with Indian directors including Ram Gopal Varma and Nitin Manmohan, Sen signed for one of the principal roles in the jarring, terrorist-themed psychological drama The War Within (2005), and in the process both made a name for herself and began to cultivate a reputation for being drawn to offbeat, challenging, and demanding roles. Additional assignments that Sen chose, such as the period romance Rang Rasiya (as an artist's childlike muse) and the slick British thriller The Strangers (as a sexy, streetwise young woman romantically desired by two different men) further underscored this reputation. In 2007, Sen signed on to portray a young rebellious woman fleeing from law authorities in director Shamim Sarif's lesbian-themed period drama The World Unseen. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide- 2008
The life of one of India's most acclaimed artists inspired this period drama from writer and director Ketan Mehta. In the late 19th Century, Raja Ravi Varma (Randeep Hooda) is a famous but controversial painter who is celebrated by critics for his warm, earthy realism and condemned by Hindu clerics for his nude studies and portraits of deities personified as beautiful women. Varma's favorite model and greatest source of inspiration is Sugandha (Nandana Sen), a beautiful woman who gives him love and support, and his celebration of her beauty has helped to make his work popular with the masses, who eagerly buy reproductions of his works. But Varma's popularity has not earned him any favor with authorities, who have declared some of his nudes obscene, or the religious figures who consider his canvases blasphemous; a framing story set in the 21st Century finds his work still generating strong opinions in the present day. Adapted from a book by Ranjit Desai, Rang Rasiya (aka Colours of Passion) also stars Paresh Rawal, Rachna hah and Jim Boeven. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Paresh Rawal, Nandana Sen, (more)
A demanding American actress (Ali Larter) heads to India in order to shoot a low-budget Hollywood film, only to find herself stranded in Bombay with no luggage and attitude to spare. Despite the unfortunate start to her Bombay adventure, the once-jaded actress is soon swept up in the glitz and glamour of the local filmmaking scene and cast in a lavish Bollywood musical. Once on the set, she meets a handsome prince and falls hopelessly in love. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ali Larter, Salman Khan, (more)
- 2007
The owner of an apartheid-era Cape Town café experiences an attraction that threatens to change her life forever in director Shamim Sarif's look into a South Asian community in a divided South Africa. Amina (Sheetal Sheth) is the rebellious proprietor of the popular Location Café -- a destination spot for adventurous social outlaws who resent having their lives dictated by racist laws. From the black waitress who doesn't realize her place in South African society to the older white woman who makes eyes at the handsome brown-skinned bachelor, these people like to have a little fun, and they know that they can just be themselves in the Location Café. When the apartheid police come knocking and Amina's conservative Indian neighbors cast an accusing eye, the emboldened café owner always stands up for her rights. Yet, despite her defiant exterior, Amina instantly turns soft when she meets the gaze of the beautiful Miriam (Lisa Ray). Despite the fact that Miriam is a married woman, she is endlessly fascinated by the free-thinking Amina. Eventually, Amina works up the courage to invite Miriam along for driving lessons, and both women succumb to the true power of their mutual attraction. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lisa Ray, Sheetal Sheth, (more)
The war on terror has an unusual effect on one man in this independent drama. Hassan (Ayad Akhtar) was an engineering student from Pakistan who, while studying in Paris, was one of several Pakistani students arrested by intelligence officers on suspicion of participating in international terrorist activities. Hassan was innocent of any crimes, but it took him hours to convince the authorities of this. By the time Hassan was released, his attitude about the West had begun to change, and in time he began to identify with the terrorists with whom he had been unwittingly associated. Hassan then renounces his old life, joins a radical group, and illegally slips into the United States with the aim of staging a major terrorist action in New York City. Hassan comes to stay with an old friend, Sayeed (Firdous Bamji), and his family; Hassan has told Sayeed and his wife (Sarita Choudhury) that he's come to New York in search of a job, but in time Sayeed suspects his friend has a different agenda in mind. The War Within was screened as part of the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ayad Akhtar, Firdous Bamji, (more)
- 1999
Recalling Ang Lee's The Wedding Banquet (1993), writer/director Hunt Hoe debuted with this intercultural romantic drama. Vijay Chatterjee is a lonely widower and a successful restaurateur in Montreal. His thoroughly Westernized son Ashish works at his father's eatery but is more interested in the rock band that he started with his friend Michael. One day, Vijay meets the elegant, strikingly beautiful Maarya, who recently emigrated from Calcutta. He immediately hires her for his restaurant and introduces her to Ashish, thinking that she would make the perfect wife. Though Maarya soon realizes that the young Chatterjee has a closer relationship to Michael than she originally thought, she plays along, keeping the secret from Ashish's dad so that she can remain in the country. When the elder Chatterjee starts to pursue Maarya and her jealous knife-wielding brother arrives on the scene, this volatile situation turns downright explosive. Seducing Maarya was screened at the 1999 Montreal Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nandana Sen, Mohan Agashe, (more)
