Gift SubscriptionsIrfan Khan
Angelina Jolie stars as Mariane Pearl, wife of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, in director Michael Winterbottom's adaptation of Mariane's memoir recounting the abduction and murder of her husband (played in the film by Dan Futterman) by Pakistani militants. It was on January 23, 2002, that Mariane Pearl's life took a grim and unanticipated turn that no one could have seen coming. The South Asia Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Pearl, was in Pakistan with his pregnant wife, Mariane, when he set out to conduct one last interview for an upcoming article; the pair were due to fly back home to the U.S. shortly thereafter. By all accounts, it was the same type of interview he had conducted a hundred times before, and though the only concern that Daniel had voiced beforehand was that he might be a bit late for dinner, it would soon become obvious that something had gone horribly awry. Later, in an attempt to rise above the seething vengeance and cycle of violence that the post-9/11 world has fallen into and familiarize her newborn son with the father he will never know, Mariane penned A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Danny Pearl. The remarkable true story behind the murder that shook the entire world, Mariane's deeply personal novel is adapted for the screen by the BAFTA award-winning director of The Road to Guantanamo. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, (more)
Designed as actress Madhuri Dixit's cinematic comeback, director Anil Mehta's upbeat musical tells the story of a theater actress who embarks on the most important decade of her life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Madhuri Dixit, Konkona Sen Sharma, (more)
Directed by Eleti C. Sekhar, Aithe stars Irfan Khan as a mafia bigwig desperate to leave India. Hoping that leaving the country will deter the police, he concocts an elaborate plan to hijack a plane. For things to work out, however, he needs to find several intelligent men without criminal records to assist him. Help comes in the form of four poor but capable men who agree to help out, provided it will give them the means to feed their families. With Khan's future and his client's financial security on the line, there's more than passengers riding on this flight. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irfan Khan
Based loosely on Out of Sight, the Bollywood thriller Crimes concerns a female police officer named Prabha (Bipasha Basu) who has made it her goal to rid the force of corruption. One day, while attempting to apprehend a criminal named Aditya (Dino Morea), Prabha ends up in a life-threatening situation. When Aditya chooses to save her, that decision results in his arrest. He quietly serves his time in hopes of one day joining the woman he has grown to love. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
When college student Aniruddha (Jimmy Shergill) meets pretty co-ed Niharika (Hrishitaa Bhatt), they quickly become romantically involved. Unfortunately, their relationship can't escape the politics involved in sex and gang life. When Anirudh meets Ranvijay (Irfan Khan), a big man on campus prone to toting a gun, he believes he's merely helping his fellow student escape from a rival gang. It's not long into their friendship, however, that Anirudh realizes Ranvijay is just using him as a means to get to Niharika. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimmy Shergill, Hrishitaa Bhatt, (more)
- 2007
A compelling snapshot of the lives and loves of early-21st Century Dubai dwellers takes viewers on an emotional journey through the heart of the city in director Anurag Basu's earnest urban drama. Rahul (Sharman Joshi) is a call center executive who silently pines for his beautiful boss Neha, but the secret to Neha's fast success is the furtive romance she has been having with her own boss - an unhappily married professional named Ranjeet. Ranjeet has grown bored with his marriage to the smart and beautiful Shikha, and despite the fact that the couple has a six year-old son Ranjeet is willing to risk it all to shower Neha with lavish gifts and enticing opportunities. Back in school, Shikha was a better student than Ranjeet, but when the couple had a son she put her professional aspirations aside in order to care for the child. These days Shikha, too, has grown bored with her marriage, and soon falls into the arms of divorced artist Akash despite the pride she has taken in her vow to always remain faithful. In another part of town, Shikha's aunt Vaijanti bides her time in an old age home. When Vaijanti's childhood sweetheart Amol returns to India after forty years in exile to spend his remaining years with her, old love blossoms anew. Shikha's sister and Neha's roommate Shruti is a thirty-something radio producer named Shruti who has fallen hard for radio talent Wishy K. Though she has recently met marriage-minded Debu though a matrimonial-oriented website, she is bored by his traditional ways and soon enters into a heated affair with the charismatic Wishy K. As Rahul realizes the potential for profit and advancement in lending the key to his vacationing uncle's apartment to co-workers seeking to have discreet flings, Neha approaches Ranjeet about making a true commitment. Carelessly snubbed and insulted by her high-powered lover, Neha attempts suicide in Rahul's uncle's apartment. Later, when Rahul discovers Neha in the love nest and nurses her back to health, the pair begins to form a tenuous bond. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shiney Ahuja, Shilpa Shetty, (more)
- 2008
Some of the world's most-respected directors align forces to pay tribute to the city of the New York in this unconventional omnibus sister film to the previous year's Paris, je t'aime. Broken into short segments, each titled after a specific neighborhood, New York, I Love You is comprised of 12 films, most choosing to take a more down-to-earth approach to the stories of the countless lives lived in the city on a given day. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
In a time when India and Pakistan are being torn apart, true love still manages to take root despite the fear and intolerance that blights the troubled landscape. The year is 1947, and as India and Pakistan are split into two separate states the rivers run red with blood. Gian (Jimi Mistry) is a Sikh and former soldier who risks his life to rescue young Muslim Naseem (Kristin Kruek) from a rampaging mob. As this unlikely pair begins to realize their true feelings for one another, the bond between them helps to heal the tender wounds of war. But what chance does true love really have against the destructive force or religious zealotry? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jimi Mistry, Kristin Kreuk, (more)
- 2003
London-based actor Ashvin Kumar writes and directs the hour-long film Road to Ladakh, filmed on-location with an international crew in the Himalayan mountain region of India known as Ladakh. Koel Purie plays a high-strung model type who gets a flat tire. Irfan Khan plays the wandering stranger in a jeep. Both travelers are alone and in search of companionship, so they end up spending the night together. The original musical score was composed by Susmit Sen and performed by the group Indian Ocean. Road to Ladakh was shown at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival market. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irfan Khan, Koel Purie, (more)
- 2001
With huge dreams and very few personal belongings, naive prostitute Sultana (Sadiya Siddiqui) and her equally guileless pimp Khudabaksh (Jeetu Shastri) abandon their humdrum small town in favor of the hustle and bustle of Bombay. Upon their arrival, however, both find the city to be much more than they ever bargained for as they struggle to adapt to the high pace and enormous population. Furthermore, Sultana's business is quickly deteriorating as Khudabaksh also struggles to earn additional income. Slowly, Sultana begins to meet friends in the neighborhood -- but her attention begins to turn toward finding a black salwaar in order for her to properly observe the solemn Muslim holiday of Muharram. Without any reliable income, her chances of obtaining the ritually necessary garment are growing quite remote. Six years in the making, The Black Garment represents veteran Indian short film director Fareeda Mehta's feature-length directorial debut. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sadiya Siddiqui, Irfan Khan, (more)
Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited stars Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, and Adrien Brody as three brothers who, at the insistence of the oldest, take a train ride through India together in order to strengthen their bond. Even though the vacation goes wrong in ways they do not anticipate, the strangeness of their setting and some revealing honesty produces some surprising changes between them all. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, (more)
A couple coming to terms with living in a new culture discover their troubles are compounded by their son in this drama from filmmaker Mira Nair. Ashoke (Irfan Khan) and Ashima (Tabu) are a young couple who are brought together in an arranged marriage and soon leave Calcutta to seek their fortune in America. As the couple becomes accustomed to one another, they learn to deal with the coolness and superficiality of life in New York, even as they revel in the opportunities the city offers them. Before long, Ashima gives birth to a baby boy, and pressed to choose a name, they dub the infant Nikhil, though he soon picks up the nickname Gogol, after Ashoke's favorite author. By the time the child is old enough to attend school, he insists upon being called Gogol at all times, and he displays little interest in his Indian heritage. Several years on, Gogol has decided he wants to be called Nick (and is now played by Kal Penn) and has become a thoroughly Americanized teenager, openly rebelling against his parents, smoking marijuana in his room, and dating Maxine (Jacinda Barrett), a preppy blonde from a wealthy family. Ashoke and Ashima are uncertain about how to deal with their son's attempts to cut himself off from their culture, but Nick begins expressing some uncertainty himself when he meets Moushumi (Zuleikha Robinson), a beautiful girl who also comes from a family of Indian expatriates. The Namesake was adapted from the bestselling novel by Jhumpa Lahiri. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
A cold-blooded warrior strives to become a man of peace in this strikingly photographed drama from writer and director Asif Kapadia. Lafcadia (Irfan Khan) is a steel-nerved professional soldier who works as a lawman for the corrupt leader of a local political regime (Anupam Shyam). Lafcadia is valuable to the tyrant for his ability to kill without mercy, but when he's sent with his compatriots to massacre the people of a small village who've been delinquent in paying their taxes, Lafcadia is struck by a vision of a young girl standing on a mountain overlooking the carnage. The vision startles Lafcadia into a change of heart, and he pledges to lay down his weapon and never kill again. However, the tyrant isn't happy with Lafcadia's decision, and retaliates by putting his son (Puru Chhibber) under arrest and burning his home to the ground. Undaunted, Lafcadia sets out on a quest in the Himalayas to find the child from his vision, with the tyrant's ruthless enforcers on his trail. In time, Lafcadia is joined in his search by a fugitive (Noor Mani) on the run from a prison work gang. The Warrior was shot in two versions, one in the Hindi language and one in English. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irfan Khan, Puru Chibber, (more)
