Anjan Srivastava Movies

Shimit Amin's Bollywood sports drama Chak De India stars Shah Rukh Khan as a coach for a girl's hockey team. He wants nothing more than to do his country proud by having the team be successful. One of the players, Vidya (Vidya Malvade), must convince her stern parents that she should play on the squad. Eventually the team travels to Australia in order to contend for the World Cup. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Written and directed by Raj Nidimoru, this romantic comedy follows the love lives of several Indians who have immigrated to America. Flavors centers around the cross-cultural wedding between American WASP Jenni (Jicky Schnee) and Rad (Anupam Mittal), whose Indian parents (longtime Bollywood regulars Anjan Srivastava and Bharati Achreker) are forced to negotiate a middle ground between traditional Indian culture and the culture shock induced by their blonde-haired future daughter-in-law. Meanwhile, immigrant housewife Sangita (Sireesha Katragadda) is given a reprieve from her lonely existence when her recently laid-off husband spends his days at home with her. Rounding out the film are Kartik (Reef Karim) and Racha (Pooja Kumar), a couple whose lives on opposite sides of the country have left them dependent on electronic means of communication. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

The unjust discrimination that comes with the caste system in rural India provides the basis of this socially conscious drama that centers on the relationship between a cruel, exploitative landowner and his workers who belong to a caste of pariahs. Singh is the lord of his estate. His favorite pastime is big-game hunting, but when his drinking affects his coordination, Singh must hire a shikari (a sharpshooter) to make the kills for him. He pays Bharosa well and gives him a hut in the gangato (the name of the untouchable caste) colony. There, the young hunter finds himself surrounded by discontented workers planning an uprising. Their leader is a cynical young woman, Bijari. At first Bharosa refuses to join them, but after he successfully hunts for the master a few times and still finds himself treated like dirt, he begins to feel great resentment about the humiliation inherent in being a gangato. Things come to a head when Singh, who lusts after Bijari, has her kidnapped. Unfortunately, his henchman did not count on her vigorous resistance, nor did they count on Bharosa who joins in to protect her. Later Singh gets his revenge on the young man by beating him up and ruining his shooting arm. When Singh learns that all his workers are preparing to abandon his land, he leads his gang to the village and plans to burn it. Unfortunately for him, he is met by the furious Bharosa. Violence ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Mississippi Masala is a tale of how prejudice makes victims and instigators of us all. In 1972, Indian Jay (Roshan Seth), a resident of Uganda, is forced by the bigoted Amin regime to take his family and flee the country. He vows to hate and distrust all blacks--at least until he is able to reclaim the real estate stolen from him by the Ugandan government. Flash-forward to 1990: Jay and his family have settled in Mississippi. Seth's daughter Mina (Sarit Choudhury) makes the acquaintance of African-American Demetrius (Denzel Washington), the prosperous manager of a carpet-cleaning business. At first attracted to Mina because he is fascinated by her African background, Demetrius slowly falls in love with her. The situation causes Jay to exercise the same racial prejudice by which he was himself victimized. Ironically, Demetrius behaves just as foolishly, blaming Jay's ethnic chauvinism for a drop in his business. Both Jay and Demetrius must learn to bury their pasts and their prejudices to go on with their lives. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi