Sharmila Tagore Movies

Aspiring actress Aaliya and her lifelong love, Abhay, find their relationship put to the test when Aaliya's career ambitions become top priority, and Abhay begins to fear that their flame may be slowly flickering out. Aaliya and Abhay have been friends since childhood. They were in their teens when things turned romantic, but lately Aaliya has been itching to launch her career as an actress. Abhay, on the other hand, has few career prospects, though his love for Aaliya remains as strong as ever. When Aaliya announces that she has decided to study acting in Australia, Abhay agrees to put their relationship on hold for the time being as his heart silently shatters. Later, as Aaliya ascends to stardom, she realizes that success rings hollow without Abhay by her side, and together they decide that their love is still worth fighting for. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A grieving parent wants to clear the name of his son and see that the culprit gets his due in this drama from India. Vidhyadhar Patwardhan (Amitabh Bachchan) and his wife, Sumitra (Sharmila Tagore), are a pair of retirees in their sixties who often wish there was more excitement in their golden years, but are generally content with their lives. Vidhyadhar and Sumitra both dote on their son, Amar (John Abraham), who is in his early thirties, though his rowdy and impulsive nature often worries Sumitra. Amar has been living in England for several years, and when he returns for a visit, he has a surprise -- a fiancée (Anusha Dandekar). However, the happiness of his parents is short lived when Amar is killed when he happens upon a crime in progress on the street. Vidyadhar wants to see the men who killed his son brought to justice, but it soon becomes apparent this isn't going to be easy -- the defense attorney claims that Amar was a drug dealer and that his clients acted in self-defense, and his strategy is unexpectedly successful. Will Vidyadhar have to take the law into his own hands to avenge his son? ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This French-British documentary (in English and Bengali) traces the career of Indian actor Soumitra Chatterjee, who is best known in the West for his frequent work with director Satyajit Ray. Gaach (English title, The Tree) profiles the reminiscences of Chatterjee's fellow performers and other associates. Chatterjee's first major role was in Ray's landmark 1959 film The World of Apu. Shown at the 1997 Venice Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

A patriot whose family was tragically separated after India achieved independence from Britain moves into the slums with his criminal son, and is eventually reunited with his entire family at precisely the point when all hope seemed lost. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Filled with difficult plot twists, Daag tells the story of a young Indian couple, who experience an uncommon number of reverses and setbacks in the course of their lives. When the husband accidentally kills a man bent on ravishing his wife, or at least ruining her honor, he is carted off to jail. Before he can arrive safely in jail, he has an accident which leads everyone to believe he must be dead. The wife, now pregnant with their child, earns her living for some years as a schoolteacher until the administration all of a sudden decides that having the wife of a murderer teach their children is not a good idea. She is taken in by a friend, who has been married all this time to the first woman's theoretically dead husband -- who now lives under a new identity. Soon, even more things happen to this fateful couple. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Famed Indian film director Satyajit Ray made a number of films which addressed issues of social and economic inequality: Simbaddha is one of these. Nowhere is the gulf between rich and poor more poignantly on view than in Calcutta, the setting for this film. Chatterji is an ambitious and self-made young man. This movie tells the story of his rise to the directorship of the company he works for. His interactions with his nouveau riche peers are contrasted with the unnoticed struggles of the poor around them. One of the many ironies of the film is the way the nouveau riche class in Indian society has internalized snobberies inherited from the much-despised British. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Days and Nights in the Forest was initially released in India as Aranyer din Ratri. The loose-hinged plot concerns four bachelors who go on holiday in the forest. While enjoying a break from the hurlyburly of city life, each man undergoes profound character developments and transformations. Also figuring in the proceedings is a group of humble forest dwellers, who prove not to be the rubes and rustics whom the bachelors assume them to be. Filmmaker Sayajit Ray retains the intense humanism of his earlier works with a tighter grasp on characterization and technique. His editing is not as revolutionary as before, but this works in the film's favor. While most of the film is pleasant enough on surface, Ray's disillusionment with the state of affairs in Indian society of the 1970s suffuses every frame. Days and Nights in the Forest earned a best picture nomination at the 1970 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Aditi (Sharmila Tagore) is a pretty journalist who interviews the film star Arindam Mukherjee (Uttam Kumar Chatterjee) on a train trip to Delhi, and flashbacks are used to illustrate the main events in the actor's life. After she has completed the interview, Aditi tears up her notes and refuses to use the story that could change the public perception of the popular actor. Satyajit Ray directed and provided the screenplay and music for this feature that was shown at the 1966 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Four widows and a young woman befriend a writer on a train ride to Puri. The young woman has been jilted, and the writer is in a position to lend a sympathetic ear to her and the other four women. It is never clear how any of the travelers are able to afford the trip, and the characters all have their own unique aura of mystery. Scenes from the ancient temple at Konarak are also featured in this film written and directed by Sinha Tapan. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Originally released in India as Apur Sansar, The World of Apu was the last of Satyajit Ray's "Apu Trilogy." Pather Panchali (1955) covered Apu's early years in his native village, while Aparajito (1956) detailed his school years and the tragedy that temporarily brought him back home. Now Apu (Soumitra Chatterjee), having abandoned college due to lack of money, hopes to find success as a writer. He is sidetracked from this goal when he meets Aparna (Sharmila Tagore), whose impending wedding is canceled when the groom turns out to be mentally unstable. To save Aparna from a custom-dictated life of spinsterhood, Apu marries her himself. When she dies giving birth, the grieving Apu cannot bring himself to meet his son, and in fact deserts the boy for five years before learning how to gracefully accept his lot in life. Like the other entries in the trilogy, The World of Apu was based on Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhaya's semi-autobiographical novel Aparajito. In the manner typical of his earlier works, director Ray adopts a straightforward, realistic approach, avoiding any sort of attention-getting directorial techniques, the better to simply tell his story. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi