Winner of 2 National Awards, Pancham Unmixed: Mujhe Chalte Jaana Hai, takes an incisive look into the legendary composer, RD Burman's reflective artistry and buoyant-but-also-lonely inner being. Featuring a host of close friends, colleagues and admirers, the film evokes awe, admiration and nostalgia the way most of his music does, till date.
Vidhu Vinod ChopraHimself
Against the backdrop of Partition, independent India’s first hockey team defeats England, their erstwhile coloniser, to win the Gold at the 1948 London Olympics. Six decades later, when Nandy Singh, a member of this iconic team suffers a stroke, his tenacious struggle to recover, inspires his daughter to retrace his journey. Using archival footage and interviews with teammates, she reveals lives shaped by the Gold, and by Partition that made them refugees. Revealed also is a friend in Pakistan never spoken of before. Her journey in search of him morphs into a quest for the lost ‘watan’ (homeland).
This portrayal of the rhythm of life and work in a gigantic textile factory in Gujarat, India, moves through the corridors and bowels of the enormously disorienting structure—taking the viewer on a journey of dehumanizing physical labor and intense hardship.
In a poetic hour and a half, director Mani Kaul looks at the ancient art of making pottery from a wide variety of perspectives.
The charismatic Snow Leopard is the least understood of all the big cats and one of the most challenging to film. Over a period of five years, veteran Indian wildlife filmmakers, Naresh and Rajesh Bedi endured extreme cold and the thin air of the Himalayas in their daunting quest to reveal the secret lives of these elusive predators, ultimately with great success.
At the age of 54, Binode Bihari Mukherjee, an accomplished painter, lost his sight following an unsuccessful cataract operation. He continued to create art despite his loss of sight. The documentary explores Binode Bihari’s inner eye that guides his fingers to create art.
Follows Shyam Rangeela, a stand-up comedian infamous for his Narendra Modi impersonation, and his daring pursuit of filing the general election nomination from the same constituency as the incumbent prime minister of India.
Each night the only border crossing between India and Pakistan on a 1000km stretch becomes the sight of an extraordinary event. Thousands of people gather to witness the ritual closing of the border, after which the masses get as close as possible to the gate to greet their former neighbors. This "festival" is therefore on the one hand a celebration of the partition, but on the other hand also the only connecting element. What do the terms separation, home and proximity mean to the people on both sides?
Documentary on the life of ghazal samrat Jagjit Singh, who changed the landscape of Indian Music.
Filmmaker Anand Patwardhan looks to history and psychology as he delves into the possible reasons behind the demolition of the Babri Mosque.
The film explores the campaign waged by the Hindu right-wing organisation Vishva Hindu Parishad to build a Ram temple at the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, as well as the communal violence that it triggered. A couple of months after Ram ke Naam was released, VHP activists demolished the Babri Masjid in 1992, provoking further violence.
Dalits, in the Indian caste system, belong to the lowest social sphere and are therefore subject to regular discrimination and violation of their basic human rights. Also referred as “untouchables,” this group was vindicated by B. R. Ambedkar, a Dalit who earned doctorate degrees abroad and fought for the emancipation of his people. In 1997 a statue honoring him was desecrated, unleashing the rage of the Dalit community, but instead of getting support by the authorities, ten persons were murdered. This documentary took 14 years to be made and it captures the music and poetry of this people, showing a tradition against superstition and religious bigotry that has strived since the times of Buddha.
A short film that sets up an opposition between functional forms of industrial age and decorative ones from Indian tradition.
In a cluttered news landscape dominated by men, emerges India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women. Armed with smartphones, Chief Reporter Meera and her journalists break traditions on the frontlines of India’s biggest issues and within the confines of their own homes, redefining what it means to be powerful.
When most people think about Australia, they picture massive sandy beaches, singlet-clad locals drinking beer, and kangaroos bounding through the dusty red outback. Saris, musical numbers, and masala are the furthest from anyone's mind - unless of course, you're one of the millions of Bollywood fans from around the world.
When a lockdown is announced in India, 22-year-old Mahesh finds himself stranded and decides to travel home on a rickety bicycle. He covers about 2,000 kilometers in seven days. It turns him into a national media hype.
Follows the final days of Chika Kapadia, given four months to live, who has chosen to end his life through physician-assisted suicide at Dignitas in Switzerland. The filmmakers, tasked with documenting Kapadia’s countdown to death, capture both his journey and their own emotional response.
“Special,” “Gifted,” “Different,”… Despite the vast inventory of words to describe children who are on the Autism Spectrum, we still understand so little about their worlds outside of the medical lens. In Our World follows 3 children in their day-to-day lives – swimming classes, horse-riding, music lessons, special moments with their parents and therapists – and so much more, converging into a narrative that spells hope. The documentary aims to reveal the intricacies of their world and perhaps pave the way for OUR world, and for both to coexist with empathy and kindness.
Krishnattam or Krishnanattam (Play of Krishna) is a temple ritualistic art performed at Guruvayur Temple (Guruvayur 680101, Trishshur District, Kerala) by a troupe owned by Guruvayur Devasvam. The performance of Krishnattam is based on Krishnagiti, a poetic text in Sanskrit containing verses and stanzas, written by the Zamorin King Manavedan in 1654. The story of Krishna, described in Bhagavata, Mahabharata and Harivamsha is presented in Krishnattam as songs, dance and acting in a sequence of eight plays (Avataram, Kaliyamardanam, Rasakrida, Kamsavadham, Svayamvaram, Banayuddham, Vividavadham and Svayamvaram) in eight days.
Based on the poetry of R. Raj Rao, Bomgay is a collection of six vignettes that depict the underground and complex nature of the gay identity in urban India. Part Genet, part Bollywood, this film combines acidic verse and insightful imagery to reveal the emerging gay community in the post-liberalized India of the 1990s.
A documentary exploring the "respectable" and "immoral" stereotypes of women in Indian society told from the point of view of 2 strip-tease dancers in a cabaret house in Bombay.