Indian Sub-con.
Agantuk/1991/Bengali
FiC Rating 5/5
Dir: Satyajit Ray
Why FiC recommends?
1. Satyajit Ray’s oeuvre of his four decades forms a complete circle with this film drafting a perfect epilogue.
2. Web of skeptisism, caution spreads up when the family receives the letter from a far and almost forgotten uncle about his arrival to their house for few days stay, but how things change as everyone spend good time with him forms the story.
3. It has some very interesting debates and discussions that lights up the thoughts and mirrors (mock?) the current human settings.
Piravi/1989/Malayalam
FiC Rating 5/5
Dir: Shaji N. Karun
Why FiC recommends?
1) A melancholic story that lay a ladder into the mind of aged father who is in midst of his dolour and longingness of his demised son and how he gradually settles the terms with the reality or reality becomes just as far as his son? forms the story.
2) Meanwhile also narrates the story of a sister who holds the truth of her brother and has no heart to express same to her father.
3) Definetly to be watched for Premji and Archana’s portrayal of father and daughter and the way the movie bulids an atmosphere of desolation.
Shatranj Ke Khilari /1977/Hindi & Urdu
FiC Rating 5/5
Dir: Satyajit Ray
Why FiC recommends?
1) Ray’s first Hindi language movie that tells the story of two wealthy men immersed in the play of chess that they become numb and heedless about the happenning in their surrounding.
2) Undoubtedly a timeless classic for Ray’s formidable deftness for the pick of subject which remains relevant in any timeline its watched.
3) This film credits some big names in performance space like Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi, Amjad Khan meets the right chord with the viewer.
Aparajito/1956/Bengali
FiC Rating 5/5
Dir: Satyajit Ray
Why FiC recommends?
1) Second instalment from Ray’s Apu trilogy, this is the continuation of Apu’s saga from where Pather Panchali ends, rightly could be called as India’s best coming of age narrative.
2) The way it penetrates the psyche of an adolescent and slowly unsnarls the vulnerability, seek for stability and identity through the eyes of Apu is the journey to experience.
3) Undoubtedly one of the best work from the Master who is known for his prestigious adroitness in bringing ordinary life and people onscreen.
4) Music by Ravi Shankar
Ganashatru/1989/Bengali
FiC Rating 5/5
Dir: Satyajit Ray
Why FiC recommends?
1) When Ray faced with harsh criticism for his work ‘Devi’ he answered the public outcry through Indian adaptation of “An Enemy of the People”
2) Brilliant in its depiction of the phrase “Religion is an opium of the people”
3) This piece of art paired up with some brilliant performance by Soumitra Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee and Mamata Shankar makes an exemplary watch.
Nayak /1966/Bengali
FiC Rating 5/5
Dir: Satyajit Ray
Why FiC recommends?
1) One of the original screenplay written by Ray himself narrating the snippet from the life of a person who is an actor by profession.
2) Very effortlessley but delicately divulges the layer of an actor’s potrait till the point where everything is laid bare.
3) Uttam Kumar and Sharmila Tagore
Kraurya/1995/Kannada
FiC Rating: 4/5
Dir: Girish Kasaravalli
Why FiC recommends?
1) An old woman indulged in her orthodox routine with a knack for storytelling from a small village feels left out in an Urban atmoshphere.
2) Though the film title literally means ” Violence ” in English, it does not explicitly show any kind of brutality. All the violence is internal.
Dweepa/2002/Kannada
FiC Rating: 5/5
Dir: Girish Kasaravalli
Setting: Rural
Why FiC recommends?
1) Backed by a stunning performance by graceful Soundarya, the film effectively brings out the conflict between the faith and pragmatism.
2) The film is a powerful adaptation of Na Dsouza’s Novel by the same name.
Ghatashraddha/1977/Kannada
FiC Rating: 5/5
Dir: Girish Kasaravalli
Setting: Rural
Why FiC recommends?
1) Based on eminent Kannada writer U R Ananthmurthy’s Short Story by the same name, the film deals with the ostracism of a young woman who transgresses the sexual system of a conventional Brahminical life.
2) The film moves with a perspective of a young protagonist at his puberty under the mean clutches of a forced faith, exposed to self-doubt.
Jalsaghar ( The Music Room)/1958/Bengali
FiC Rating: 5/5
Dir: Satyajit Ray
Why FiC recommends?
1) This is a film about a fallen aristocrat whose belief system constantly gets disrupted in a changing socialist India.
2) The film is an Ode to Indian Classical Music and consists of memorable performances by some of India’s greatest musicians.
Pather Panchali/1955/Bengali
FiC Rating: 5/5
Dir: Satyajit Ray Setting: Rural
Why FiC recommends?
1) A unique Indian footstep on the world of Cinema, subtly documenting common and raw human intricacies.
2) It brings out a family with adorable characters and how the young protagonist Apu’s sense of life evolves over a period of time.
Naayi Neralu/2006/Kannada
FiC Rating: 4/5
Dir: Girish Kasaravalli
Why FiC recommends?
1) Not all novel-based films do justice to the original work. But Kannada director Girish Kasaravalli has a track record of giving some of the greatest film adaptations of novels. This one is no exclusion. (It is a popular work by SL Bhyrappa)
2) Eventhough the central theme is ‘reincarnation’, what makes the film thoroughly engaging is the chain of incidents around the same.
3) Right from the beginning the film grabs the audience into its own world, thanks to the cast for their realistic and captivating performance.
Charulata/1964/Bengali
FiC Rating: 4.5/5
Dir: Satyajit Ray
Why FiC recommends?
1) It is a delicate tale of marriage complacency which primarily deals with the loneliness and the umpteen desires of a rich housewife, Charulata.
2) It is based on Rabindranath Tagore’s Novel, Nastanirh. It is one of the rare pieces of cinema which tries to explore the ‘female
-gaze’ on the society independently.
Mahanagar (The Big City)/1963/Bengali
FiC Rating: 5/5
Dir: Satyajit Ray
Setting: Urban
Why FiC recommends?
1) Director Satyajit Ray, explores how a changing Calcutta of the mid 1950s imposes itself upon the comfortable routines of an orthodox family.
2) This humanist film is backed by an extremely adorable yet bold performance by Madhabi Mukherjee.
Honeygiver Among The Dogs/2016/Bhutan
FiC Rating 3.5/5
Dir: Dechen Roder
Why FiC Recommends?
1) Honeygiver Among The Dogs embraces the most obvious genre tropes of a film noir but ends up welding a surprising new layer of spirituality into it, the roots of which are deep seated in the Buddhist mysticism.
2) This visually arresting debut is fueled by corruption and authoritarian moral turpitude but a Zen like poise is written all over it that stems out of Bhutan’s mythical sensibilities
3) The jaw dropping cinematography with a strikingly gorgeous visual palette resonates with the lavish landscape tableaux of ‘The Land of Happiness’.
4:30/2005/ Mandarin
FiC Rating: 3.5/5
Dir: Royston Tan
Setting: Urban
Why FiC recommends?
1) This is essential for those art films lovers and for the fans of Royston Tan it’s a much-watch.
2) 4:30 is an unexpectedly calm dreamlike film for its aesthetic that details the unlikely friendship / relationship between Zhang Xiao Wu, an eleven year old Chinese Boy, and his tenant Jung, a thirty-something Korean man.
Vara: A Blessing/2013/English
FiC Rating: 4/5
Dir: Khyentse Norbu
Setting: Spiritual, rural
Why FiC recommends?
1) A meta-physical pilgrimage that celebrates the florescence of spiritual and intellectual growth through art and chores, more over portrays the conflict between spiritual germination and pre-existing social toxicity.
2) The visual extravaganza sustains a transcendental delicacy where ill-fated romance, religion and art contrives the pillars of spiritual wisdom.