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When in doubt, do nothing.....Put on your thinking cap...
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Heat And Dust (1983)
I love watching films with an Indian setting made by British directors.They somehow make India look more beautiful , much more romantic and exotic and yet at the same time they are very realistic in their approach.
There have been many such films made on the British experience in India, and most of these films have tried to highlight some aspect of the cultural contrast between the East and the West. There were films like ' Jewel in the Crown ', 'A passage to India' and 'Heat and Dust... 'Heat and Dust' is based on the novel written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, which won a Booker's Prize in 1975. The screenplay for the film was also written by the writer, and she has done a tremendous job with the film script.
Heat and Dust (1983) is a Merchant Ivory productions Award winning film.Directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant, this is one of their many films on colonial India.They had earlier made 'Householder' and 'Shakespeare wallah' , both of which starred the Indian Actor Shashi Kapoor in the lead role. This film again has Shashi Kapoor in the lead. . The story of the film ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Heat and Dust is the story of two English women living fifty years apart. Olivia (Greata
Scacchi) going through a troubled marriage with an English government official Douglas Rivers (Christopher Cazinove) assigned to India in the 1920s. The unnamed narrator of the story is Anne Olivia's Grand niece ( Julie Christie) who, intrigued by family rumors and gossips about Olivia, travels to India seeking answers to Olivia's mysterious life in India..
Olivia bored by the English social circle, and disturbed by her troubled marriage, meets a Nawab ( Shashi Kapoor) from a place called Kathm a minor princely state , he being a womaniser of questionable character, who hates the Britishers and the British Rule, and, yet is unable to resist the charms of the lovely Olivia. She falls in love with him and travels frequently with him to his palace in Kathm , and their affair gives rise to the predictable gossip and Olivia has to face the consequences...But there were questions that remained unanswered as to, did she leave her husband for the Nawab? or were there other reasons? And more importantly What happened to her afterwards? She had completely disappeared from the British Social circles and her Husband was unaware of her whereabouts.. Fifty years later, Ann Comes to India to investigate her Grand aunt's past. She goes around with the help and in the company of Inder lal ( Zakir Hussain) and she finds herself in similar situations as her aunt had been...The similarities and the contrasts in the two situations makes for an interesting movie..
My views about the film ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The film is set in two distinct eras, the colonial India of the Nineteen twenties, during the time of the British Raj, and the more recent independent India of the early nineteen eighties, where India is firmly finding its own cultural identity trying to shake off its colonial past !. It is a long film at 3 hours plus, since a lot of details get covered. It explores the Anglo Indian fascination and romance that had been part of India during the British Rule.
In the film , we witness India's past through Olivia's letters and journals and the narrator's imagination. For Olivia, , India was like another world altogether, another reality, far removed from the day-to-day existence of the common people. In contrast, we see Ann being more in grip with the realities of India , as she sublets a room and shares a courtyard with an Indian family and learning about their life and their ways with ease!
The film shows us both pre- and post-independent India, the similarities and the differences of India in each period, and the impact it has on each of the women. It is beautifully shot in locations ranging from Varanasi to the Himalayas, Shimla and the dusty streets of the cities like Varanasi and the little towns nestling in the foothills of the mountains... Acting wise Shashi Kapoor as the Nawab is his usual charming self. He was a great favorite with the English producers when they made a film on India. But it is the beautiful Greta Scachchi and her story of romance that stays in the minds of the viewers. Julie Christie is perfect in a contrasting role to that of Olivia, a free thinking independent modern day woman, bent on knowing the truth about her ancestor. Julie Christie is a tremendous actress and she blends into this story very well..
The sets are beautiful, very Indian with the use of rich wooden carved furniture , and rich tapestry in bright silk and cotton when they show the past amidst the royalty and the colonial times . There are rich costumes made of Indian silks and Georgettes with rich embroidery in lovely earthy shades of peach, orange , leaf green , rust, peacock blue and the like - this itself is a treat to watch. It is a film that most people can identify with , as it is a period film that is shot in two different times ...the direction is superb, where the story bounces back and forth- the transformation very effectively done and shown. I personally love watching Merchant -Ivory films and this was definitely a film that was worth a watch. It does not disappoint the viewers ..
Details of the film and DVD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Number of discs : 1 Run time : 189 minutes Actors: Julie Christie, Greta Scacchi, Shashi Kapoor, Susan Fleetwood, Christopher Cazenove Directors: James Ivory Producer: Ismail Merchant Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo) Subtitles: English Screenplay: Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, based on her novel Photography: Walter Lassally Music/Music director: Richard Robbins Costumes: Barbara Lane Urdu dialogue: Saeed Jaffrey Hindi dialogue: Harish Khare
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Shashi Kapoor
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
The passion violence mystery and beauty of India are rapturously evoked in Merchant ... more
Ivory Productions' acclaimed Heat And Dust based on the novel by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala the Oscar winning screenwriter and novelist. Blending east with west and mov...
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Feb 2nd, 2009
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