Farooq Shaikh

Set in the backdrop of Indian politics, Youngistaan portrays the love story of Abhimanyu Kaul and Anwita Chauhan. Leading an ordinary life in Japan, Abhimanyu Kaul finds himself in the political limelight owing to the sudden death of his father, the Prime Minister of India. Youngistaan follows Abhimanyu`s struggle to balance his complicated love life along with political resistance from within his own party.

`Book a coffee`, is an offbeat library and coffee shop owned and run by Leela Krishnamoorthy, a middle aged widow who`s as interesting and free spirited as the caf she runs! Amaya, Leelas only child is a fire-brand 22 year-old writer; quick witted, confident and open-minded. They adore each other as only mother daughter can. Into this mix, Jayant Sinha, a 60 year old retired photographer is thrown. He`s passionate about people and the memories they create and is a great friend to Amaya Krishnamoorthy with whom he decides to co-author a coffee table book, titled, `Memoriesof The Busy Bazaar`. `The Busy Bazaar` as a title has its own story and adds a subtle yet intriguing undercurrent to the narrative woven around it. After having lost her husband 12 years ago, Leela refuses to wallow in the unfairness of life. It translates into the sort of person she becomes, the way her daughter is raised and the people who are attracted to her. And, along the way, Leela falls in love again. Given that Amaya is open minded and modern in the way she reacts to various things around her gives Leela reason to believe that this will not hinder relations with her daughter. However, Leela is mistaken... The film traces Amayas journey of anger, betrayal and disbelief to one where she understands the reasons behind everything that has happened between her and her mother. `Listen Amaya` is a modern, young, contemporary film about relationships, family dynamics, about preconceptions and about priorities.

A young woman with the help of a pornographer sets out to expose the truth behind her professor's accident, which she believes was staged to derange him and his ideologies.

Tanya (Esha Deol) comes to know that she is an adopted kid. And then she sets on to find her biological parents. The movie traces her journey to find her parents.

Two men from different backgrounds fall in love with the same woman, but one has a deadly secret after a traumatic accident. The wealthy Kapoor family consists of Madanlal, his wife, Geetarani, daughter, Roshni, and son, Gaurav. One day while Gaurav is returning home from the Oriental Bank of Commerce, he is attacked by a group of men led by Shiva, but a young man named Rohit Malhotra comes to his rescue. Gaurav hires Rohit in his firm, and both become fast and inseparable friends. Both unknowingly fall in love with the same woman, Shweta Sharma, but Gaurav finds out and decides to step away. Shweta and Rohit are in love and want to get married. Then Shiva attacks Rohit and throws him off a cliff. Believing him to be dead, a shocked and devastated Shweta loses her voice. The Kapoors find out that Gaurav loves Shweta and they approach her brother, Shekhar, and arrange their marriage. A reluctant Shweta gives her accent. It is then that she starts seeing Rohit, while Gaurav starts drifting away from her, and unknown to anyone, is hiding a deadly secret. The question remains is Shweta delusional, and what exactly is Gaurav's secret that he does not want anyone to know? —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Honest police officer Hanuman Prasad Singh lives like friend and family with a magician by the name of Ramesh Kumar. Hanuman's wife passes away after giving birth to male twin babies; upon finding out that Ramesh's wife, Devyani loses her child and is render barren Hanuman decides to give one of his sons to Ramesh. Unfortunately Ramesh passes away in the midst of performing a stunt while entertaining his audiences leaving the child to be brought up by Devyani who grows up to be Shyam; a magician like his foster father. While on the other hand inspector Hanuman is falsely implicated by the corrupt Assistant Commissioner of Police Sharma and Daku Shaitan Singh for stealing huge number of gold bars. When Hanuman attempt to clear his name by bringing the real culprits to justice he is killed by Shaitan Singh; when his son heard of his death he goes to a temple of Bhagwan Shri Hanuman and pleads to him only to receive a boon with immense strength to fight for people who are subjected to injustice at the hands of tyrants so much that years later he is regarded as Toofan by his village people. Toofan's motive in life involve to clear his father's name by retrieving the stolen gold and at the same time bring the real culprits to justice while Shyam's motive is to perform the stunt that killed his foster father. —gavin (racktoo@hotmail.com) Two brothers (Toofan and Shyam) are separated at birth by their father, a police inspector. One grows up to be a magician, and the other, the legendary Toofan, hero of the poor. His father was falsely accused of stealing millions in gold and Toofan is on a mission to clear his father's name from the police records. —annonymous Shyam Singh and Gopal Sharma are two close friends in Bombay city. While Gopal drives a auto-rickshaw, Shyam entertains people with his magic tricks. Shyam's path crosses with that of notorious bandit, Vikram Issa, who implicates Shyam in a robbery, leading to his arrest by the police. With Gopal's aid, Shyam vindicates himself and sets upon to apprehend Vikram, and then be on the run from his goons. When Gopal comes to his rescue, he meets with an accident, losing both his arms. Gopal, unable to drive anymore, returns home to his wife, Laxmi, dad, a doctor, and his son, Munna. Daku Zalim Singh and Shaitan Singh raid their village, brutally killing Laxmi and Gopal. When Shyam finds out, he goes to their village to avenge Gopal's death. Upon arrival there, he is mistaken for Toofan, a man who possesses super powers with the blessings of Bhagwan Shri Hanuman. Shyam is now in a quandary as to how he can live up to the reputation, skill and strength of Toofan, while he is only a mere magician, not a fighter. Will Shyam succeed in avenging Gopal's death? Who is Toofan, and why has he disappeared? —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Family drama that revolves around the lead pair, a married couple played by Rekha and Farooq Shaikh. It's about how the character Shalu overcomes all of the obstacles in her married life to win over the acceptance of her domineering mother-in-law Kamla. With a bull-whip and the lash of her tongue, Mrs Bhandari rules her household through intimidation and fear. She treats her husband and eldest son Suraj like imbeciles and her adopted daughter like a doormat. Only her youngest son receives her approval. Suraj goes missing for a few days and returns with a secret. Soon, a spirited girl from the country arrives unexpectedly. Mrs Bhandari's reign of terror is about to be challenged and a no-holds-barred battle commences. —van Goethem Soft-spoken, submissive, yet romantically inclined Suraj Bhandari meets village belle Shalu, his very opposite; they fall in love and get married. When he returns home to his oppressively dominating mother Kamla, who wants him to wed Poonawala's daughter, he meekly agrees. Just when the arrangements are being finalized, Shalu shows up, and he admits that he did marry her. Shalu settles into the household that consists of Kamla, her husband Kailash, their younger son Vicky, and their adopted daughter Aarti, whom they took in after she was orphaned. Shalu soon finds out that Kamla has no room for her and wants to get rid of her for good by hook or by crook. Soon she is embroiled in household politics and accused of stealing jewelry and cash; she denies it but evidence proves otherwise, and she must leave or else be arrested. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Vijay and Nupur start liking each other after a chance meeting at a bus stop. Suresh (Sidey) is Vijay's boss' son and wants to marry Nupur but ends up liking Nupur's maid, Imarti. Sidey's father is under the influence of a pot-smoking Swami who has a terrible secret hidden from everyone.

Rajaram, a simple clerk, is secretly in love with his neighbour Sandhya but his smooth-talking friend Bashu woos Sandhya before he can confess his love.

Najma and Akhtar are in love but need money to get married and start a life. Shakir Khan, a man from the Gulf, promises to help them but only if they can find him a young bride.

Avinash works at his friend`s publishing house but does not believe in chasing riches. But when his wife gets pregnant, the financial crunches make him drift away from his values.

Amiran is sold to a brothel by a corrupt cop after her father testifies against him. Years later, she grows up to become an accomplished poetess and the renowned courtesan, Umrao Jaan.

Siddharth (Farooq Shaikh), Omi (Rakesh Bedi) and Jai (Ravi Baswani) are close friends and room mates who are studying at Delhi University. Siddharth has completed M.A in Economics and is preparing for his PhD. Unlike Siddharth who`s very studious, Omi and Jai are busy in chasing girls, watching movies or dramas. One day Omi and Jai see a girl (Neha) who is new to their neighborhood and try to impress her, they give up after getting embarrassed. After some days, Neha (Deepti Naval) shows up as Chamko washing powder salesgirl to their flat, upon seeing her, Jai and Omi hurriedly hide. Siddharth sees Neha for the first time and a love story begins but when his two friends find out, they decide to put an end to their relationship as a revenge to the embarrassment inflicted upon them by Neha.

The film is set in 1856 on the eve of the Indian rebellion of 1857. The British are about to annex the Indian State of Awadh (also spelled Oudh). The daily life of two wealthy men who are devoted to chess is presented against the background of scheming officials of the British East India Company, the history of its relations with the Indian ruler of Awadh, and the ruler's devotion both to his religious practice and the pursuit of pleasure. the Indian princely state of Awadh (whose capital is Lucknow) and its Nawab, Wajid Ali Shah (Amjad Khan). He lives with the Queen (Veena), Mother of Wajid Ali Shah. Awadh is rich and prosperous. The population is satisfied and have a large disposable income. Wajid Ali is a languid artist and poet (Dresses up like Krishna, composes his own songs, praising himself, and has 400 concubines and 29 Muta (enjoyment wives)), no longer in command of events and unable to effectively oppose the British demand for his throne. Wajid was not interested in ruling his kingdom but loved his crown none-the-less. Lord Dalhousie had his eyes on the Kingdom of Awadh and wanted to swallow it within the British empire. He also already swallowed Punjab, Burma, Nagpur, Satara and Jhansi. Historically Awadh's ruler Shuja-Ud-Daulah allowed the Brits in for trading. Eventually the Brits went to war and Awadh lost. But Brits allowed Shuja-Ud-Daulah to keep his crown for a penalty of Rs 50 MM and a promise to fund Brit wars, as and when needed. General James Outram (Richard Attenborough) is plotting against Wajid at the behest of Dalhousie. The role of Captain Weston (Tom Alter), Outram's aide De camp, so British in his ways, but in love with Urdu poetry, is also worth noting. Outram declares Wajid to be an incompetent ruler and gets Weston to support him by promising a plum position post the takeover. Parallel to this wider drama is the personal (and humorous) tale of two rich, indolent noblemen of this kingdom, Mirza Sajjad Ali (Sanjeev Kumar) and Mir Roshan Ali (Saeed Jaffrey). Inseparable friends, the two nobles are passionately obsessed with the game of Shatranj (chess). Munshi Nandlal (David Abraham) reaches out to both nobles and tells them that a British takeover of Awadh is imminent. Brits are bringing railways and wireless to India to speed up transportation and establish control over all of India. Mirza and Mir think this is only another ploy for the Brits to demand more money from the King. Both effectively neglect their wives (Khurshid (Shabana Azmi), Mirza's wife & Nafisa (Farida Jalal), Mir's wife). Khurshid is angry that Mirza won't spend time with her even though he is at home. She also curses Mir, that his wife is having an affair and yet he spends all of his time with Mirza. Khurshid wants to have sex with Mirza and calls his away from his game with Mir. But Mirza can only think about his unfinished game and goes back to Mir, after failing to perform in bed with Khurshid. She thinks that Mirza doesn't love her. In retaliation Khurshid steals Mirza's chess pieces. Hirya (Leela Mishra), Khurshid's maid helps her in this. Meanwhile on 31st Jan 1986, Dalhousie makes his moves and issues orders for the takeover of Awadh, from Calcutta. Outram delivers the orders to Prime Minister "Madar-Ud-Daula" (Victor Banerjee). The orders are justified by the "misrule" of Awadh by the King and include taking Wajid's title away from him. The orders are backed by the British armies at Cawnpore, who are straining at the least to be let lose against Awadh. Meanwhile Mir and Mirza are dying to play chess and decide to borrow pieces from their lawyer Abbajani (Bhudo Advani). But when they get to his house, they realize he is on his death bed, and quietly make their exit. It is Friday and the market is closed. PM delivers the news of the takeover to Wajid. The nobles decide to play chess with condiments and vegetables as their pieces, much to the disappointment of Khurshid. She throws the pieces back at Mirza. Mirza decides to play at Mir's going forward. Now Wajid is distraught at losing his titles and laments that he got rid of his formidable army at the insistence of the Brit officials a few years ago. Wajid contemplates his position (The Brits have an earlier treaty with Awadh in which they explicitly agree to let the King remain on the throne) and refuses to vacate the throne. The Brits, including Outram, know of the treaty and feel Wajid is entitled to challenge this forced abdication of the throne. Outram knows that a 100,000 pounds a month is generous compensation, but Wajid may decide to fight the abdication. Wajid has 5 days to respond and Outram is worried that there has been no response yet. Outram decides to meet the Queen mother. Meanwhile Mir's wife Nafisa is worried that Mir is playing chess with Mirza at home. Her lover is Aqueel (Farooq Sheikh). Mir catches them red-handed when he enters Nafisa's room, but they are able to convince him that Aqueel is hiding from the King's army, as they are forcibly taking youth to fight against the British. Queen mother refuses the compensation and demands justice for Wajid. She says she will advise Wajid to fight for his throne. The 2 nobles fail to fight the takeover of their kingdom by the East India Company. Instead, they escape their harangued wives and responsibilities, fleeing from Lucknow to play chess in a tiny village untouched by greater events. they are trying to find an abandoned mosque, where they can play in peace, but can't find it. They are invited to rest at the house of poor farmer. Ray's basic theme in the film is the message that the self-centered nature, detachment and cowardice of India's ruling classes catalyzed the annexation of Awadh by a handful of British officials. Wajid meanwhile agrees to meet Outram at 8 am the following morning. Outram presses Wajid to sign the new treaty. Wajid is willing to give up his crown, but refuses to sign the new treaty, which he feels is unjust. Meanwhile the chess match rages on and Mirza is losing for a change. He blames the mosquitoes for distracting him. Mirza then dawns on Mir that Nafisa is cheating on him, to throw him off his game. In the last scene, after which Mir shoots at Mirza and complains out loud "(If you die) I won't have a partner to play chess with", Mirza responds to him "but you have one in front of you!" (thus, making him understand that he forgives him). He finally concludes that "after nightfall, we will go back home. We both need darkness to hide our faces."