Shabana Azmi

Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani magnifies the power of love, embraces the complexities of relationships, and celebrates the beauty of both perfect and imperfect families.

Ethnically diverse adults and children share personal stories about illiteracy's impact on their lives. Explores how learning to read can break cycles of generational poverty. An immersive and vulnerable exploration of the epidemic of childhood illiteracy through a series of braided character driven stories. Filmed from the point of view of ethnically diverse adults and children who have never learned to read, the film is a forceful yet tender tale of how literacy can free children from the cycles of generational poverty.

This film is the brainchild of seven directors and brings to you ten different tales played by a huge star cast. A writer goes crazy when he finds a startling truth about the woman he is in love with. Five friends spin out stories within stories that confuse them. A highway symbolises the companionship between two friends. But its volatile turns change their lives radically. These are just some of the samples that you get to watch in this movie. Check out the theatres to see all the ten stories.

Loins of Punjab Presents are about seven strangers whose lives bump into each other during a singing contest in a small town of New Jersey. Amongst them are a pitiless humanitarian, a bhangra rapper, extremely protected sensation, a careless actress, a lovelorn businessman, industrialist yogi and last but not the least, a Loin King. What follows is a roller coaster ride into their world.

Loins of Punjab Presents are about seven strangers whose lives bump into each other during a singing contest in a small town of New Jersey. Amongst them are a pitiless humanitarian, a bhangra rapper, extremely protected sensation, a careless actress, a lovelorn businessman, industrialist yogi and last but not the least, a Loin King. What follows is a roller coaster ride into their world.

Three women in a Bihar village are sentenced to death by their menfolk. Their crime is that they dared to protest. Ketki (Madhuri Dixit), an educated young girl with dreams in her eyes, gets married into a family of upper class landlords, whose fortunes have been consumed by lethargy and extravagance. Her husband Vinay Singh (Ayub Khan) has no agricultural land left, does not have the capital to start a business, and fails to secure a job due to the governments policy of reservation for the backward castes. Ketki makes sacrifices to support him in his entrepreneurial endeavours. But fails to restrain him when, in desperation to get rich quick, he aligns with the wrong people. Contractor and power broker Tirpat (Mohan Joshi) and local politician Pandey (Harish Patel) make use of Vinay's innocence for their own profit. Vinay's degeneration is complete when he thrashes Ketki for objection to his misdeeds. Her upbringing, self-respect and righteousness make it difficult for her to bear this humiliation. She suffers. Chandravati (Shabana Azmi) is the wife of Vinay's elder brother Abhay Singh (Mohan Agashe). Greedy for the wealth and political clout of the local temple, Abhay Singh masterminds the murder of the temple head and gets himself ordained as his successor. This entails renouncing the world and deserting his wife, which he cruelly does, citing her childlessness. The truth is that Chandravati has shielded her husband's impotence for seventeen years and now suddenly finds herself in the ignominious position of an abandoned woman. The solace offered by a lower caste well wisher of the family Rambaran (Om Puri) causes unexpected problems for her. She suffers. Kanti (Shilpa Shirodkar), a low-caste labourer is exploited by the contractor to whom her husband owed money Burdened with looking after an ailing mother, while her husband is away to earn money to repay the debt, she lives in the hope that he will return, She suffers. Suffering comes naturally to women here. Regardless of caste and class, their role in the family and society is predetermined and they must never cross these limits. Several social, moral and mythological images have been created to indoctrinate women with the virtue of sacrifice and submissiveness. They must conform to these role models. However, circumstances force the women in Mrityudand to break these rules and make their own. This cannot be tolerated as the Society finds its maleness threatened, and the men, putting aside their own bloodthirsty conflicts, unite to teach the women a lesson. The three women are branded evil and sentenced to death. But when the men come to carry out the Death Sentence, there is a silent but massive rebellion which they are not prepared for.

After years of painstaking research at the cost of his domestic pleasure, Dr. Dipankar Roy discovers a vaccine for leprosy. The news is flashed over television and overnight, an insignificant junior doctor receives international recognition. Professional jealousy and abuse of power threaten Dr. Roy, even as the Secretary of Health reprimands him for breaking the news to the press. He is asked to report to the Director of Health. Professional colleagues Dr. Arijit Sen and Dr. Ramananda invite him to a lecture but it is merely a pretence to humiliate him. Dr. Roy suffers a mild heart attack but he refuses to go to the hospital. His wife and few others like Dr. Kundu stand by Dr. Roy, but the harassment continues; a letter from an American foundation is suppressed and Dr. Roy transferred to a remote village. The last straw is two American doctors receiving credit for discovering the same vaccine. Dr. Roy is shattered. —Rajesh Das The movie is one of the finest work of veteran Tapan Sinha. It revolves around the life of Dr. Dipankar Roy who has engrossed himself in researching a cure of a dreaded diseases. During the course, he has already ruined his relationship with his wife due his ignorance. After years of hard work, when he finds a breakthrough in his research, his work is publicized but it attains negative reviews and skepticism from noted doctors, bureaucrats and his peers. It leads to immense dissatisfaction and is driven to a point of insanity due to the exasperating outlook of people around him. Will the work done by the doctor ever attain any recognition or will he be flushed in the vortex of democracy? These questions are answered by the movie with some exemplary performances by Pankaj Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Anil Chatterjee and budding Irrfan Khan. —Utkarsh Srivastava

A retired professor suddenly goes missing. Time passes by, life goes on, but his children and wife keep on looking back, trying to find their way through emotional torrents of the past and the present.

Dacoit Sunder Singh kills a brave police officer, Shefali's husband. To avenge his death, Shefali secretly hires two mercenaries. In trying to combat bandit Raja Sundar Singh an honest police officer Deepak is mercilessly gunned down on duty leaving his sister Seema and young son to mourn his death. Seema then decides to take revenge by writing anonymous letters to blackmail two outlaws Yadvinder Singh and Tinku into going to the target village of Sundar Singh. They both poses themselves as plain clothes police officers in the village and begins to manually prepare the villagers to combat Sundar Singh and his gang. —gavin (racktoo@hotmail.com)

Joginder, an honest police commissioner, is instrumental in arresting Alexander, a dreaded gangster. Alexander is granted bail by the court and as revenge, he molests Joginder's daughter Jyoti. Time begets History - it may be at the war front, at a nation or of a household. Joginder Singh was a dedicated Police Officer of Commissioner rank. He had his wife, two sons Vijay and Rakesh and daughter Jyoti. One day when Rakesh arrested Kalicharan, henchman of Alexander the kingpin of the underworld, Joginder Singh was slightly disturbed. He was even more disturbed when he came to know of the release of Kalicharan on account of his sons mercy appeal. As if this was not enough, Alexander himself was trapped by Police and the anger and ill will against Joginder Singh Commissioner of Police reached its climax. Alexander got himself free on bail and to take revenge from Joginder Singh, abducted his daughter Jyoti and molested her. When Joginder Singh was informed by Kalicharan's son about the tragedy, he rushed and killed a man present on the scene of tragedy thinking him to be responsible for the act. —gavin@sunny_deol2009@yahoo.com

Indrani, a daughter of a multimillionaire Seth Ratanlal, falls in love with an ordinary but honest Dinesh and vows to marry him. Dishonest and cunning servant Mohanlal gets hurt to know this and starts bittering the cars of Seth Ratanlal against Indrani. Indrani confessing all this, gives a shocking news that she is going to be a mother of Dinesh's child. Mohanlal gets beaten by Dinesh's hired gangsters who take him underground and tell Seth Ratanlal that Dinesh absconded to London by giving false promise of marriage to Indrani.To get rid of defaming, Seth Ratanlal gives the charge of his office and business to Mohanlal, and leaves the city with his daughter for few days.Honest accountant Jagdish seeing Mohanlal in the chair of owner Seth Ratan Lal, exposes his true figure of dishonesty and unfaithfulness. This insult hurts Mohanlal very much and as a revenge he causes Jagdish to be in a truck accident. Rajesh, son of Jagdish, takes a vow of revenge for the one who made his father lame. After returning, Seth Ratan Lal comes to know that cunning Mohanlal has captured all his business. Circumstances compel Indrani to marry Mohanlal. Mohanlal's son Ranjeet, who is very helpful to the poor and very much aloof from the character of his father, gets released union leader Bajrangee from the jail. Sunita with a view to take revenge works as a private secretary to Mohanlal. —old is gold

This is Goutam Ghose's speculative commentary on poverty and exploitation in rural Bihar, based on Bengali story Paathi.

Gangva heads a group of people in a forest by robbing the rich and distributing the wealth to the poor. He earns few enemies and a police officer is on a chase to hunt Gangva down. Can Gangva manage to get rid of his foes ? Gangvaa (Rajnikant) stays with his parents and brother in a village. His father works for Thakur Mahendra Singh (Amrish Puri). While digging for a well his father and other men get treasure. His father tells Thakur to give it to the government but Thakur doesn't listen. Gangvaa's father complains in police but Thakur comes out from jail with the help of a lawyer. He asks his Munim to kill Gangvaa's parents. When Gangvaa comes to know about his parents death he takes revenge and kills Thakur Mahendra Singh. Then Gangvaa, his brother Bhima and his friends become dakus.

The sanctity of a family is tested when DK brings home his illegitimate son from a fling. His devastated wife grapples to accept reality as the boy begins to soften her heart.

Rukmini Bai has been running a brothel for years and business is thriving. But when one of the girls has an illicit affair, the whole establishment is threatened.

Avtaar Krishen lives a poor lifestyle with his wife, Radha, and two sons, Ramesh and Chander. He works in a factory and toils hard so that his sons can get the necessary education, and live a better lifestyle. He gets injured and crippled while working, but is compensated adequately by his employer, Bawaji. Years later his sons have grown up. While Ramesh has married Sudha and works with a bank; Chander is wooing Renu, the only daughter of wealthy Seth Laxminarayan. When Avtaar and Radha wish to go on a tirathyatra (pilgrimage), they ask Ramesh to book tickets for them, but he tells them that he has no money. When Radha gets sick, their servant, Sewak, enters Sudha's room to get some money for her treatment, as a result Radha does get treatment, but Sudha blames them for stealing her money. Avtaar asks Ramesh and his wife to get out, only to find out that the house is now in Sudha's name. AVtaar, Radha and Sewak move out and live in a shanty hut. Their hopes are with Chander, who does well in his exams, decides to marry Renu, and moves out without financially assisting his parents. Now Avtaar and Radha are elderly and dependent on Sewak, and the question remains will they resign themselves to this existence, if not, what possibly can a crippled older male accomplish, especially at this time in his life? —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

For years, an aging Rukmini Bai (Shabana Azmi) has been the Madame of a brothel in Hyderabad, India. The women in the brothel live in harmony. Rukmini Bai takes pride in the talent of her women, especially Zeenat (Smita Patil) who is a classical singer and Basanti (Neena Gupta) who is a classical dancer. Rukmini Bai is quite possessive about Zeenat and does not let her get engaged in prostitution. Ramgopal (Om Puri) is a photographer who frequents the brothel. Ramgopal is lusting after Basanti, but she is not interested in him. The Doctor (Annu Kapoor) comes every month for health check-ups. Phoolmani (Sreela Majumdar) is a new entrant into the brothel. She was sold to the brothel for Rs 4000 by a supplier Srikanth (who had married Phoolmani and then lured her to the brothel) and she had a torrid start to her first day. She was frightened, ran all over the brothel, tried to escape and then finally lost the energy and calmed down. Rukmini is protective of her from the customers who wish to deflower Zeenat. One day Rukmini Bai gets the news, that she, now, has a new landlord Mr. Gupta (Kulbhushan Kharbanda), whose daughter Malti (Ratna Pathak) is to marry Mr. Aggarwal's (Saeed Jaffrey) son, Sushil (Aditya Bhattacharya), shortly. Given the finesse of Zeenat and Basanti, Mr. Gupta invites Rukmini Bai with her women to perform at the engagement ceremony of his son. During the performance, Sushil is smitten by Zeenat's beauty and approaches her in the dressing room. Zeenat also gets attracted to Sushil. In the meanwhile, it is shown that the City Councilor, Shantidevi (Gita Siddharth), who also runs the Women Organization of the town is averse to Rukmini Bai and her brothel. In reality Shanti Devi is coordinating with Mr. Gupta to build public opinion against the brothel, so he can get it demolished for his new construction project at the right time. Shantidevi's assistant (Pankaj Kapur) Via Mr Gupta, Shanti gets news that a minor Phoolmani has been kept at the brothel without her wishes. Shanti enters the brothel with a large public crowd to rescue the minor. But Rukmini traps Shanti's assistant in a room with one her other girls, who claims that he was trying to sexually assault her. This puts Shanti on the back foot, and she is forced to withdraw for the time being. Meanwhile Nadira tries to force Phoolmani into her first time. She has a stroke and later tries to commit suicide. To save Phoolmani the Doctor asks Rukmini to take her to a hospital, but since it is a suicide case, a police report is required first. And that means the entire brothel will be kept in a lockup, just so that Phoolmani can be saved. Mr. Agarwal bails the girls out. In a Municipal Committee meeting, Shanti proposes that the brothel should be moved out of town, in order to protect the town from getting corrupted. The committee agrees to her demands and Rukmini Bai and her women are forced to relocate to a new place in the outskirts of the city, which happens to be near the Dargah of Baba Karak Shah. Mr. Agarwal comes to apologize to Rukmini that he could not stop from the brothel being relocated but promises to take care of the Phoolmani case. Agarwal also gets Mr. Gupta to offer Rs 51K, a house and land to Rukmini at the new site, to help her relocate. But the new location attracts a lot of people (as it the religious grave site of one Baba Kharak Shah, whom the locals revere and visit often), and Rukmini Bai's brothel starts thriving. In the meanwhile, Rukmini Bai gets to know about the budding love between Zeenat and Sushil and she forbids Zeenat from going ahead with the relationship. She reveals that Zeenat is the illegitimate child of Mr. Aggarwal and another prostitute, and Rukmini Bai had kept it as a secret for years, in order to save the face of Mr. Aggarwal. It makes Zeenat and Sushil siblings and renders their romantic relationship as prohibited. The complications set in when Sushil refuses to marry Malti and runs away from his house in order to pursue Zeenat. He asks Zeenat to elope from the brothel with him in search of better existence and Zeenat accepts his proposal. The whole brothel is in a state of panic when the news of Zeenat's elopement breaks out. Rukmini Bai and Aggarwal go in search of the children. However, during the way, Zeenat is overcome by guilt as she is aware of their biological relationship and thus, runs away from Sushil as well. Sushil is heartbroken. Rukmini Bai too, is unable to come to terms with the news of Zeenat's disappearance. She is sobbing in her brothel and instead of getting sympathy, she is rebuked by a Nadira (Soni Razdan), a prostitute who works for her. She asks Rukmini Bai to exit the brothel as the women do not need her anymore and can run the brothel on their own. Rukmini Bai is in a state of shock and with a heavy heart, she quits the brothel with her faithful helper Tungrus (Naseeruddin Shah). On their way, due to exhaustion, they halt for water. While looking for water, Tungrus accidentally comes across a Shiv Lingam. He calls out to Rukmini Bai and they both pray to the Shivlingam for a better future. Just then, they see Phoolmani, a former brothel woman, running towards them. Rukmini Bai is delighted at the sight of Phoolmani and thanks the almighty.

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.

Anirudh, a blind man who runs a school, falls in love with Kavita, a widowed social worker. But when a marriage is proposed, Anirudh falls prey to his own inferiority complex.

This film is about the blind, in particular about the lives and feelings of blind children and the principal of their school. Sparsh refers to the sensation and feeling of touch upon which blind people rely in the absence of sight. The story opens with Anirudh Parmar (Naseeruddin Shah) as the principal of Navjivan Andhvidyalay, a school for the blind that educates about 200 blind children. Jagdish (Mohan Gokhale) is Anirudh's assistant at home & office. Anirudh has a dark and lonely existence for the most part. He is fiercely independent and even doesn't allow Jagdish to do all his chores. One day, while on his way to the doctor, he hears a lovely song and ends up mesmerized at the singer's door instead of the doctor that he was looking for. The voice belongs to Kavita Prasad (Shabana Azmi), a young woman recently widowed after three years of marriage. Kavita, too, prefers a secluded existence. Her childhood friend Manju (Sudha Chopra), is the only friend she has. Manju throws a small party where Kavita and Anirudh meet again. He recognizes her from her voice. During the conversation, he mentions that the school is looking for volunteers to read, sing, teach handicrafts and spend time with the children. Kavita is reluctant, but she is urged by Manju and her husband Suresh to strongly consider it. Manju takes Kavita to the school when it holds a stall for Diwali candles made by students. Kavita sees that the students are talented and run the entire stall by themselves, without any help. They make beautiful candles. Kavita decides to volunteer. On day one Anirudh warns Kavita not to see blind kids as "poor souls".. he says the kids need help and not charity. Kavita takes some time to adjust to the sightless lives of the kids and to adjust to their sensitivities. As Kavita spends more time at the school, she begins forming a friendship with Anirudh. The friendship grows stronger over time. But their personalities and feelings are different. Anirudh is of strong character. He firmly believes that the blind need help but not pity or charity. (When once, in his office, Kavita attempts to assist him with coffee, he gets enraged at the thought of his guest offering to overcome his obvious difficulty with hospitality.) Kavita helps the kids start playing blind cricket, using a special ball that makes rattles. The school prepares for their annual function and Kavita helps the student prepare a skit based on the Mahabharata. Kavita reveals to Anirudh that her husband died 3 yrs ago. The kids also love Kavita and get very close to her. A student names Paplu is infatuated with Kavita and is not able to express his complex feelings for her. Paplu is jealous of a fellow student Rampyare who is a favorite of Kavita. Paplu is not blind, but Rampyare is. Paplu picks up a fight with Rampyare, and he closes his eyes to make the contest equal. But when Kavita finds them fighting, she slaps Paplu only and takes care of Rampyare. Anirudh starts frequently visiting Kavita at her house and spends time with her. Still, Anirudh has deep rooted inferiority complex against anyone who looks at him with a sense of pity or charity. He loses his temper frequently at such instances. Manju notices that Kavita is now happy and looks forward to life. Eventually Kavita proposes to Anirudh, despite his feeling that Kavita is doing favors to him and to the school. Anirudh accepts her proposal. Anirudh finds that Paplu has told his uncle that he wants to become blind. He believes that he is mistreated because he can see. Kavita realizes her mistake and takes care of Paplu. Anirudh and Kavita get engaged. Kavita, recently bereaved, looks to the school (and Anirudh) as a way towards an ideal, one of sacrificial service. Anirudh gets wind of this (when Suresh mentions this at their engagement party) and assumes Kavita is simply seeking to fill the void in her life with this form of service. He assumes she accepted the proposal, not out of love, but as a sacrifice towards a way out of her dark life. During this time, Anirudh's fellow blind friend Dubey (Om Puri) laments that his recently deceased wife was not happy in their marriage. Dubey says that he was independent before marriage, but got dependent on her with time and became useless. Anirudh is shaken, confused, and disturbed by all this. He breaks off the engagement (but does not mention the reason to Kavita). She accepts his decision. Kavita, now a salaried employee of the school, continues to help the children. The initial coldness between her and Anirudh gives way to friction and eventually, over a series of events at the school, brings up the feelings they were not able to discuss before. Kavita is given the charge to prepare the school for a handicraft expo. She decides to bring in outside consultants without asking Anirudh, which annoys him. Anirudh feels that blind children should be self sustainable, without any help from a sighted person. Kavita feels that some guidance from anyone is not wrong at all. Kavita later admonishes Anirudh for not procuring any new book for the library in the last 2 yrs. Anirudh retorts that no new braille books have been published in the last 3 yrs. Anirudh then scolds Kavita for not learning braille herself. The situation spirals downward and one of them must leave the school. Anirudh wants Kavita to stop coming to school. Anirudh calls her an "outsider". But Kavita refuses to leave as she feels this is her school as well. Later, she finds that Anirudh has asked for a transfer to Kanpur. Kavita admits defeat and decides to leave the school as the school needs him more than her. Manju finds out that Anirudh has broken up the engagement and speaks to him. She makes Anirudh realize that even Kavita has a complex that she was somehow betraying her first husband by loving Anirudh, and so she created a story that her love is motivated by a higher calling of sacrifice. The movie ends with Anirudh and Kavita being touched by the depth of their feelings for one another and finally seeing a way out.

This is a story of two lawyer brothers Advocate (Utpal Dutt) & Harish (Girish Karnad), their half-brother Chandranath (Amol Palekar) (son of their father's brother), their wives and children. Siddheshwari (Ashalata Wabgaonkar), wife of the eldest brother has left the operational details of the household to Sheela (Shabana Azmi), wife of the half-brother Chander. Chander is a happy go lucky musician, who fails in successive business ventures (like selling mustard oil. He lost Rs 8000 in selling rice & jute previously. He wants another rs 6000 for the mustard oil business). Sheela ensures that the household runs smoothly, while Siddheshwari is the fount of love and affection in the joint household. Chander has kids Ramu (Master Vikas), Pappu (Master Pappu), Kanhaiya (Master Rajesh). Neela (Manisha) Siddheshwari's daughter and Mahendra (Gopi Sapru) plus Hari are her sons. Harish and his spouse Naintara (Bharati Achrekar) rejoin the household. Atul is their son. Naintara gets expensive clothes for Atul and expects Siddheshwari to pay for them. Naintara wants control over the house money, but the house keys have been entrusted to Sheela. Atul makes fun of the way Hari dresses and Sheela scolds him badly. Naintara is offended, but Siddheshwari won't say a word. Naintara complains to Siddheshwari that she will escalate the matter to Harish. Siddheshwari is alarmed and calls Sheela and scold her for her behavior. Sheela shows maturity, apologizes to Naintara and organizes a party for Atul. But Atul is also offended that Sheela yelled at him and is no mood to compromise. Atul enters the kitchen with his shoes on and won't back down when Sheela asks him to get out. When Atul starts insulting Sheela, Mahendra intervenes, and a fight breaks out between Atul and Mahendra. Harish tries to intervene and tells Sheela to come to him if she has a problem with Atul. Siddheshwari shuts up Harish by saying that in that case, he should bring all complaints against Sheela to her. This is a women's matter and asks him to back down. Naintara & Harish decide to leave the house, but Siddheshwari tells them to stay. Naintara says that Sheela has told all the kids to ignore Atul and that is unacceptable. Siddheshwari asks the kids, who tell her that until Atul apologizes to Sheela, they will ignore him. Siddheshwari is convinced at Naintara's allegations. When Siddheshwari confronts Sheela, she says Atul is a spoiled brat and she will not allow any kid of the house to be influenced by him. Siddheshwari speaks to Sheela alone, but she refuses to budge. Siddheshwari gets angry and says that she cannot ask her blood relation (Hairsh & Naintara) to leave the house for the fear of society opinion. Siddheshwari escalates the matter to Advocate and tells him that Chander needs to start earning his share around the house. due to this insult, Sheela stops speaking to Siddheshwari, but continues to perform all her duties around the house. Naintara sweet talks Siddheshwari and tries to take over the kitchen. She gets Siddheshwari to admit that they are blood relations and need to care for each other. Sheela is hurt even further. But even Siddheshwari knows that she is saying these things to make Naintara happy and doesn't really believe in them. Advocate tries to handle the situation in his own way. He scolds Chander in front of Harish for being a failure at Mustard business but gives him Rs 10,000 more to start the sawdust business. But Harish tells Advocate that he should not destroy another Rs 10,000 on Chander as he doesn't know anything about business. Advocate is convinced and asks Chander to start teaching the kids as the teacher also charges Rs 50/month. Despite the coldness, Siddheshwari pines for Sheela's care and warmth, which she never gets from Naintara. One day Harish brings Rs 500 from his work. Naintara gives this money to Siddheshwari and makes her point that Harish is contributing to the house, but Chander is not. Sheela is so hurt that she gives back the house keys to Siddheshwari. Siddheshwari is also hurt at Sheela throwing the keys at her and asks Sheela when she is leaving the house, and how much money she has stolen already. Sheela decides to leave the house and tells Chander that they will stay in the village house from now on. Siddheshwari believes that Sheela will not leave if she doesn't allow her to touch her feet, and shuts the door. Sheela pays her respects at the doorstep and leaves with her family. Chander and Sheela reach the village house with their kids, where Manohar Lal (Manik Dutt) was the sole caretaker of the property. Manohar was in charge of growing crops on the family land, but he was selling a portion of the produce on the side and profiting personally from it, without declaring that income to the family. To get rid of Chander, Manohar decides to stop sending money to Calcutta, and plans to create a hue and cry in front of Advocate that Chander has decided to take over the farms himself. Meanwhile Manohar asks Chander that the repair of the house is due and asks Chander to visit Advocate and ask for money. Advocate gives Rs 1000. Manohar now meets Harish and tells him that Chander has ordered not to send any money to Calcutta. Harish sends a letter to Chander to vacate the house. Chander and Sheela shift into a hut in front of the house but refuse to go back to Calcutta. Chander also decides not to use the farm income for home repairs. Chander and Sheela decide not to respond to Harish's letter. Harish takes this as a declaration of war and proceeds with a court case against Chander. Harish even sends the police to search for stolen money in Chander's possession. Siddheshwari is alarmed at these allegations but backs off when even her husband calls Chander a thief. Meanwhile Manohar tells the village grocer to stop giving supplies to Chander on credit. Sheela starts selling her jewels to keep the house going. Siddheshwari is very close to Pappu and senses that he is not well. This is when Pappu is indeed very sick. She tells the advocate to go to the village and check on the family. Advocate reaches the village and finds Pappu was indeed sick. He was not aware that Chander was fighting a case that Harish had started against him. He also finds that Chander and his family stay in a hut opposite the family house. He finds that Sheela has sold off all her jewels. Sheela breaks down saying that Chander always followed the orders given to him. He came to the village and stayed in the servant's quarters. He was accused of falsehoods and even a police search was conducted against him. He fired Manohar since he caught him stealing from the family farms and income. Advocate is heartbroken and transfers all the property to Sheela. As a result, Harish loses the case in court. Harish decides to go back to Patna with his family. Advocate brings Chander and his family back from the village. Siddheshwari thanks advocate for fixing her family. Advocate knew that Chander was depositing all the property income in advocate's bank account, and that Manohar was stealing from them, and Chander fired him.

Wealthy, lecherous Zamindar Thakur Vir Pratap Singh lords over a small region in rural India, mercilessly killing anyone who opposes his rule. He gets the male villagers addicted to gambling and sexually molests the female villagers under false pretenses. When the same happen to Sundariya, which results in her losing her mental balance, her two brothers form a gang which includes three other male members from the village to put an end to the tyrannical rule of the Thakur. —gavin (racktoo@hotmail.com) Tyrannical and wealthy Veer Pratap Singh, rules over a small town--ruthlessly. Whoever opposes him is crushed. He is attracted to women and has a lengthy affair with Sundariya, and even has a secret marriage ceremony with her. When Sundariya gets pregnant, he asks her to abort the child. When she refuses, he shuns her and denies ever having married her or even being intimate with her. Her brothers attempt to get justice, but are dealt with ruthlessly by Pratap Singh's bodyguard, Bhima. Sundariya then must garner support and must find someone who can stand up to Veer Pratap Singh and end his tyranny, in a town with men who have been subdued for eons by Veer Pratap Singh and his men. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Ravi Varma is a single eligible bachelor. He meets with Aarti Mathur, and both are attracted to each other. The problem is that Ravi is unable to express his love and attraction for Aarti, and Aarti unsure of Ravi's intentions, is unsure of his feelings for her. Soon Aarti's marriage is arranged, and it is then Ravi must decide to speak out his feelings or let Aarti's marriage take place, and maintain his silence. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Our story has three married couples: One couple, who are happily married, are Tripathi (Sanjeev Kumar) and his wife Mary; the second couple are Geeta (Shabana Azmi) and Vinod (Vinod Mehra), who live in Vinod's mom's house. Their's is an unhappy marriage with Vinod spending a lot of time with Leena (Prema Narayan), and frequenting late and all-night parties. His wife patiently awaits his return every night; And the third couple is that of Shobha (Moushumi Chatterjee) and Vicky Kapoor (Jeetendra), their's is a seemingly "happy" marriage, with Shobha being a very jealous and possessive woman. One day when she sees her husband and Radha (Tanuja) together, she thinks they are having an affair, and starts to ask questions. Suddenly their lives are turned upside down, when Vinod decides to leave the house; Shobha leaves her husband; and Tripathi tries to make amends but looks like these two couples are unable to compromise and adjust to married life. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Set on the eve of the Indian rebellion of 1857, the film depicts two noblemen who devote themselves to endless rounds of chess, while their kingdom gets annexed.

Three brothers, each raised in different religious households, reunite after years in a chance encounter. They set out to take revenge on those responsible for separating them.

Saudamini falls in love with Narendra but her family gets her married to a middle-aged widower. She finds a confidante in her husband but one day her former lover returns.

A policeman adopts the son of a bandit. A misunderstanding leads the officer's own biological son to believe he is the bandit's son and he takes up a secret life of crime; meanwhile, the adopted son becomes an officer of the law. Dreaded bandit Mangal Singh is apprehended by Deputy Superintendent of Police, Shamsher Singh, leaving behind a pregnant wife, who gives birth to a son, and passes away. Shamsher and his wife adopt the child, name him Amit, and treat him the same their own son, Kishan. Years later, Mangal is discharged from prison, joins together with his bandit brother, Dilip, and approaches Shamsher to get his son back, but Shamsher refuses. Kishan thinks that he is Mangal's son and starts helping him incognito. Years later both Kishan and Amit have grown up, while Amit is a Police Inspector, Kishan is a teacher in a school for blind children, and Shamsher is now the Police Commissioner. Kishan secretly helps his dad and uncle without anyone's knowledge. Then one day, Amit finds out about Kishan criminal activity, and tells his father about it, but both are unable to prove anything. Then their lives are turned upside down when Amit loses his vision saving Kishan from a time-bomb. Watch what happens when Mangal finds out that Kishan is not his son, and that Amit is. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

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."

"Kanneshwara Rama " is a 1977 Indian Kannada film, directed by "M S Sathyu" and Produced by " Moola Brothers".The film Stars "Ananthnag, Shabana Azmi, Amol Palekar, B V Karanth, Malathi, Dheerendra Gopal, Ashok Mandanna", in lead roles. The film had musical score by "B V Karanth". Watch the full Movie, Kanneshwara Rama , online, only On Eros Now.

Vijay helps the poor and robs the rich, while Ajay is assigned the job to bring Vijay to justice. Thirsty for each other's blood, both men are unaware that they are brothers separated at a young age. In order to help the poor and needy; Vijay alias Fakira rob a gang leader, Chimanlal on multiple occasions of his cash and smuggled goods. This makes him a target of the police and Chimanlal himself; Chimanlal hires a man name Toofan to either capture Fakira or bring his dead body. Unknown to both Fakira and Toofan that they are biological brothers Toofan as Ajay and Fakira as Vijay who were separated at a very young age due to the trauma their family went through. —gavin (racktoo@hotmail.com) Young brothers Vijay and Ajay watch helplessly as their shanty house burns down with their father and ailing mother unable to escape from the flames. Vijay and Ajay are subsequently separated, and Vijay makes his living as a career criminal with a difference - he only robs the rich to provide for the poor. Vijay is now known as Fakira, and he works together with his partners Popat and Neelam. One day he comes to the aid of a damsel in distress, Geeta, and takes her to their hideout, subsequently both fall in love, and get married quietly. Then criminal don, Chimanbhai, perturbed by Fakira's thefts, recruits a hit-man named Toofan to abduct or possibly kill Fakira by any and all means. Fakira unknowingly befriends Toofan. The trusting Fakira does not know that the woman he has married is the daughter of the Police Commissioner, and is herself a Plainclothes Policewoman assigned to arrest and bring him to justice; and that Toofan is none other than his younger brother, Ajay. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

Vishvam is one of four hoodlum brothers who rule a village. Though he is married, he gets infatuated by the new schoolmaster`s wife and conflicts arise when she is abducted.

A man whose wife is abducted seeks to have the culprits prosecuted for their crime, but no one will help him. Meanwhile, the wife-abused and berated by her abductors-cannot bring herself to face her husband. Vishwam (Naseeruddin Shah) is the youngest brother of the powerful and influential village Zamindar (Amrish Puri). The Zamindar will not hesitate to do anything for the welfare and protection of his family, which also includes bending the law to his own advantage. Vishwam is married to Rukmani (Smita Patil), and unlike his brothers, does not indulge in alcohol or women, nor does he have any bad habits. Then the village gets a new schoolmaster (Girish Karnad), who has a wife, Susheela (Shabana Azmi). When Vishwam sees her for the first time, he is unable to take his eyes off her, and unable to get her out of his mind. Susheela does not reciprocate his attentions. Then one night, Susheela is forcibly carried away in a car by the Zamindar's right-hand men (Mohan Agashe and Anant Nag). The schoolmaster's efforts to stop them are to no avail, and the several people present do nothing to stop this abduction. What will the schoolmaster do to get his wife back, knowing fully well that even the village policeman (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) kowtows to the Zamindar. —rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)