Non-musical Indian cinema

[Mysterious Dude]

Is there any of it?

Other than Satyajit Ray. Because I've got him covered.

Being a liberal white guy, I'm very interested in other cultures, but I have my limits. I saw this movie Rang De Basanti, and I might have liked it if the story had not been constantly interrupted by scenes of singing and dancing.

Indians seem to love their country's movies, because they're always giving them high ratings on IMDB. All the high-ranking Indian films on Netflix are musicals, too. So I need a less biased filter to help me decide which ones I should bother seeing. So... help me.

I guess there's Mira Nair, too. She's good.

[Boner M]

I've heard good things about Rat-Trap (1981), which is a realist film in the same vein as S-Ray. UK's Second Run DVD recently released it.

[Spinal]

Funny you should mention this. I just read that Paste Magazine has named an Indian film their #1 of the year (http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2008/11/signs-of-life-2008-best-film-p4.html).

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

Ritwik Ghatak's films are also essential, but only a few are available in US.

Pathetic Fallacy is a masterpiece.

[Sven]

What's the point of talking about non-musical Indian cinema?

[soitgoes...]

What's the point of talking about non-musical Indian cinema?Because there is more to Indian cinema besides musicals?

[Sven]

Because there is more to Indian cinema besides musicals?

All lies.

[soitgoes...]

All lies.The director's cut of Pather Panchali where the family break out in song and dance after the sister dies is one of the most memorable in all Indian cinema.

[megladon8]

There's that awesome remake of Oldboy.

Wait, is that a musical?

[Yxklyx]

Anand by Hrishikesh Mukherjee

I'm fairly certain there's nothing musical about it.

[Raiders]

Anand by Hrishikesh Mukherjee

I'm fairly certain there's nothing musical about it.

There's some singing, but it is rather subdued. Great, great film in any case.

[NickGlass]

I've heard great things about Deepa Mehta's films, particularly her Oscar-nominated Water.

[Sven]

I've heard great things about Deepa Mehta's films, particularly her Oscar-nominated Water.

The one I've seen, Fire, is "Meh"-ta indeed. Ba-bam!

[kamran]

Deepa Mehta has become celebrated for making variations of the same cultural victimization diatribe for years now. It's getting old. Under the umbrella of "multiculturalism" rhetoric, she's now become the authority on everything Indian, and it drives me insane. Her films are black-and-white in terms of morality, and her critiques are painted with the broadest of strokes.

My suspicions were confirmed at a TIFF screening of Water (the opening night selection), where she addressed the audience and told them she hoped they would cry. "Let it wash over you, and let your emotions free!"

[thefourthwall]

Water is a pretty dang good film. I haven't seen the others in the trilogy, so I can't compare, but I found this one to have some nuance. The fact that she got death threats about making it, and they had to secretly film it in Thailand so that the sets weren't burned down and the cast/crew harmed seems to suggest that it's exploring some very important issues in regards to the role of orthodoxy in the culture.

Even though there's singing, I do want to make people aware of the Indian film Jism (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0348843/) ("Body"), which is a strange, strange adaptation of Double Indemnity and amused me greatly. But I'm a sucker for most anything Bollywood.

[Mysterious Dude]

So I watched a movie from the eighties called Nayakan, and it's another one where the movie stops dead several times for long musical numbers. It's also an incredible ripoff of The Godfather (and Part II), including a sudden gun attack at the main character's house, a montage of executions (someone gets it in bed with his girlfriend, someone gets it in the eye, someone gets it at the door), and I'm pretty sure the star of the film had cotton in his mouth when he was in old age makeup. There was some interesting cinematography, but mostly it just looked pretty.

You know what I think the problem might be? India never had its own New Wave. All the other countries got New Waves, but India is still making the same kind of movies they made in the fifties.

[SirNewt]

"someone gets it in bed with his girlfriend, someone gets it in the eye, someone gets it at the door"

I've seen this in another movie but they weren't shooting bullets. ;)

[Mysterious Dude]

"someone gets it in bed with his girlfriend, someone gets it in the eye, someone gets it at the door"

I've seen this in another movie but they weren't shooting bullets. ;)
Get out of my thread.

[Pathétique]

The Terrorist is a pretty good non-musical from India. Ebert featured it in his Great Movies series.

[Sycophant]

I have not watched near enough Indian films, but I have seen two of Deepa Mehta's pictures (though she's really kind of a Canadian filmmaker), Fire and Water. Water I thought was pretty great, and Fire was admirable, if a bit too didactic and kind of inert.

Both paled in comparison to Ramesh Sippy's exhilaratingly awesome musical Sholay, though, so.