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Alibaba Aur 40 Chor is a 1979 Soviet-Indian co-production film based on the story of Ali Baba, starring Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Rolan Bykov, Sofiko Chiaureli, Zeenat Aman, Mher Mkrtchyan and Prem Chopra. The story line is slightly altered to extend as a long movie. The movie was directed by Latif Faiziyev and Umesh Mehra. The writers were Shanti Prakash Bakshi and Boris Saakov. The music was scored by Vladimir Milov and R.D. Burman.

Latif Faiziyev is a Russian film-maker born in 1929, who has directed over 25 titles in his life-time. Alibaba Aur 40 Chor is one of the couple of Hindi movies he worked with.

Umesh Mehra is an Indian film director and Producer of Bollywood. He is the son of Bollywood producer F.C. Mehra. He was prominent in the 1980s and 90s with many Mithun Chakraborty starrers. He has also directed Akshay Kumar in a couple of movies. Some of his films are Yaar Gaddar, Shikari: The Hunter, Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi and International Khiladi.

The story of Alibaba Aur 40 Chor is about a poor lad named Ali Baba (Dharmendra) who lives in the town of Gulabad, somewhere in central Asia, with his mother and elder brother Qasim who owns a small petty shop. Ali Baba’s father Yousuf is a merchant in a faraway land who has never returned since he last left when Ali Baba was born. So poor Ali Baba makes a living out of selling timber cut from the hills.

Gulabad is terrorized by a band of 40 dacoits. They hide their looties in a magical cave in the deserted hills. When the bandit leader recites the magical spell it opens and when he says another spell it closes. When news reaches them that his father has gone missing, Ali Baba goes in his search and not only finds his father, but also rescues princess Marjeena from the guards of the king who murdered her father to become king. Both Marjeena and Ali Baba fall in love with each other.

Then they are attacked, Marjeena is taken captive, and his father is killed. After burying his father, Ali Baba finds out that Marjeena is being sold in the slave market, he borrows money from Qasim, and uses that to pay for Marjeena, and brings her home. Qasim wants to recover his money, and as a result decides to evict Ali Baba from their family home. Ali Baba and his mother leave the home. It is then the Khazi of the region announces a reward for the capture of notorious bandit Abu Hassan.

A young girl named Fatima (Zeenat Aman) whose father has been murdered by the dacoits has a score to settle with Abu Hassan. Fatima pledges her support to Ali Baba in killing Abu Hassan. Shortly, thereafter Ali Baba comes to know the secret hideout of Abu Hassan and its magic spells to open it. He also gets some gold and jewelry from there, which he distributes amongst villagers for diverting some water to their parched land.

Ali Baba’s greedy brother Qasim lures Ali Baba into telling him where the cave is and those magic spells. Out of greed Qasim takes so much gold jewelry and coin as a result of which he forgets the spell to reopen the door and gets stuck inside. When the dacoits find him they kill him. Ali Baba then informs the Khazi about Abu Hassan’s hideout. What Ali Baba does not know is that the Khazi and Abu Hassan is the same person.

Khazi has given instructions to his men to ensure that Ali Baba is killed, so that no one can get their hands on his treasure. . Abu Hassan hides the 40 thieves in large urns to kill Ali Baba. Ali Baba comes to know of this and kills them all with the help of Fatima. He brings to light the startling truth that their own ruler heads the dacoits.

Alibaba Aur 40 Chor covers classic Bollywood elements (well-done song&dance numbers, elephants, family relations) as well as Soviet themes (the chief robber doubling as Vezir, the plight for water – not as a priced commodity, etc.) In fact, the topic of water runs throughout this film – from drops in a bottle to destruction and reconstruction of a vital dam. (Not to forget the waterfall in front of the cave…) In addition, you get heroic fathers and mothers, really eerie villains, and all in all a jolly good yarn.
You can watch it HERE.

Santosh Sivan (born in Trivandrum, Kerala, India) is an Indian cinematographer, film director, and producer who has worked Malayalam, Tamil, and Hindi cinema. He has won five National Film Awards, three Filmfare Awards, and ten international film festival awards. He graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, after which he began his career as a cinematographer and went on to become the most sought after in his field.

His film, Tahaan (2008), which dealt with the bond between an 8 year old boy and his pet donkey as they grow up in the terror stricken valley of Kashmir, garnered rave reviews in the country as well as positive reviews and awards at several International Film Festivals. It is a fable-like journey of the eponymous eight-year-old boy, whose life revolves around the pursuit to find real purpose in his little world.

Tahaan (Purav Bhandare) lives with his grandfather (Victor Banerjee), mother Haba (Sarika) and older sister Zoya (Sana Shaikh) in the Kashmir valley. The family lives with the ardent hope that the boy’s father, who’s been missing for over three years, will return home. The death of the grandfather pushes them into financial crisis. The local moneylender and his manager (Rahul Khanna) take away the family’s assets including Tahaan’s donkey, Birbal, in lieu of an unpaid loan. While the rest of the family seeks redemption from the crises, Tahaan is determined to bring Birbal back home.

After salvaging money using various means, Tahaan reaches the moneylender to reclaim Birbal. He is told that old Subhan Darr (Anupam Kher) bought the donkey and went across the mountains in which Tahaan’s father went missing. Gathering courage, Tahaan goes in search of the old man. He finds him and he follows Subhan and his assistant Zafar (Rahul Bose) and their mule train, leading Birbal despite their protests. Although Subhan promises to return Birbal to Tahaan if he can win a race against the incompetent Zafar, when he wins Subhan refuses to give him Birbal. Instead, Subhan gives the donkey to his eight year old nephew. Zafar tries to give Tahaan his sunglasses as a replacement for the donkey, but Tahaan will not accept the gift.

On his way back home, Tahaan encounters Idrees, a teenager who discourages him, saying that his efforts will not be sufficient to get Birbal back. Instead he suggests to do him a favor. Tahaan is asked to take a package across the mountains in his onward journey. Upon seeing his eagerness, Idrees hands him over a grenade and says that when the time is right, he will be told what needs to be done. At a checkpoint the package and grenade are not discovered due to the fact that the soldiers know and trust Subhan Darr. Tahaan is about to commit a terrorist act with the grenade and has already removed the pin, when he changes his mind and throws it safely in a river. He then sees his father emerge from the building he almost blew up. Subhan’s nephew learns that Tahaan is fond of Birbal, and at his request Subhan gives the donkey back to Tahaan.

The film opened to generally positive reviews. Ziya Us Salam of The Hindu hailed the film as a ‘visual poem’ and “Responsible cinema, brilliant cinema.” Raja Sen of Rediff gave it 4 out of 5 stars, calling it a “must-watch”. Rajiv Masand of CNN-IBN called it a “film of great virtue” and gave 3 out of 5 stars. Tahaan won a High Commendation in Children’s Feature Film section at the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. It also won “The German Star Of India award” at “Bollywood and Beyond” festival at Stuttgart Germany in 2009 and a lot of appreciation from other high profile international festivals. Watch the movie HERE.

Yousuf Saeed, the director of Khayal Darpan, A Mirror Of Imagination, finished his Masters in Mass Communication at the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, in 1990, and began his career by producing the well-known science series Turning Point on Doordarshan, with Times TV (the Times of India). He co-produced and edited about 45 episodes of this series that was hosted by actors Naseeruddin Shah and Girish Karnad. In 1993 he left Times to start on his own and directed many documentary films for Doordarshan and other agencies. Some of his important films include a 5-part documentary series on Ladakh, a 4-part series on the Sufi poet Amir Khusrau, and a short film called Basant. Many of these films were screened at national and international film festivals such as the Mumbai International Film Festival (1998 and 2000) and other fora.

Through Amir Khusrau, he developed a special interest in south Asia’s multi-cultural traditions, music and literature, and their role in maintaining communal harmony. In 2005, he spent more than 6 months in Pakistan as part of a research fellowship where he surveyed the development of classical music traditions in Pakistan after 1947.

After traveling in the 3 main cities of Pakistan – Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad – interviewing musicians and scholars, attending music concerts, and observing the teaching of music in various institutions, Yousuf not only managed to document some of the surviving practitioners and patrons of art music, but also raised many vital questions about cultural identity, nationalism, legitimacy of music in Islam, Pakistan’s popular culture and its affairs with India, and the survival of classical music itself in South Asia. The study resulted in a feature-length documentary film, featuring some well-known as well as many lesser known but talented musicians of Pakistan. That is how Khayal Darpan (A Mirror Of Imagination) happened.

In 1999, Yousuf joined Encyclopaedia Britannica (India) to work on their website and other design/photo related products. He was the photo editor for the 7-volume “Students’ Britannica on India”, the 2-volume “Britannica on Indian History”, and the recently released “Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema”. He also collaborated with noted vocalist Shubha Mudgal to produce Internet features on Indian music for the Britannica website. Currently, Yousuf is on his own, producing more documentary films and other multimedia products. His most recent film is a one-hour documentary on the Indian scientist Prof.Yashpal, produced for Indian govt.’s Department of Science and Technology.

With his interests at resolving communal issues in India, Yousuf wrote and published a trilingual book called “What kind of India shall we give to our children?” enlisting some practical suggestions on how to reduce communal prejudice in the society. This book, published during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, was widely distributed especially in the educational sector, and well received. Yousuf is now working on the second, more expanded, edition of the book.

He has also been visiting many schools in Delhi to show films and talk about plural cultural identity. His film Basant has been screened at Springdales, Blue Bells, Vasant Valley, and St.Mary’s schools in Delhi, besides at various symposia at the universities of Berkeley and Harvard in the US, at Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, and at the Wolfson College, Oxford, UK. For last two years, he, along with many friends, has been holding a festival of Sufi Basant in and around the dargah Nizamuddin area of Delhi, in the month of February, incorporating Qawwalis, film shows, heritage walks, and general celebration of spring.

The film Khayal Darpan explores the development of classical music in Pakistan post-1947, featuring many famous Khayal singers of Pakistan like :
Aliya Rashid, Amir Zaki (Guitarist, Karachi), Arifa Syeda (Professor at NCA, Lahore), Babar Niazi and Javed Niazi (Singers, Islamabad), Badruzzaman and Qamruzzaman (Classical singers, Lahore), Beenish Parvez (Ghazal singer, Lahore), Fateh Ali Khan (Classical singer, Islamabad), Ghulam Hasan Shaggan (Classical singer, Lahore), Ghulam Hyder (Music composer, Lahore), Malikzada Hafeez Khan (Dhrupad singer, Lahore), Nafees Ahmed (Sitar player, Karachi), Naseeruddin Saami (Classical singer, Lahore/Karachi), Noor Zehra (Veena Player, Lahore), Parvez Paras (Musician, Lahore), Raza Kazim (Lawyer, musicologist, Lahore), Salamat Hussain (Ghazal singer, Karachi), Sarah Zaman (Classical singer, Lahore), Sarwat Ali (Columnist, Lahore), and many other singers at the Amateur Melodies Club, Karachi, and at National College of Arts, Lahore.

100 mins. DVCAM. Screened at Hong Kong International Film Festival 2007, Film South Asia Kathmandu 2007, Lyon Asian Film Fest 2007, and many academic venues. This film was screened at Concordia University on January 12, 2007. Watch the film HERE.

Vanaja is a 2006 Indian art house film written and directed by Rajnesh Domalpalli on a story that constituted his Master of Fine Arts thesis at Columbia University. The film, made in the Telugu language, was filmed on a meagre budget of $20,000 using a cast of non-professional first-timers for two and a half months.

Rajnesh Domalpalli, was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and graduated with a Bachelors and Masters degree in electrical engineering in 1984 and 1986 respectively. His family has moved to Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh in South India, where his parents live in retirement. During his Bachelors degree at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, he used to write short stories, and one of the, The Dowry, was twice selected for broadcast by BBC World Service while he was in graduate school. During schooling, he was introduced to south Indian classical music, on the veena, and followed this up with several years of training on the vocals. He studied veena during his schooling at the IIT from the wife of one of his Professors.

While he was working as a software engineer in the Silicon Valley, California, he decided to pursue filmmaking in 2001, and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University in 2006. Without any prior experience in Arts, he was concerned that he would not be granted admission to the University, so he took pre-requisite courses ranging from art history to design to acting to voice study.
The story of Vanaja was Domalpalli’s project submission in his first semester at Columbia University in the Fall of 2001. The story was inspired by a child’s scream at being separated from her mother in the film, Sophie’s Choice. Over the next three semesters, however, it veered away from his original intent about mother-child separation, towards a study of what Domalpalli later described as, “elements of class distinction and conflict that continue to infuse our society and culture even today.” He also said that the film was about “fading institutions of folk art, old buildings that are collapsing, things which we should be protecting – that are a part of our heritage.” Referring to preservation of Indian culture and heritage, he said that he took the film to be an opportunity to emphasize the Indian folk arts.

Vanaja (Mamatha Bhukya) is the 15 year-old daughter of a poor, low caste fisherman from rural Andhra Pradesh. Her father, Somayya (Ramachandriah Marikanti) struggles to support his family despite dwindling catches at sea and mounting debts. One day, Vanaja and her teenage friend, Lacchi (Bhavani Renukunta), watch a theatrical performance by a former Kuchipudi (a native classical Indian dance form) great, Rama Devi (Urmila Dammannagari). The sequence of events lead to a soothsayer predicting to Vanaja that she will be a great dancer one day. With permission from her father, she goes to work in the house of the local landlady Rama Devi with the hope of learning Kuchipudi. While she is employed as a farmhand, she is entrusted with tending the chickens. When she gets caught while playfully chasing them, she lies to conceal her pranks. Her vivaciousness and spunk soon catch the landlady’s eye. To keep her out of trouble, Rama Devi soon promotes her to a kitchen underhand where she meets Rama Devi’s cook, the old, crusty and extremely loyal Radhamma (Krishnamma Gundimalla).

After settling down at the landlady’s house, Vanaja gets invited to play a game of ashta chamma (a leisurely played game in rural towns of Andhra Pradesh) against the landlady herself. Knowing that losing isn’t the mistress’s forte, she deliberately gives up her game. This gesture, in turn, eventually secures her the landlady’s mentorship, first in music and then in dance. Vanaja excels at these art forms and seems to be on a steadily ascending path until the arrival of Shekhar (Karan Singh), the landlady’s 23 year-old son, from the United States. Shekhar is a handsome, muscular young man who is running for an office in the local government. Sexual chemistry is ignited between Shekhar and Vanaja (still a minor at 15) when flirtation and sexual innuendo bloom.

In the meanwhile, her father’s fishing boat is taken away by creditors. He sinks into a state of sadness and begins to drink away her savings. On one occasion, Vanaja’s superior intellect pits her against Shekhar in a public incident which ultimately humiliates him in front of his mother. Matters escalate and on one day when Vanaja is raped by Shekhar. She eventually loses her job when she becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy, much against Rama Devi’s wishes who would have liked her to abort the foetus. Vanaja hopes that the physical evidence of the child will be proof of the rape, and that somehow Shekhar will be brought to justice. However, Shekhar has no desire to marry Vanaja because she is from a lower caste. In the end Rama Devi and Shekhar gain possession of the child, who will grow up to be an upper caste boy.

The film was screened at several international film festivals such as the Toronto International Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, among others. While it was nominated for the Diesel Discovery Award at the former, it won the Best First Feature award at the latter. Besides this, it won several jury prizes at other film festivals, and was nominated for the Best First Feature and Best Cinematography awards at the Independent Spirit Awards. The film found favour with many international critics as well. Roger Ebert ranked the film among the five best foreign language films of 2007. The film, which runs for 111 minutes in its vernacular Telugu language along with subtitles in English language, failed to find any distributors for screening in India.

Speaking of Bhukya’s performance, the San Francisco Chronicle writes – “Bhukya delivers an entrancing and natural performance, deftly balancing both the wide-eyed childishness of a young girl with the dawning awareness of life’s darker possibilities. She’s also an accomplished dancer, which she proves at several points in the film.” It adds – “can this wonder-filled film truly be not only Domalpalli’s first feature, but originally part of a thesis submission at Columbia University? Both in the film’s writing and direction, Domalpalli displays maturity, wisdom and a loving sense of visual and character detail.” watch the film HERE.

The Unforgettable is a film by Arsala Qureshi and Sabria Louis, starring Raji James and Sofia Hayat. It’s the director duo’s debut English film. Arsala was born in Aligarh, lived in Switzerland and Saudi Arabia, and soon after embraced filmmaking as a career. Sabrina used to play hockey and even represented India in a test series with Germany before turning a filmmaker.

The Unforgettable is a movie about romance, mystery, mockery and changes. Yash, a renaissance man, a writer who teaches the world how to live, loses his life’s teachings when he meets Padma, a woman who cannot be taught anything, an amoralist, veiling her true self with a shroud of clandestinity. Yash goes to the salubrious country of Mauritius to write a book on his groundbreaking apotheosis, ‘Sex- The Parasitic Desire’. But the cynicism of life is such that at the pinnacle of his career, he meets Padma and she transmogrifies his perspective.

At first she comes across as an intrigant, eager to prove her point, defending her reason over right. She practices the art of living by employing the simplest ideology of non- intervention and submission to one’s desire. This thought totally contradicts with the fundamentals of Yash’s teachings, in their amalgamation it is imperative that one has to concede. Their conflicting beliefs and an obsessive attraction towards each other drives them apart.

Having found solace in Padma, Yash had all but rewritten the story of his life; but he failed to prognosticate Padma’s abrupt disappearance. His life’s work disintegrates in the confines of his mind. He has to find answers to the questions that have pervaded his sanctity, but his answers lie with a woman who has over-turned his life in a brief concupiscence. Can he find Padma? Can an illusory be traced back without the pursuer falling into a trap of further deceit? Will her pursuit lead a man of such enormity into self-destruction? Will the labor of his life be lost to a moment of insanity?

The film can be called a psychological love story targeted mostly for British audience as it has some scenes that may not be accepted by Indian audience. The film has been made on bold subject and it has some intimate scenes. It is a story of an unusual love, a story about an interminable romance, a love story told through all the ugliness that makes love the greatest emotion there is. Arsala Qureshi and Sabrina Louis has incorporated quite a few sex scenes in this steamy dramatic affair because both firmly believe that sex plays an integral part of the film’s story, it was imperative that such scenes were incorporated in the narrative.
Watch the movie HERE.

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