Born into Brothels

Documentary photographer Zana Briski journeyed into Calcutta’s underworld to photograph the city’s prostitutes. In return, she offered to teach the prostitutes’ children the basics of photography so that the kids could document their own lives on the streets of one of the world’s poorest cities. The resulting photographs, often astonishing, were exhibited around the world; many of them are seen in this film, which won the Academy Award for best documentary feature in 2005.

WATER R


The story of Water begins in 1938 India as an 8 year old girl, who barely even remembers her wedding and has little comprehension of her marriage, has just been widowed. Required by ancient Hindu laws to now leave society, she is brought to a dilapidated widow house or ashram where, according to custom, her hair will be shorn, her clothes exchanged for white robes and the rest of her life, until her death, will be spent in renunciation. But the feisty, precocious, disbelieving Chuyia (Sarala) soon turns the house upside down with her rebellious spark. She begins to have a profound affect on the other women who live there, in particular the devout Shakuntala (Seema Biswas) and the beautiful Kalyani (Lisa Ray) who has been forced into prostitution by the domineering head widow, Madhumati (Manorama). It is Chuyia who leads Kalyani to meet the alluring law student and Gandhi nationalist Narayan (John Abraham), with whom Kalyani falls in love, despite the taboos. What happens next – an attempt at escape fueled by passion and bravery — will change Chuyia forever and bring both tragedy and an unexpected ray of hope to the widow house.

LIKE STARS ON EARTH

Ishaan Awasthi is an eight-year-old whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate; colours, fish, dogs and kites are just not important in the world of adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks and neatness. And Ishaan just cannot seem to get anything right in class. When he gets into far more trouble than his parents can handle, he is packed off to a boarding school to ‘be disciplined’. Things are no different at his new school, and Ishaan has to contend with the added trauma of separation from his family. One day a new art teacher bursts onto the scene, Ram Shankar Nikumbh, who infects the students with joy and optimism. He breaks all the rules of ‘how things are done’ by asking them to think, dream and imagine, and all the children respond with enthusiasm, all except Ishaan. Nikumbh soon realizes that Ishaan is very unhappy, and he sets out to discover why. With time, patience and care, he ultimately helps Ishaan find himself.

BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM – PG 13


A wedding. Cross-cultural clashes. A young woman getting a makeover and finding herself. But there’s no Windex and this isn’t My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In fact, it’s not My Big Fat Indian Wedding, either. However, it is a feel-good comedy that traverses similar territory, if not exactly the same road. Marketing will probably have a lot to do with whether Bend It Like Beckham finds its audience in North America (it’s already an unqualified success overseas), but I would venture a guess that most people who were entertained by My Big Fat Unexpected Box Office Hit will leave this movie with the same kind of warm, fuzzy feeling deep inside. Continue reading