Movies: Mani Kaul

A literary film based on a play in three acts, Ashad Ka Ek Din portrays the love of Mallika and Kalidasa, the renowned Sanskrit poet and dramatist. Vilom, a friend to both and interested in Mallika, is a passive onlooker for the first two acts. Kalid...

Samar wants to be successful in life but his parents force him to get married. His wife is shy and reserved and Samar does not like this. The other members in the family often ill-treat her....

A very clever parrot lives in a Hindu palace, surrounded by many beautiful girls, but the parrot escapes, and is trapped far from the palace. One day, when its new owner is sleeping, the bird convinces a young boy to open the cage door. In return, it...

This film suggests a network of hierarchical relations between people through sometimes subtle and at other times blunt illustrations....

The film depicts the life of a truck driver Sucha Singh and his wife Balo. Balo has to get Sucha Singh's food ready every day, walk a long distance through the fields and wait for him on the highway as he drives past the village. He leads an independ...

Ramesh is a poorly paid employee in the city Power House. His only child has high temperature, but he mistakes it for common fever. At the Power House, employees including Ramesh demand a pay rise. When the management turns down this demand, they pl...

A stylized version of Vijay Tendulkar’s radical Marathi play chronicling the Peshwa regime in western India, a collective effort of direction and cinematography made by an independent group of young filmmakers....

An impressionistic biographical look at Siddheshwari Devi (1908–1977), the classical Indian singer whose voice was appreciated by the maharajas and public alike....

Taking an experimental approach to the relationship between the written text and moving image, Mani Kaul has a series of texts read aloud in voice-overs (poetry, essays, and stories), while the characters within the texts walk through real or imagina...

Despite its suggestive title, this multi-part Danish omnibus film is not a work of exploitation. Instead, it presents 20 different short films (back-to-back) on the general theme of Danish women, directed by filmmakers including Krzysztof Zanussi, Mo...

In a poetic hour and a half, director Mani Kaul looks at the ancient art of making pottery from a wide variety of perspectives....

A middle-aged antique dealer and money lender recollects his marriage to a 17-year-old orphan girl....

A newly-married merchant’s son is sent away for business. A ghost, who laid eyes on the bride, falls madly in love with her and takes the form of the husband and begins living with her....

A 'filmscape' on the Kashmir valley....

The film shows the role of school teachers and the importance thereof....

Documentary short about the nomadic puppeteers of Rajasthan....

Based on the text written by Vijaydan Detha and Kamal Kothari, the film is set in the arid desert of Rajasthan, a setting similar to Duvidha, where two rival clans face off one another in the desert....

A documentary on the role of women in India....

To the city come men, women, fruits, flowers, vegetables, goats and sheep – all ready for consumption. It is the process of consumption/exploitation that forms the core of the film....

This documentary is a three-part tribute to director Guru Dutt, who died in 1964 at the age of 39. The work traces Guru Dutt's personal story through many interviews with his family members and colleagues and observes his work through the use of exte...