Composer

A. R. Rahman

5: briefs
13:00: average
65 min: in total

On film.briefs5

Rang De Basanti

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra · 2006

Rang De Basanti (2006) follows five Delhi students drawn into a British filmmaker’s documentary about 1920s Indian revolutionaries. As they rehearse acts of defiance, real-world corruption forces them to confront their own passivity. Directed by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, with cinematography by Binod Pradhan and music by A. R. Rahman, it blends contemporary realism with historical re-enactment to ask what civic courage costs today. Though its climax strains credibility, its emotional logic and ensemble performances sustain its 157-minute runtime.

13:00

Bombay

Mani Ratnam · 1995

Mani Ratnam’s 1995 Tamil drama Bombay follows a Hindu journalist and a Muslim schoolteacher who marry, raise twin sons, and build a life in Bombay — until the 1992–93 communal riots tear their world apart. Shot by Rajiv Menon and scored by A. R. Rahman, it anchors large-scale tragedy in small, tactile details: shared meals, childhood routines, the weight of names. Though criticised for narrative simplifications and political abstraction, its enduring power lies in its unwavering focus on love as labour, harmony as habit, and survival as quiet persistence.

13:00

Jodhaa Akbar

Ashutosh Gowariker · 2008

A 2008 Hindi-language biographical epic directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, Jodhaa Akbar dramatises the 16th-century political marriage between Mughal emperor Akbar and Rajput princess Jodhaa Bai. Starring Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai, it uses spectacle, music by A. R. Rahman, and Neeta Lulla’s award-winning costume design to explore tolerance as daily practice — shared meals, translated texts, adjusted postures — rather than abstract ideal. Though criticised for compressing historical complexity and underdeveloping its female lead’s interiority, it remains notable for its visual coherence, disciplined pacing, and commitment to craft over concision.

13:00

Lagaan

Ashutosh Gowariker · 2001

A 2001 Hindi-language epic set in 1893 colonial India, where villagers challenged to a cricket match against British officers wager their land tax. Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and starring Aamir Khan, it blends musical form with historical allegory, foregrounding collective discipline over individual heroism. Shot over months in Gujarat’s Kutch district, its 224-minute runtime sustains drought, training, and match with patient craft — Anil Mehta’s cinematography, A. R. Rahman’s score, Bhanu Athaiya’s costumes. Critically acclaimed, it was India’s third Oscar submission for Best Foreign Language Film.

13:00

Swades

Ashutosh Gowariker · 2004

A NASA engineer returns to rural India to find his childhood nanny and stays to build a micro-hydroelectric plant. Directed by Ashutosh Gowariker and starring Shah Rukh Khan, Swades (2004) is a deliberate, physically grounded Hindi drama that treats infrastructure, education, and caste not as themes but as daily practices — demanding patience, precision, and collective labour over rhetoric or revelation.