Gangs of Wasseypur (part 1) by Anurag Kashyap

Casting: Jaideep Ahlawat, Manoj Bajpai, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Richa Chadda, Huma Qureshi

Summary:

PART I: Towards the end of colonial India, Sahid Khan loots the British trains, impersonating the legendary Sultana Daku. Now outcast, Shahid becomes a worker at Ramadhir Singh's colliery, only to spur a revenge battle that passes on to generations. At the turn of the decade, Shahid's son, the philandering Sardar Khan vows to get his father's honor back, becoming the most feared man of Wasseypur. Staying true to its real life influences, the film explores this revenge saga through the socio-political dynamic in erstwhile Bihar (North India), in the coal and scrap trade mafia of Wasseypur, through the imprudence of a place obsessed with mainstream 'Bollywood' cinema

PART II (not released in France yet): Wasseypur is no more the town that was once consumed by the raging war between Sardar Khan and Ramadhir Singh. It has spawned a new generation of money squandering lobbyists, turning into foolhardy gangs overnight. With illegal profiteering through scrap trade auctions over the Internet, corrupt government officials, election rigging and hooliganism, the town got murkier. Everyone wanted alliance with the most powerful man of Wasseypur, Faizal Khan. His sole ambition however, is to annihilate Ramadhir Singh, the man with the grand scheme. Gangs of Wasseypur-Part 2 is a fitting conclusion to this story of vengeance, which by now, not just the family but also this town has come to inherit.

ref: http://www.wasseypurworld.com/synopsis.php

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Official website:

http://www.wasseypurworld.com/index.php

Reviews: 


Les Inrockuptibles: Une saga du gangstérisme indien qui se hausse à la hauteur de Scorsese et de Coppola.

http://www.lesinrocks.com/cinema/films-a-l-affiche/gangs-of-wasseypur-part-1/

Le Monde: Dans les mines de Wasseypur, les fils de gangsters se rêvent en fils de Bollywood

http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2012/07/24/dans-les-mines-de-wasseypur-les-fils-de-gangsters-se-revent-en-fils-de-bollywood_1737661_3246.html

Libération: «Les Gangs» dégomme à tout-va

http://next.liberation.fr/cinema/2012/07/24/les-gangs-degomme-a-tout-va_835363

Ecran Large:

http://www.ecranlarge.com/movie_review-read-30694-162601.php

The Guardian: The new Indian cinema: sex, crime and censorship

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jun/21/new-indian-cinema-censorship

The Times of India: Gangs of Wasseypur

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/movie-reviews/hindi/Gangs-of-Wasseypur/movie-review/14316491.cms

The Hindu: Gangs of Wasseypur : Part-time Avenger

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article3562918.ece

Trailer (with French subtitles): 

"I Love My India" (2003) by Tejal Shah

This remarkable, shivering and bone-chilling installation by Tejal Shah  is based on the impact (or not) of the so-called "communal riot" in Gujarat (India) of February 2002 on the mindsets of a sample of Indians randomly chosen by Tejal Shah. 

This so-called "communal riot" was mostly (if not uniquely) triggered and carried out by the then (and still is) chief Minister of Gujarat Narendr Modi, his party (BJP) leaders, activists and its allies (VHP and RSS and other local outfits). 

She also questions how India, as the largest "democracy" (a concept that needs to be defined unambiguously!) of the world, has dealt with this horrendous event since February 2002 since no major Indian political leaders (neither national nor local) and since no local administrative heads of the state security, state police and state judiciary departments have been held accountable for what they did during this so-called "communal riot" and what they did not to prevent this modern-style horrendous pogrom targeted at thousands and thousands of Muslims in Gujarat. 

Several inquiries were made, either by NGOs or the Indian government, but, nobody (or almost) has since been convicted and jailed and thousands and thousands of Indians, most of whom are Muslims, are still waiting for long due rehabilitation and justice by the government of this so-called "largest democracy" of the world.

This is of course not the first incidence of Indian government's (in the largest sense of the word) cowardice, failure, and its corrupt and mean behaviour against its own people and, to make things worse, this concerns the weakest sections of its people. One only needs to remember the Bhopal gas tragedy and the recent gross corruption cases over the Commonwealth Games and 3G scam and so many other corruption incidences that have led to next to zero remedial measures nor any indictment nor any prosecution, which again question the very idea of "democracy" in present-day India. 

Shame, shame, shame on all of us Indians!

Mounir 

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Tejal Shah: I Love My India  (2003)

from http://www.womanifesto.com/ILoveMyIndia.html)

Other links: 

"India asks Beijing gallery to censor art show over Gujarat video" (The Hindu - July 23, 2012)

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3679583.ece

Interview with Tejal Shah:

http://vimeo.com/40390427

Tejal SHAH's website:

http://tejalshah.in/home/

http://tejalshah.in/project/under-the-shade-of-the-sword/i-love-my-india/

Les Enfants de Belle Ville (The Beautiful City / Shah-re Ziba) by Ashgar FARHADI

Les Enfants de Belle Ville (The Beautiful City / Shah-re Ziba) by Ashgar FARHADI

Plot:

Akbar has just turned eighteen. He has been held in a rehabilitation centre for committing murder at the age of sixteen when he was condemned to death. Legally speaking, he had to reach the age of eighteen so that the conviction could be carried out. Now, Akbar is transferred to prison to await the day of his execution. A'la, a friend of Akbar, who himself has undergone imprisonment for burglary, soon after his release tries desperately to gain the consent of Akbar's plaintiff so as to stop the execution.

from Wikipedia 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beautiful_City

Other links: 

 The New York Times (review):

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/movies/15beau.html?_r=2&oref=slogin

 Le Monde (review):

http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2012/07/10/les-enfants-de-belle-ville-les-dilemmes-moraux-d-asghar-farhadi_1731641_3246.html

Libération (review):

http://next.liberation.fr/cinema/2012/07/10/saints-jeunes-perses_832408

Télérama (review):

http://www.telerama.fr/cinema/films/les-enfants-de-belle-ville,434279.php

Les Inrockuptibles (review)

http://www.lesinrocks.com/cinema/films-a-l-affiche/les-enfants-de-belle-ville/

Asghar FARHADI 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asghar_Farhadi

TRISHNA by Michael WINTERBOTTOM

Based on Thomas Hardy's classic novel Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Trishna tells the story of one woman whose life is destroyed by a combination of love and circumstances. Set in contemporary Rajasthan, Trishna (Freida Pinto) meets a wealthy young British businessman Jay Singh (Riz Ahmed) who has come to India to work in his father's hotel business.

After an accident destroys her father's Jeep, Trishna goes to work for Jay, and they fall in love. But despite their feelings for each other, they cannot escape the conflicting pressures of a rural society which is changing rapidly through industrialisation, urbanisation and, above all, education. Trishna's tragedy is that she is torn between the traditions of her family life and the dreams and ambitions that her education has given her.

ref: Wikipedia: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trishna_%282011_film%29

other links:

on Freida PINTO: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freida_Pinto

on Riz AHMED: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riz_Ahmed

The Guardian (reviews):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/mar/08/trishna-review

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/mar/11/trishna-michael-winterbottom-review

The Hindu (Michael Winterbottom's interview):

http://www.thehindu.com/arts/cinema/article2635832.ece

 Le Monde (review):

http://www.lemonde.fr/cinema/article/2012/06/12/trishna-tess-d-uberville-version-bollywood_1716585_3476.html

L'Express (review):

http://www.lexpress.fr/actualites/1/culture/cinema-trishna-une-tragedie-moderne-au-parfum-de-bollywood_1126054.html

Trailer (with French subtitles):