Tribute to the Nooran
The other one we recommend is Train to Pakistan. Those of you who have grown up reading the novel by Khuswant Singh but haven't laid their eyes on the film yet, here is your chance. The 1998 film directed by Pamela Brooks casts Nirmal Pandey as Jaggat Singh, Mohan Agashe as Hukum Chand and Smriti Mishra as Nooran. While many of us missed it because the film ran into trouble with the censor board and ended up touring only film festivals, don't miss it this time. The inclusion of this film in the fest perhaps is a perfect chance for fans to pay tribute to Pamela who passed away in a state of coma at her Defence Colony residence last year.

The struggle
Another gem which deserves mention is Muhafiz directed by Ismail Merchant. Based on Anita Desai's In Custody, it is the emotional story of the clash between modernisation and tradition. Put in a powerhouse like Om Puri as Deven, the Hindi professor who loves Urdu poetry, add to it charactors like Safiya Begum, Imtiaz Begum, Murad, Sarla and finally Nur played by seasoned players like Sushma Seth, Shabana Azmi, Tinnu Anand and Neena Gupta and the result is a gold medal for best picture from the President of India and accolades from fans. Deven will keep you busy for a while. Do not miss.

Other films include Satyajit Ray's Ghore Baire adapted from Rabindranath Tagore's novel of the same name and the Hungarian film Relatives directed by Szabo Istavan from Zsigmond Moricz's novel of the same name among others.

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On till January 22