“Past. Presence. And future.”
আকালের সন্ধানে [Akaler Sandhane / In Search of Famine] (Mrinal Sen, 1982)
Sep
7
A clapperboard in the jungle. DP: K.K. Mahajan.
“These people have faith in me, and I have faith in their faith.”
Guide [The Guide] (Vijay Anand, 1965)
Aug
20
fasting
A scruffy looking Raju (Dev Anand) wearing the orange shawl of a holy man. DP: Fali Mistry.
Ramadan [on the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, not mid-August]: someone atones or fasts*
– Swami Ji
Due to a simple misunderstanding, a farmer mistakes tour guide Raju for a holy man. When drought hits the land, the village fool tells the townspeople that Raju, now known as Swami Ji, will fast for twelve days to bring the rain. During his reluctant fast, Raju undergoes a spiritual transformation.
* the Bales 2025 Film Challenge for August is not date-related but lists, for the most part, the colours of the rainbow.
“Those who came before have passed on. And I'm left behind. A penniless beggar. Not a cowrie to my name. Look, my purse is empty… Lord, the day is done and evening falls. Ferry me across to the other shore…”
পথের পাঁচালী [Pather Panchali / Apu 1: Song of the Little Road] (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
May
10
Stamp Out Hunger
Hands exchange food through a worn-out window. DP: Subrata Mitra.
A film about poverty for the Letter Carriers’ Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive (USA)
– Indir Thakrun, singing
दुविधा [Duvidha / The Dilemma] (Mani Kaul, 1973)
May
3
National Paranormal Day
Lachhi, the bride (Raisa Padamsee). DP: Navroze Contractor.
A supernatural theme for National Paranormal Day (USA). May 3 (coincidentally?) is also the day Charles Fort passed on to a different realm.
A ghost falls in love with a bride whose husband, a merchant, is away from home. He takes on the man's form, and lives with her.
कालिया मर्दन [Kaliya Mardan / The Childhood of Krishna] (Dhundiraj Govind Phalke, 1919)
Apr
1
April Fools' Day
Shri Krishna (Mandakini Phalke, the director's seven-year old daughter), playing his flute with a twinkle in his eye. DP: Dhundiraj Govind Phalke.
A fool or jokester for April Fools' Day
As a child, Shri Krishna, the eighth avatar of Lord Vishnu, was a prankster. The Lord and his childhood friends would steal makhan and, if there was too much to eat all at once, would share it with the monkeys.
Kaliya Mardan is one of the handful films from India's early cinematic output that has survived. Do check your attic
“I've got it. Film star! You'd be perfect. Dark glasses, lots of red lipstick, and 100,000 rupees per picture. And if it's a Hindi film, we'll all fly to Bombay.”
মহানগর [Mahanagar / The Big City] (Satyajit Ray, 1963)
Sep
6
freebie: National Lipstick Day
Edith (Vicky Redwood) applying colour to Arati's (Madhavi Mukherjee) lips. DP: Subrata Mitra.
Set in 1950s Calcutta, মহানগর is a story of emancipation in a changing society. Arati (Madhavi Mukherjee) is a housewife from a traditionalist family, who – in order to support her relatives' lavish demands – goes out to work as a door-to-door saleswoman. Slowly, she discovers her independence.
– Bani
আকালের সন্ধানে [Akaler Sandhane / In Search of Famine] (Mrinal Sen, 1981)
May
29
चाय
The Bollywood stars arrive at the temple. In the foreground one of the actresses, cupping a beaker with her hands. DP: K.K. Mahajan.
আকালের সন্ধানে [Akaler Sandhane / In Search of Famine] (Mrinal Sen, 1982)
May
28
World Hunger Day
A woman in sari looks up to the sky, her left hand shielding her eyes. DP: K.K. Mahajan.
A film crew from Calcutta arrives in a small Bengal town to make a film about the 1943 Bengal Famine. Initially, their arrival sparks joy and wonder but while filming, the participants – travelling back and forth between 1943 and 1980, Calcutta and rural Bengal, and reality and re-enactment – come to realise that #famine has many faces.