Mani Kaul

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.

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

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 shows the boy a secret passage to get into the palace.

The precautions to be taken during and after an air-raid by the people, are shown in this film.

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

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 literary film based on a play in three acts, One Day Before the Rainy Season (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. Kalidasa leaves his verdant mountain valley home for the splendour of far off Ujjain, where he wins fame. The action of the film is rooted in the village to which Kalidasa returns years later and finds Mallika married to Vilom and the mother of his child. Mallika sacrificed her love so that the poet could pursue his muse.

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.

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

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

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 imaginary landscapes.

Mani Kaul's diploma film shot at Ajanta Caves

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, Monika Treut, Gustav Hamos, David Blair, Vibeke Vogel, Dusan Makavejev, Morten Skallerud and Lars Norgaard. Some dramatic vignettes mix with other comedic ones, but all are offbeat and experimental. The picture includes one animated sequence (by Norgaard).

Chitrakathi is about the folk artists of western India who narrate with the help of leather puppets. Mani takes us to the sleepy Konkan coastal village and introduces us to the family that has preserved this unique art for several centuries.

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 independent life, playing cards with his friends and spending time with his mistress, and comes home only once a week. However, he expects his wife to play the traditional role of a devoted wife. One day Balo gets late, trying to save her sister from the advances of a lecherous villager. Sucha Singh is angry, and drives away without his food. She decides to wait for him until nightfall.

A personal video diary film using an audio recording of filmmaker Mani Kaul giving a Dhrupad lesson to poet Udayan Vajpeyi.

A documentary story told through images, poetry and the Dhrupad, a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, said to be the oldest still in use in that musical tradition.

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.

A 'filmscape' on the Kashmir valley.

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 plot to turn off the main switch of the Power House for a few minutes in order to teach a lesson to authorities. Ramesh is entrusted with this job. In the meantime, the doctor takes the decision to immediately operate on Ramesh's child. Ramesh is not aware of this. In the Power House, Ramesh turns off the main switch. The lights go off in the operation theatre too...

Sanjay and Ritu meet after two months. While Sanjay is eager to meet her, he falls short of words when they actually meet. They try to make the best use of the passing moments by making purchases and visiting restaurants but both of them realise that their relationship is a thing of the past and become conscious of the growing distance between them.

In this short, rather satirical film we meet various ill-assorted characters who are seeking their own individual ‘Gods’. The characters are a mad preacher, two drunkards, an old beggar, a little innocent boy and a withered demented woman. All of them are chasing a mirage of a supreme deity who will save them.

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

Unpaid... overworked... a woman at home.... mother ! How muchdoes her labour cost ? Raising such a questions, this film fathomshistory - of matriarchy and patriarchy, of morality, of oppressiveanti-woman modes.

Myshkin, an epileptic man, eturns from medical treatment abroad and finds himself in love with Nastasia. There are twists and turns as Myshkin gets engaged to another woman, only to have an epileptic seizure. He and Nastasia are betrothed but on the wedding day, she returns to her rich pursuer Pawan, who kills her. As both men wait together for the police, Myshkin descends into insanity.