Ravi Malik

Mumbai, 1992. Naseem, a 15 year-old schoolgirl, lives with her grandfather and grows up with stories of pre-independence communal harmony. Later, she helplessly watches the communal situation regression with the demolition of Babri Masjid.

Shanichari is a beautiful girl born in lower cast and her life is full of sufferings because of lower cast, poor finances, lost parents, drunken husband, mischievous son. The title refers to a custom in some parts of Rajasthan—where aristocratic women were long kept secluded and veiled—of hiring professional women mourners on the death of a male relative, a rudaali (pronounced “roo-dah-lee”—literally, a female “weeper”) to publicly express the grief that family members, constrained by their high social status, were not permitted to display—or at times, perhaps did not feel. Underwritten by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) and Doordarshan (Indian national television) and based on a short story by famed Bengali author Mahasweta Devi—whose tales often focus on the travails of low-caste women.

Rajanna and Geeta arrive in the city with the hope of building a cozy little home. When they find their dream house, their happiness knows no bounds. Things are fine till, one day, a loud workshop opens up next door.

Ashoke Gupta is an idealistic doctor working in a town near Calcutta. He discovers that the water at a popular temple is the source of an outbreak of typhoid and hepatitis. In order to save lives, he risks his career to try and call attention to this polluted water source, while a local group of building contractors attempt to discredit him in various ways.

Uma, a mute Brahmin girl, lives with her uncle's family as she is an orphan. Since Uma has a faulty horoscope which indicate widowhood, the family finds it impossible to get her married off. According to a custom prevalent at the time, Uma is given in marriage to a tree.

Dalit Jagseer Singh's troubles do not seem to end in this poignant portrayal of life in a small village of Punjab in newly independent India.

A party is held in honor of the recipient of a literary prize, which attracts the cultural elite of the town. Missing is Amrit, a writer who left a promising literary career to become an activist among the tribals. His attempt to bridge the chasm between words and deed haunts those at the party. Based on a Marathi play by Mahesh Elkunchwa.