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Kumar Shahani

Directing

Biography

Kumar Shahani (7 December 1940 – 24 February 2024) was an Indian film director and screenwriter.

Known For

Tarang
6.3

Rahul, the son-in-law of an old industrialist and one of the heirs to his fortune, clashes with Dinesh, the industrialist’s nephew who is openly unscrupulous. Rahul, on his part, conceals his personal ambition under a cloak of liberalism and encourages indigenous production.

Tarang

1984
Kasba
6.0

The story centers around a small town entrepreneur named Maniram who makes a major profit by cheating people and selling them tainted food. His business is run by his daughter-in-law Tejo, who is married to Maniram's mentally challenged younger son. When Maniram's elder son comes back into town to get married, things start to go awry.

Kasba

1991
Celluloid Man
7.0

Indian documentary about Indian film history and P. K. Nair, the founder of the National Film Archive of India and guardian of Indian cinema. He built the archive can by can in a country where the archiving of cinema was considered unimportant.

Celluloid Man

2012
The Khayal Saga
6.6

A music student listens to stories and legends about the birth and evolution of the Khayal form of classical Indian singing. These stories are re-enacted by actors who play several key figures throughout the history of classical music.

The Khayal Saga

1989
37 Down Manmad Passenger
N/A

Sudhir - staying in a city without family roots - symbolizes the need for commitment in all young, sensitive and thinking individuals all over the world. The family is a fast-disintegrating social institution and Sudhir's Saturday night represents a true 'dolce vita' - without Fellini's irony, but sickly and sweet. The ridiculously elementary encounter with a mother prostitute as well as his final grandiose speech to the little runaway boy lose their power — and induce a facile fulfillment.

37 Down Manmad Passenger

1967
Maya Darpan
7.0

Taran lives with her father in a small town on the cusp of industrialization. Taran has a strained relationship with her father, who is increasingly bitter as he is unable to find a suitable match for his daughter. The young woman finds solace in her interactions with an engineer.

Maya Darpan

1972
Char Adhyay
5.7

Set in the Bengali Renaissance of the 1930s and 1940s. A group of young intellectuals get embroiled in the struggle for Indian independence, sometimes at the expense of their personal lives.

Char Adhyay

1997
The Glass Pane
N/A

In modern society, communication between individuals is becoming more and more difficult. Two persons may be in the same physical environment, yet it seems that a Glass Pane - invisible but strong, and very much there separates these individuals. Almost Antonioniesque in its composition, this short film is a study of a married couple who are unable to communicate with each other.

The Glass Pane

1966
No image
5.0

Tackling the theme of identity from the perspective of Asian and Afro-Caribbean actors, the film emerged from an acting workshop exploring the relationship between acting idioms in theatre and cinema led by Kumar Shahani and Alaknanda Samarth.

A Ship Aground

1988
No image
N/A

Short film shot on 16mm Kodachrome film, made in collaboration with psychoanalyst Udayan Patel.

Object

1971
Var Var Vari
N/A

Mother Nature and human emotions are placed in this melding of myth and aesthetic enigma in Kumar Shahani's short film of 25 minutes starring Mita Vashisht, created as a diploma submission for the Film and Television Institute of India(FTII) by editor and film's co-star Nandini Bedi.

Var Var Vari

1986
Bamboo Flute
N/A

Bamboo Flute is Kumar Shahani’s cinematic tribute to the flute and its importance to Indian civilisation.

Bamboo Flute

2000
Immanence
9.0

An experiment and a homage, Bhavantarana is a spiritually intoxicating documentary about classical Odissi dance maestro Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra.

Immanence

1991
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N/A

Documentary film based on the artist Akbar Padamsee.

As the Crow Flies

2004
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N/A

Short film made at Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute.

Chhapakhana

2007
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N/A

Programme on film appreciation made for Bombay TV.

Montage

1974
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N/A

Educational documentary filmed in b/w on 16mm.

Our Universe

1976
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N/A

Documentary filmed in b/w on 35mm for the Film Directorate, Gujarat, India.

A Certain Childhood

1969
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N/A

Feature documentary, completed but unreleased.

Priye Charushile

2009
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N/A

Kumar Shahani's incomplete film on psychoanalyst Wilfred R. Bion.

A Memoir of the Future

1983