English, August

The vision of Rahul Bose laying purposeless on that dilapidated cot, the curtains in the dark room fluttering to give a fleeting evidence of the raging heat outside, the fan on the ceiling turning with a reassuring repetitive noise, as the smoke slowly fills the screen. The rubber hits the spaced out road. I just had to light up, taken in by the movie hook-line-and-sinker. If you have liked fear and loathing in Las Vegas, if you have been riveted when Spud went Sputnik in Trainspotting, if you have split yourself during the round tables in That 70s show, then bet your bottom dollar on this one. Even if the names above sound Greek to you but you are a male who at least once in his life has felt you are somewhere you don't belong, have touched alcohol as a student and continued the virtue into adult life or if you have crossed teen and don't live with your folks - then do yourself a favor and watch this work of art. And if you dope, I am assuming you have watched this film one time too many already. Agastya brings into life the hidden snob in us, who is afraid to belong. H goes through the film meeting and rejecting people, creating an impenetrable social and cultural divide between himself and the people around him. As he resigns into his solitude, surrounded by colleagues and acquaintances, we are drawn into a trip of lethargy. The humor is silent and splitting. Contextual, self derogatory as well as condescending. One after the other characters from our everyday life enter the movie, your neighbour, the salesman, the loud guy who had sat at the table next to you at the café, the grocery store owner who wont give you credit. They are all there, and you are Agastya wading through them, one among them and yet far far away. It is a classic.

english, august released in 1994 was one of the first indian movies in english. this brave effort and its relative success paved the way for many such movies later in the 90s. this movie which is based on the brilliant book by upamanyu chatterjee is very well made and is enjoyable.

the movie captures well the dichotomy and the vast gap between rural india and its urban youth. rahul bose is very good as the lost young IAS officer unable to come to terms with the slow-paced rural life.

the movie is rather a faithful adaptation of the book, but nowhere as brilliant as the book itself. see the movie after reading the brilliant book.

a competent 8!!

English speaking Bong Agastya Sen is transplanted to a small town in AP and discovers to his shock that he is very much like a foreigner in his own country when taken out of his social mileu. The director has done a brilliant job of cutting out the self-indulgent, boring introspective prose present in the novel. He has cleverly disguised the fact that nothing much really happens plot-wise with the aid of some very nifty editing and I guess a 'slice of life' narrative structure. The soundbites (and pretty insightful ones at that) found throughout the movie really make the movie something special. All the actors are extremely competent and have been perfectly casted. Much, much better than the "Bombay Boys" , the "Hyderabad Blues", the "Rockfords" of this world. Hope "Split Wide Open" is just as good.

The movie is awesome - cannot imagine anyone else but Rahul Bose playing Agastya Sen - poor urban Indian caught in the madness of rural India - where everything is chaotic and illogical - the movie is awesome - just like the book by Upamanyu Chatterjee.

The movie is hilarious, balanced and representative of the Upamanyu Chatterjee novel. Although Rahul Bose doesn't quite fit the description of the urban dislocated youth of the novel, he's done a truly wonderful job. The lack of expensive camrawork et al is hardly felt as the movie takes charge of your attention span completely. The one thing for which I would be eternally grateful to the movie is for finally helping me decide on a face for the Joker of Madna and Mrs Srivastava, notwithstanding the graphical depiction of her undergarments. Rahul Bose looks at mighty ease throughout the movie and makes one suspect he truly identifies with the dislocation and perverseness which his character symbolizes. This is one movie which makes you go back and read the novel all over again and relive the moments you witnessed during the film. A rare film which has handled the subtle yet ripping humor of the novel extremely well. Overall a movie representative of the beginning of the mature Indian cinema.