English, August, une histoire indienne

Original title: English, August

1994
1h 58m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

English, August, une histoire indienne (1994)

Agastya Sen (Rahul Bose), nicknamed "English, August", speaks and thinks in English. A lover of poetry, he listens to Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, rock, and jazz, and reads Marcus Aurelius. He is... Read allAgastya Sen (Rahul Bose), nicknamed "English, August", speaks and thinks in English. A lover of poetry, he listens to Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, rock, and jazz, and reads Marcus Aurelius. He is also an Indian Administrative Service Officer, a member of the most influential and power... Read allAgastya Sen (Rahul Bose), nicknamed "English, August", speaks and thinks in English. A lover of poetry, he listens to Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, rock, and jazz, and reads Marcus Aurelius. He is also an Indian Administrative Service Officer, a member of the most influential and powerful cadre of civil servants in India. He is sent off for a year's training to Madna, the h... Read all

Director
- Dev Benegal
Writers
- Dev Benegal
- Upamanyu Chatterjee
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

178

YOUR RATING

Director
- Dev Benegal
Writers
- Dev Benegal
- Upamanyu Chatterjee
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 wins & 2 nominations total

Photos2

User reviews9

7.6178

Featured reviews

9Prince_of _Calcutta

A great idea well executed

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.

jvalant

Funny as hell

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.

10mailshatam

DVD required. Is it available at some online store ?

Hi. I was looking for a copy of DVD of English August. But on some digging I realized that its not available in the stores at Pune and Mumbai. I have read the book and have heard a lot about the movie. The book is too good. Its subtle yet sharp. I think its one of the best works on dismal state of grass root bureaucracy in India. Apparently there was a disaster (fire or something) before the commercial launch of the movie. It looks like the movie was never released in theaters, at least not in India. I tried to search a few online movie stores in India and US, but could not get an online DVD store I can buy from. Can somebody point me to a place where I can place an order for a copy of DVD. Stores in US or India are preferable. Thanks.

8Vik-7

Preferred the book!

I liked the movie but LOVED the book! It captures the feelings of 20-something Indian youth (as the movie says" who speak better English than their native tongues) perfectly... loved the scene with the statue of Gandhi!

8m_madhu

brave effort ...

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!!

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
During the shooting Rahul Bose's dad Rupen Bose was there on location..He just fitted into the role of Paltoo Kaku like a glove because they needed a bhadra lok (Bengali gentleman).