Director: Pradeep Kishen; Writer: Pradip Krishen, Raghuvir Yadav; Producer: Ravi Malik; Cinematographer: R.K. Bose; Cast: Raghuvir Yadav, Barry John, Arundhati Roy, Jacqueline Garewal, Sudhir Kulkarni, Virendra Saxena, Madan Lal, Francis King, Lalloo Ram, Hemant Mishra, Vasant Joglekar, James Ure, David Maurice
Duration: 02:10:37; Aspect Ratio: 1.495:1; Hue: 37.954; Saturation: 0.083; Lightness: 0.163; Volume: 0.111; Cuts per Minute: 5.022
Summary: Satirical comment on colonial India set in 1929
and featuring a government clerk named
Francis Massey (Yadav). Because of his
constant interactions with the British, Massey
fancies himself to be just like an Englishman.
However, he has to deploy extreme financial
ingenuity to keep the wolf from the door.
When Massey’s boss Charles Adam (Barry
John) lacks the funds to complete his dream
project of building a road through the forest,
Massey manages to get the scheme finished
through financial skullduggery, persuasion and
threats. To his surprise, an unofficial road tax
he levies is considered to be corruption by the
very boss who had condoned Massey’s earlier
shenanigans. Frustrated and humiliated,
Massey attacks and kills his old friend Banaji
when the latter refuses to help. Massey is
arrested for murder and Adam advises him to
plead guilty to accidental manslaughter, but
Massey refuses, assuming that his colonial
associations will get him off the hook.
Krishen’s feature debut reveals many technical
inadequacies, but Yadav’s fine performance
inaugurated a screen image he has maintained
ever since.
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