Desh Pardesh

Julia may be 10 years old and lives near the Czechoslovakian border. For some time she had become mute, but she lives a rather normal life, going to school and playing with other kids. One day the other kids urge her to go into the tunnels at the border. These tunnels are military remnants from the Second World War, which the Czechoslovakian authorities have no doubt done their best to block effectively. Nevertheless, Julia comes out on the Czechoslovakian side, where a team of soldiers are building a high and solid steel fence to prevent other kinds of escape. Julia and a middle-aged soldier become friends, and he helps her to avoid being detected by the others. For many weeks she goes forth and back between the two countries. The man also promises to change the place of the fence so that her tunnel will not be closed. He knows too much about the leading officer, so the latter would never dare to protest. But whatever the reason, one day Julia finds the fence at a place she cannot cross. She has lost her best friend.

A well connected, reformed street enforcer gets pulled back into the life after he consigns for a relative who reneges on a deal.

A tragic love story set against the background of the coup d'étet of February 26, 1936.

Six more sleeps till it's out

"In 1909, Dr Iqbal wrote his infamous poem, 'Shikwa.' At the time his work caused some outrage and had him labeled blasphemous, it took some time for people to appreciate that their was no disrespect intended by him, but instead his complain...t to his Lord was one that arose from helplessness and confusion. He lived and witnesses a period of great socio-political turmoil, the rise and falls of nations and the decaying fabric of society. The Asian subcontinent was going through the most troublesome period in its history, whilst internationally the geo-political landscape was transforming from Imperial rule to the emergence of the 'Nation State ideology.' Dr Iqbal witnesses the moral values of community, tolerance and kinship eroding and being replaced by ethnic lines of social divide, he saw the advance of capitalism and the race for political and economic control taking over at the cost of humanity and equality. As a storyteller, Shikwa not only inspired me but I saw a tremendous relevance to the world we live in today, in a way Ashen Streets was my way of making the viewer ponder on the realities we face today. However this film is not a visualization of Shikwa but an attempt to make us reflect on our selves and our contribution to society, and how accountable we all are as individuals to the problems faced by the collective.