Synopsis:
A young British actress (Felicity Kendal) traveling across India in a Shakespearean troupe with her father (Geoffrey Kendal) and mother (Laura Liddell) falls for a playboyish man (Shashi Kapoor) with a possessive Bollywood mistress (Madhur Jaffrey).

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Actors and Actresses
• Cross-Cultural Romance
• Indian Films
• Love Triangle
• Merchant and Ivory Films
• Shakespeare

Review:
James Ivory and Ismail Merchant’s second feature-length film together after The Householder (1963) [non-GFTFF] was this adaptation of journals (later published as a memoir) by Geoffrey Kendal, who starred alongside his wife, daughters, and son-in-law (Kapoor) as a real-life version of himself. The storyline takes place during an intriguing time in Indian history, when Geoffrey’s troupe was at the tale end of (according to Wikipedia) “perform[ing] Shakespeare before royalty one day, and in rural villages the next,” with “many of their audiences… schoolchildren.”

In the film, we see Geoffrey struggling to secure work for his company:

… given that Indian culture is shifting towards more interest in sports and Bollywood features:

… which in some ways feels entirely appropriate given the necessary trajectory of post-colonialist initiatives.

The emotional crux of the narrative lies in the tentative romance between Felicity and Kapoor — which is hard to take at first given his duplicity.

However, Jaffrey is arrogant and entitled enough herself that we can see Kapoor would be much better off with Felicity — but is romance with Kapoor what’s best for her? The cinematography by Subrata Mitra (Satyajit Ray’s DP) is effectively atmospheric throughout, and Ray’s score — composed in just 10 days — is perfectly suited for the story. While it’s not must-see viewing, this film is well worth a look, and will be of special interest to Merchant-and-Ivory fans.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Felicity Kendal as Lizzie
  
• Madhur Jaffrey as Manjula
  
• Geoffrey Kendal and Laura Liddell as Tony and Carla Buckingham
  
• Subrata Mitra’s cinematography
  
• Satyajit Ray’s score

Must See?
No, but it’s recommended for one-time viewing.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• Time Out Capsule Review
• TCM Article