Dir. Ashim Ahluwalia.

Cast. Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Niharika Singh, Menaka Lalwani, Anil George, Zeena Bhatia

Year. 2012

Country. India

Run-time. 110 mins

Rating. 15

Brothers Sonu (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) and Vicky (Anil George) are prolific producers of trashy films in 1980s Mumbai's underground pornographic and horror film industry. When the siblings meet Pinky (Niharika Singh), a sultry actress with a shady past, their precarious partnership is tested, and Sonu is led deeper into a world of alcoholic divas, sleazy loansharks, and glamour-seeking gangsters. Moving from gangster flick to romance to art-kitsch, the film’s opaque narrative, shifting tone and rich visual palette earned director Ahluwalia comparisons to Wong Kar Wai, RW Fassbinder, and Dario Argento when it premiered in the Un Certain Regard at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.

This screening will be introduced by Jasper Sharp.

With thanks to Day For Night.

Also showing in The New Indian Cinema season: Temple (Deool) (2011) and Court (2014). Part of Deptford Cinema's new Silk Road Film Club strand.