Agni Varsha (2002)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

Director:

Arjun Sajnani

Writers:

Girish Karnad (play)
Anil Mehta (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

30 August 2002 (India)

Genre:

Drama | Fantasy

Tagline:

An epic tale of love and sacrifice

Plot:

This is the story of wronged and misunderstood Arvasu (Milind Soman), a brahman by caste, who has become a performing actor...

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jackie Shroff	...	Paravasu
Kumar Iyengar	...	Senior Courtier
Raveena Tandon	...	Vishakha
Nagarjuna Akkineni	...	Yavakri (as Nagarjuna)
Ashfaq Rauf	...	King
Milind Soman	...	Arvasu
Sonali Kulkarni	...	Nittilai
Gopal Piplani	...	Junior Courtier
Prabhu Deva	...	Rakshasa (as Prabhudeva)
Tarun Kapoor	...	Courtier
Raghuvir Yadav	...	Actor Manager (Sutradhar)
Mohan Agashe	...	Raibhya
Veena Sajnani	...	Actor Manager's Wife
Sandeep B.G.	...	Vishwa
Zul Vellani	...	Andhaka
Amog	...	Child
Amitabh Bachchan	...	Indra (Special Appearance)
Nikita	...	Child
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dipti Bhatnagar	...	Dancer ('Chal Re Sajan') (as Deepti Bhatnagar)
Raghupati Fai	...	Brahmin
Khalid	...	Chanting Brahmin
Gopi Krishna	...	Chanting Brahmin
Lakshmi Krishnamurthy	...	Nittilai's Aunt
Ashok Kumar	...	Brahmin
Gopi Kumar	...	Brahmin
Sri Kumar	...	Chanting Brahmin
Gohul V.B. Nair	...	Chanting Brahmin
Pradeep	...	Chanting Brahmin
Pradeesh	...	Nittilai's Husband
Rajeev	...	Brahmin (as Rajiv)
Anil Ram	...	Chanting Brahmin
Sameem Rizvi	...	Nittilai's Brother
G. Shankar Rao	...	Nittilai's Father
Deepti Sudhendra	...	Siddhi
Arun V.S.	...	Brahmin

Directed by
Arjun Sajnani

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Girish Karnad		play "The Fire and the Rain"
Anil Mehta		screenplay
Arjun Sajnani		screenplay
Atul Tiwari		dialogue
Jayshree T.		screenplay (as T. Tayashree)

Produced by
Meeta Khanna	....	executive producer
Seema Sawhney	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Taufiq Qureshi
Sandesh Shandilya

Cinematography by
Anil Mehta

Film Editing by
Jabeen Merchant

Art Direction by
Shashi Adappa

Costume Design by
Rukmini Krishnan
Leena Singh

Makeup Department
Praveen Bhate	....	makeup artist: Ms. Tandon (as Praveen Bhatte)
Chandra	....	assistant makeup artist (as Chandru)
Tanuja Dabir	....	makeup artist: Ms. Kulkarni
S. Maliq	....	wigs
Raghu	....	makeup artist
Rakesh	....	assistant makeup artist
Ramakrishna	....	makeup artist (as Rama Krishna)
Shashi Satam	....	makeup artist: Mr. Shroff

Production Management
Harish Amin	....	unit manager
M.G. Sathya	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
T. Jayashree	....	first assistant director
Vidura Jung Bahadur	....	assistant director
Mushfiq Khan	....	assistant director
M.R. Shubha	....	assistant director

Art Department
Krishna Raichur	....	art department assistant
Ravi Sarvesh	....	art department assistant
Sonal Sawant	....	associate art director

Sound Department
Amit	....	sound assistant
Sajjan Choudhary	....	foley artist (as Sajjan)
R. Gupta	....	foley artist
Boby John	....	supervising sound editor
Sajith Koyeri	....	ProTools operator (as Shajith K.)
Sanjay Kurian K.	....	post-production sound assistant (as Sanjay Kurein)
Ajay Kumar P.B.	....	sound re-recording mixer
Resul Pookutty	....	foley engineer
P.M. Satheesh	....	sound designer: Dolby Digital Design
Karnail Singh	....	foley artist
Jayant Vajpayee	....	sound assistant (as Jayant)
Girja Shankar Vohra	....	location sound (as Girija Vohra)
M.D. Yakub	....	boom operator

Visual Effects by
Vishal Anand	....	visual effects
Sachdev Bharat	....	visual effects
Sherry Bharda	....	visual effects
Amit Chomal	....	visual effects
Prakash D'Cunha	....	visual effects
Sanjay Francis	....	visual effects
Roshini Joshi	....	visual effects
Rahul Kallankandy	....	visual effects (as Rahul Kalankandy)
Pankaj Khandpur	....	visual effects
Giles Livesey	....	digital film colorist
Sandesh Pai	....	visual effects
Rohit Prasad	....	visual effects editor
Piku Shahani	....	visual effects
Vandana Shrivastava	....	visual effects
Aquil Unia	....	visual effects
Anand Vishal	....	visual effects

Stunts
Sheikh Aloo	....	action assistant
Allan Amin	....	stunt director (as Alan Amin)
Babubhai	....	action assistant
Gregory D'Souza	....	action assistant (as Gregory D. Souza)
Firoz Khan	....	action assistant
Amar Reddy	....	action assistant
Francis D. Souza	....	action assistant

Camera and Electrical Department
G.R. Adam	....	co-grip
Balaram Dawande	....	lighting technician (as Balaram Davande)
Tukaram Joshi	....	lighting technician
Nazir Khan	....	crane operator
Rasool Khan	....	lighting technician
Ravi Kuduur	....	crane operator (as Ravi)
Mohan Mishra	....	lighting technician (as Mohan Misra)
K.U. Mohanan	....	chief associate camera operator
K. Narayanan	....	lighting technician
Madhu Neelkanthan	....	first assistant camera
Bageshwar Pandey	....	lighting technician
Kishen Parva	....	lighting technician
Sapnesh Pradham	....	lighting technician
Ram Prasad	....	focus puller
Ramana	....	crane operator (as Ramanna)
C. Ramesh	....	still photographer
Mohammed Hamid Shah	....	lighting technician
Sharif Ali Shah	....	lighting technician
Abdul Hamid Sheikh	....	gaffer (as Abdul Hamid Shaikh)
R. Siddharth	....	second assistant camera
Subhan Stavan	....	lighting technician
Rafiq Virani	....	lighting technician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Satyanarayana D.Y.	....	dresser (as Satyanarayana)
Apparao Govind	....	dresser
Ramkrishna	....	dresser
Anna Singh	....	costume consultant: Ms. Tandon and Mr. Shroff

Editorial Department
Jitendra Matharoo	....	negative cutter

Music Department
K.S. Chitra	....	playback singer
John C.	....	background score recording engineer
Devissaro	....	choir trainer
Zakir Hussain	....	musician: tabla
Pamela Jain	....	playback singer
Kay Kay	....	playback singer
Ustad Sultan Khan	....	musician
Jaspinder Narula	....	playback singer
K. Sethuraman	....	song recording & mixing
Alka Yagnik	....	playback singer

Other crew
Mabeet Abbas	....	marketing and promotions
Shivani Bali	....	production coordinator
Harish Banavar	....	production assistant
Arvind Bhanushali	....	television public relations
Makrand Deshpande	....	dubbing artist: "Rakshasa"
Prabhu Deva	....	choreographer (as Prabhudeva)
Bhushan Lakandri	....	choreographer (as Bhushan Lakhandri)
Rajendra Rao	....	public relations officer
Akram Shah	....	production consultant
Vinod Sharma	....	dubbing artist: "Andhaka"
Daksha Sheth	....	choreographer
Rajendranath Zutshi	....	dubbing artist: "Yavakri" (as Raj Zutshi)

Production Companies

• Sunny Films (co-produced)
• iDream Productions

Distributors

• CMV Laservision (2008) (Germany) (DVD)
• Cinebella Entertainment (USA) (subtitled)
• Singa Home Entertainment (2003) (worldwide) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Western Outdoor (visual effects)

Other Companies

• Aradhana Sound Services  foley recording studios
• BM Digital  sound recording
• Echelon Studios  sales agent
• Firefly's Post Sound  audio post-production
• Mantra, Ramoji Film City  telecine transfers
• Ramoji Film City  telecine transfers
• Scuba Location Sound  location sound equipment
• Sound City  sound recording

Also Known As:

Agnivarsha: The Fire and the Rain (USA)
The Fire and the Rain (USA)

Runtime:

UK:130 min | USA:126 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Hampi, Karnataka, India

Company:

Sunny Films

Sparks Fly in Sajnani's "The Fire and The Rain"

The first major Indian motion picture to have been "showered" with praise by the American media (with raves from the New York Times and L.A. Times) is quite worthy of the acclaim it has received.

Adapted from a play, (which was derived from the Hindu epic the Mahabharata) Sajnani's film is for those who can look beyond the action on screen and deduce various ideas and philosophies from the story being told. The film is loaded with symbolism and deeper meaning, and manages to raise quite a few provocative questions about divinity and society.

The other great attraction here, besides the allegorical plot, is the cinematography. The entire film has been set to celluloid by the camera of Anil Mehta (who has previously helmed the lavish Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and the epic, Oscar nominated LAGAAN: Once Upon A Time in India). A famous and attractive historical site in India (the temple ruins of Hampi) is portrayed fantastically in the film by Mehta. His wide-angle panoramic scenes must been seen to be believed.

Other aspects of the film are just about alright. Performances are functional, but Sajnani seems to have been torn as to whether he wanted his characters to be completely melodramatic and stage-like or somewhat restrained. As a result, the actors deliver very confused expressions and dialogs throughout the film. Still, actors Jackie Shroff and Raveena Tandon manage to leave quite an impact in their roles. The show-stealer, however, is screen legend Amitabh Bachan. His 'divine' little role is the one that will linger in the cine-goers mind long after its two hour duration comes to an end. The song-and-dance sequences provide a fine break from the dramatics of the film, but one or two of the songs could have been cut. Background music is pretty well done, but the same cannot be said of the special effects.

Despite the merits of the film, I can't help but feel the film could have managed a much stronger impact if Sajnani had opted for a less linear mode of story telling. Something similar to Tarantino's Pulp Fiction could have worked wonders for the film. As it is now, the film is pretty convoluted and has some continuity and pacing issues. Editing is the film's most glaring shortcoming.

In any case, the film is a worthy effort from India and worth a watch. I would especially recommend it to those who are interested in Hindu theology or philosophy.