Calcutta before the independence: a young boy, Ravi, helps a girl, Masha, to escape from a carpet factory and therefore it's pedophile owner but isn't able to flee himself. Years later he has earned enough money to ransom himself and finds work at a small carpet dealer in Calcutta. Masha, who ended up in a brothel after her escape but has waited for Ravi all the years, finds her hopes destroyed when she sees Ravi with the salesman's daughter, believing she is his wife and marries a customs officer, who proposed to her. Ravi, unable to find Masha, marries the salesman's daughter after her father dies. After some months Masha and Ravi meet because Ravi and Masha's husband do business together. Masha and Ravi begin carry on an affair but are parted again when Mashas husband moves to Kerala with her. Years later, Ravi has two children now, Masha's husband visits Ravi and tells him he left Masha because he found out that her child wasn't from him, but from Ravi. Ravi and Masha meet again in the brothel whereto she returned after her husband has left her. Again eons later they meet where everything has begun: Ravi visits the now abandoned carpet factory and finds the now blind Masha living there but he is unable or unwilling to tell her that he is Ravi.
I as a German and a fan of Indian- and Bollywoodcinema was really looking forward seeing this film, made by a German director set in India. Sad thing to say that I was disappointed in almost every possible way. This was one of the very few movies which really made me aggressive. After thinking a lot about how that could happen I found out that it is because Ravi is living an unhappy life only because he is too coward to make one brave decision and be true to his love. He has the change more than five times in the movie and I really hated him for being so stupid. I felt he really didn't deserve to be happy with Masha if he lets her down all the time. I know that life isn't easy, but I think concerning these essential questions a movie should give us at least a little hint how to manage life. And not just show how you to do it wrong all your life like this movie does.
What disappointed me as well is that the film is placed in India but has nothing to do with it. I know love is an universal thing, so true love stories would be the same worldwide but when a German goes to India to make a movie, I think he should include some of the problems lovers have in that specific country. That is what I like about the movies of Mani Ratnam, like DIL SE or BOMBAY which are beautiful love stories but also deal with the problems of his country, like terrorism, religious conflicts etc. SHADOWS OF TIME features none of these topics and therefore it could also be placed in 19th century Great Britain or America for example. Sad thing is that this fact makes the beautiful setting just decor.
So this movie gets one point for the decor and a half for the score (which is nice but one of the typical one-musical-tune-in-a-thousand-variations-soundtracks) but it also gets at least five hundred negative points for the worst story in months.
I really would like to say something different but if you are planning in investigating in this movie (buying a DVD or a ticket), spend it on one of the real great Indian movies, besides of the one's I mentioned above I recommend KAMA SUTRA A TALE OF LOVE and FIRE.
I as a German and a fan of Indian- and Bollywoodcinema was really looking forward seeing this film, made by a German director set in India. Sad thing to say that I was disappointed in almost every possible way. This was one of the very few movies which really made me aggressive. After thinking a lot about how that could happen I found out that it is because Ravi is living an unhappy life only because he is too coward to make one brave decision and be true to his love. He has the change more than five times in the movie and I really hated him for being so stupid. I felt he really didn't deserve to be happy with Masha if he lets her down all the time. I know that life isn't easy, but I think concerning these essential questions a movie should give us at least a little hint how to manage life. And not just show how you to do it wrong all your life like this movie does.
What disappointed me as well is that the film is placed in India but has nothing to do with it. I know love is an universal thing, so true love stories would be the same worldwide but when a German goes to India to make a movie, I think he should include some of the problems lovers have in that specific country. That is what I like about the movies of Mani Ratnam, like DIL SE or BOMBAY which are beautiful love stories but also deal with the problems of his country, like terrorism, religious conflicts etc. SHADOWS OF TIME features none of these topics and therefore it could also be placed in 19th century Great Britain or America for example. Sad thing is that this fact makes the beautiful setting just decor.
So this movie gets one point for the decor and a half for the score (which is nice but one of the typical one-musical-tune-in-a-thousand-variations-soundtracks) but it also gets at least five hundred negative points for the worst story in months.
I really would like to say something different but if you are planning in investigating in this movie (buying a DVD or a ticket), spend it on one of the real great Indian movies, besides of the one's I mentioned above I recommend KAMA SUTRA A TALE OF LOVE and FIRE.