''Paar'' (translation: "The Crossing ") is a 1984 Indian

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

-language film directed by

Goutam Ghose Goutam Ghose (also spelled Gautam Ghosh born 24 July 1950) is an Indian film director, Actor, music director and cinematographer, who works primarily in Bengali cinema. He is the only Indian to have received the "Vittorio Di Sica" Award, Italy ...

and produced by Swapan Sarkar. The film stars

Shabana Azmi Shabana Azmi (born 18 September 1950) is an Indian actress of Hindi film, television and theatre. One of India's most acclaimed actresses, Azmi is known for her portrayals of distinctive, often unconventional female characters across several ge ...

Naseeruddin Shah Naseeruddin Shah (born 20 July 1950) is an Indian actor. He is notable in Indian parallel cinema. He has also starred in international productions. He has won numerous awards in his career, including three National Film Awards, three Filmfare A ...

and

Om Puri Om Prakash Puri (18 October 1950 – 6 January 2017) was an Indian actor who appeared in mainstream commercial Hindi films as well as Bengali, Kannada,English, Punjabi and one Telugu film, as well as independent and art films and also starred ...

. Naseeruddin Shah won a

Volpi Cup The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

for his role as Naurangia. The film was based on Bengali story ''Paari'' by

Samaresh Basu Samaresh Basu (11 December 1924 – 12 March 1988) was a writer in modern Bengali literature, known for his versatility and vast range of themes. He wrote under the pen name ''Kalkut''. Basu was awarded the 1980 Sahitya Akademi Award in Bengal ...

Plot

The film of exploitation in rural Bihar, in which a landlord (

Utpal Dutt Utpal Dutta () (29 March 1929 – 19 August 1993) was an Indian actor, director, and writer-playwright. He was primarily an actor in Bengali theatre, where he became a pioneering figure in Modern Indian theatre, when he founded the "Little The ...

)’s men wreck a village and kill the benevolent schoolmaster (

Anil Chatterjee Anil Chatterjee (Chattopadhyay) bn, অনিল চ্যাটার্জী (চট্টোপাধ্যায়) (25 October 1929 – 17 March 1996) was an Indian actor in the Bengali cinema during the early fifties through the mid-ni ...

) who was a progressive force in the village. The labourer Naurangia (

) breaks with a tradition to passive resistance and retaliates by killing the landlord's brother. Naurangia and his wife Rama (

) become fugitives from justice. After many efforts to find sustenance elsewhere, the two decide to return home. To earn the fare, they agree to drive the herd of pigs through the river, causing the pregnant Rama to believe she has lost her baby. But they have to swim across a wide, swiftly flowing river, in which they nearly drown before reaching safety. At the end of the film Naurangia puts his ear to her belly and listens to the heartbeats of the unborn baby.

Cast

... Naurangia *

... Rama *

... Ram Naresh (Village Pradhan) *

... Landlord *

... Schoolmaster * Mohan Agashe ... Hari, Landlord's brother *

Kamu Mukherjee Kamu Mukherjee (14 June 1931 – 6 December 2003) was a Bengali actor, best known for his role as Mandar Bose in ''Sonar Kella'' and Harun in Sandip Ray's first film ''Phatik Chand''. Career Mukherjee's first film appearance was in the 1959 film ...

... Jute mill sardar *

Ruma Guha Thakurta Ruma Guha Thakurta (21 November 1934 – 3 June 2019) was an Indian actress and singer primarily associated with Bengali language films. She founded Calcutta Youth Choir in 1958. Early life Ruma Guha Thakurta was born on 3 November 1934 to ...

... Schoolmaster's wife * Usha Ganguly ... Wife of a jute mill worker * Rupa Ganguly * Kalyan Chatterjee * Sunil Mukherjee ... Kolkata pavement dweller * Bimal Deb ... Agent of piggery

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* 1984 films 1980s Hindi-language films Films featuring a Best Actress National Award-winning performance Films directed by Goutam Ghose Films featuring a Best Actor National Award-winning performance Films set in Bihar Films based on short fiction Best Hindi Feature Film National Film Award winners Films based on works by Samaresh Basu {{1980s-Hindi-film-stub