''The Desire: A Journey of a Woman'' is a 2010 Indo-

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

feature film, directed by

R. Sarath R. Sarath is an Indian film director and screenwriter working primarily in the Cinema of Kerala, Malayalam film industry. Career Sarath's rendezvous with films started with ''Sayahnam (Twilight)'' in 2000.The film marked his debut as a directo ...

. Starring

Shilpa Shetty Shilpa Shetty Kundra (born Ashwini Shetty; Née Shetty; 8 June 1975) is an Indian actress who works mainly in Hindi-language films. Shetty made her screen debut in the thriller ''Baazigar'' (1993) which garnered her nominations for two Filmfare ...

in the lead role, the film also stars Chinese actor Xia Yu along with Indian actors and actresses

Jaya Prada Jaya Prada Nahata (born Lalitha Rani; 3 April 1962) is an Indian actress and politician. She is hailed as one of the most iconic and influential actresses in both Telugu and Hindi film industries in late '70s, '80s and early '90s. Jayaprada i ...

, Anupam Kher,

Sheetal Menon Sheetal Menon is an Indian model and actress. Her origin is Kerala and Mangalore.https://www.thekashmirmonitor.net/i-never-saw-myself-making-a-film-sheetal-menon/ Menon is trained in Bharatanatyam and Odissi classical dance, trained under Gu ...

and

Sachin Khedekar Sachin Khedekar (born 14 May 1965) is an Indian actor and director known for his work in Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Gujarati language films. His well-known films include '' Kaksparsh'', '' Astitva'' and Shyam Benegal's '' Neta ...

. The film began shooting in January 2009 and was expected for a public release in mid-2009 but was not released due to production problems, including the original producer leaving midway through shooting, only to be replaced by Shetty's mother, Sunanda. It was subsequently screened at film festivals worldwide and set for release in India and China in August 2012, but was still listed as forthcoming as late as September 2012. The movie was shot in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

Nasik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nashik ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

."The Desire makes waves"
''The Hindu''. Retrieved 2011-04-25. ''The Desire'' is a film about "dance, music, art, culture and emotions". It tells the journey of an Indian classical dancer, Goutami, and the love story between her and a Chinese

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

, Jai Leang, whom she meets during a travel assignment.

Cast

as Goutami * Xia Yu as Jai Leang *

as Goutami's mother * Anupam Kher *

Nakul Vaid Nakul Vaid is an Indian actor who has appeared in the film ''The Lunchbox'' (2013), ''Ab Tak Chhappan'' (2004) and ''Chak De! India'' (2007). He also played the lead roles in films like ''Samvedna'' (2002), '' With Love Tumhara'' (2006) and '' M ...

Vikram Gokhale Vikram Gokhale (14 November 1945 – 26 November 2022) was an Indian film, television and stage actor, noted for his roles in Marathi theatre, Hindi films and television. He was the son of the Veteran Marathi theater and film actor, Chandrakant ...

Aasif Sheikh Aasif Sheikh (born 11 November 1964) is an Indian film, stage, and television artist. He played the role of Prince Ajay Singh in '' Hum Log''. He has appeared in numerous Bollywood films and TV serials. He acted in the TV series Yes Boss w ...

* Vinayak Vinod as Musui * Priyanka Pripri as Priyanka Pripri

Music

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

was approached to compose the music for the film but he declined, citing a busy schedule. The soundtrack was then scored by the acclaimed composer trio

Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy () is an Indian musical trio consisting of Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa. They have composed music for over 50 soundtracks across five languages: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and English. Amongst t ...

, whilst the background score was composed by

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, professionally known as V. M. Bhatt (born 27 July 1950), is an Hindustani classical music instrumentalist who plays the Mohan veena (slide guitar). Personal life Bhatt lives in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, with his wife and ...

. To give an

Odissi Odissi (), also referred to as Orissi in old literature, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temple, temples of Odisha – an eastern coastal state of India.Jagannath Jagannath ( or, ଜଗନ୍ନାଥ, lit=Lord of the Universe, Jagannātha; formerly en, Juggernaut) is a deity worshipped in regional Hindu traditions in India and Bangladesh as part of a triad along with his brother Balabhadra, and sister ...

, an integral part of the dance form, was included during the dance. The film has two classical songs, a Sanskrit sloka by eminent Poet Pdt.

Manmohan Acharya Manmohan Acharya was a poet and lyricist from India. His Sanskrit poems and lyrics have been put to music and danced to in the Odissi classical Indian dance form. A devotional song from his '' Gitamohanam'' was featured in the 2009 Bollywood ...

and an

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

song taken from Padyaballi, written by Gopalkrushna Patnaik. Two more tracks were added by international new age singer-songwriter and composer Priyanka Pripri from

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia to add a fusion of Indian and Chinese music.

Honours

* Best Narrative Feature Film at the 2011 Geneva International Film Festival

References

External links

Official trailer
at

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Desire 2010s Hindi-language films Films directed by R. Sarath Indian LGBT-related films Indian multilingual films 2010s Cantonese-language films