''Trishagni'' (English: The Sand Storm) is a

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Hindi film Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

directed by

Nabendu Ghosh Nabendu Ghosh (27 March 1917 – 15 December 2007) was an Indian author in Bengali literature, and screenwriter. He has written screenplays of classic Bollywood movies like, Sujata, Bandini, Devdas, Majhli Didi, Abhimaan and Teesri Kasam. He ...

. The film was based on a historical short story set some time after the Asokan Missions, ''Moru O Sangho'' written by Saradindu Bandopadhyay, and inspired by

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

's ''

Fire Sermon Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are ...

'', and starred

Nana Patekar Vishwanath Patekar (born 1 January 1951), better known as Nana Patekar, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, film maker, and a former Indian Territorial Army officer, mainly working in Hindi and Marathi cinema. He is regarded as one of the finest an ...

Nitish Bharadwaj Nitish Bharadwaj (born 2 June 1963) is an Indian television and film actor, director, screenwriter, film and TV programme producer, veterinarian (veterinary surgeon) graduate from Mumbai Veterinary college and former Member of Parliament in Lok S ...

Pallavi Joshi Pallavi Joshi (born 4 April 1969) is an Indian actress, writer, and film producer who works primarily in Hindi films and television. In a career spanning across films and television, Joshi is the recipient of such accolades as two National Film ...

and

Alok Nath Alok Nath (born 10 July 1949) is an Indian film character actor known for his work in Hindi cinema and television. He made his film debut with the 1982 English (and Hindi) film ''Gandhi'', directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, which won an O ...

in the lead roles. The film received critical acclaim, and was awarded the

National Film Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directora ...

for Best First Film of a Director, "For excellent exploration of complex philosophical theme for the first time in Indian cinema.".

Synopsis

The film is set in the Buddhist town of Sariput in the deserts of

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

, around 200 B.C., when the town is struck by a devastating sandstorm that leaves behind only four survivors: two monks, and two children taking refuge in the monastery. Twenty years later, the monks have aged, while the boy (

Nitish Bhardwaj Nitish Bharadwaj (born 2 June 1963) is an Indian television and film actor, director, screenwriter, film and TV programme producer, veterinarian (veterinary surgeon) graduate from Mumbai Veterinary college and former Member of Parliament in Lok S ...

) and the girl (

) have grown and fall in love. The jealous monk deceitfully persuades the boy to become a monk, but the girl wins him back. As a result, both are expelled from the monastery, and that is when the sandstorm strikes once again.

Cast

as Uchanda *

as Iti *

as Thera *

as Nirvana

Critical Reception

Trishagni is also one of the films featured in Avijit Ghosh's book, 40 Retakes: Bollywood Classics You May Have Missed

References

https://learningandcreativity.com/silhouette/trishagni-nabendu-ghosh/

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0300575

Review Essay in Visual Anthropology
1988 films Indian erotic films Films based on short fiction Films set in the 1st century BC Films about Buddhism 1980s Hindi-language films Films scored by Salil Chowdhury Best Debut Feature Film of a Director National Film Award winners 1988 directorial debut films Films based on works by Saradindu Bandopadhyay