''Split Wide Open'' is a 1999 Indian film directed by

Dev Benegal Dev Benegal is an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter, most known for his debut film '' English, August'' (1994), which won the Best Feature Film in English at the 42nd National Film Awards. Early life and education Dev was born in New Delhi t ...

. It is his second feature film after '' English, August'' (1994). The film primarily deals with the

Water conflicts Water conflict is a term describing a conflict between countries, states, or groups over the rights to access water resources. The United Nations recognizes that water disputes result from opposing interests of water users, public or private. A ...

in the slums of

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, and

paedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty ...

, and also looks at the subversive

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied wit ...

in modern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and how the notions of morality are challenged when sex and poverty collide. The film came under harsh criticism when released in

and has been one of the most controversial Indian films.

Cast and characters

Rahul Bose Rahul Bose (born 27 July 1967) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter, and social activist. Bose has appeared in Bengali films such as '' Mr. and Mrs. Iyer'', '' Kalpurush'', ''Anuranan'', ''Antaheen'', ''Laptop'' and ''The Japanese Wife''. ...

as KP (Kut-Price) *

Laila Rouass Laila Rouass (née Abdesselam) is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayals of Amber Gates in ''Footballers' Wives'' (2004–2006) and Sahira Shah in ''Holby City'' (2011–2012, 2021). She has also starred in '' Primeval'' and ...

as Nandita * Abhimanyu Sharma as Shiv * Farida Haider Mulla as Didi * Kiran Nagarkar as Brother Bono * Rajika Puri as Auntie *

Ayesha Dharkar Ayesha Dharker (born 16 March 1978) is a British actress, known for her appearance as Queen Jamillia, the Queen of Naboo, in '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones,'' and for her stage performances. Her other film roles include ...

as Leela * Virendra Saxena as Altaf * Aadya Bedi

Awards and recognition

* The official selection at the 1999

Venice Film Festival 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 h ...

. * Awarded a Special Jury Award to the film and the Best Actor award (

) at the 2000

Singapore International Film Festival The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) (Chinese: 新加坡国际电影节) is the longest-running film festival in Singapore. Founded in 1987, the festival has a focus on showcasing international films and providing a global platform fo ...

. * Won the Grand Prix at the 2000 Belgium International Film Festival. * Nominated for the Grand Prix at the 2000 Bratislava International Film Festival.

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack of the film consists of 12 total songs with 8 soundtrack songs and 5

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

tracks composed by

Nitin Sawhney Nitin Sawhney , D.Mus (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian a ...

.http://www.tropicfilm.com/ Split Wide Open audio-video goodies page The film also credits

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album '' Blue Lines'' was releas ...

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ( pa, ; born Pervez Fateh Ali Khan; 13 October 1948 – 16 August 1997) was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director. He was primarily a singer of qawwali — a form of Sufi devotional music. Sometimes ...

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philosophical lyrics an ...

, Krome Assassins, Touch and Go, Purvi Parikh, the

Dagar Brothers The Dagar Brothers are one of two generations of singers of the Indian classical music vocal genre dhrupad: * Senior Dagar Brothers, Nasir Moinuddin Dagar (1919-1966) and Nasir Aminuddin Dagar (1923-2000) * Younger Dagar Brothers The Junior Dag ...

and Kishori Amonkar for their music used in the production of the film.

Notes

Poster Art & Design and Title Images by Artist Jaideep Mehrotra

External links

Film Overview

* * {{Amg movie, 181860, Split Wide Open

1999 films English-language Indian films Films about organised crime in India Films about poverty in India Films shot in Mumbai Films set in Mumbai Works about police brutality