Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Roland E. Zwick A mixture of social commentary and period-piece melodrama, "Before the Rains," directed by Santosh Sivan, takes place in India in 1937 during the waning days of British rule.Henry Moores (Linus Roache) is an English businessman living with his wife (Jennifer Ehle, the ghost-wife from "A Gifted Man") and young son (Leo Benedict) in the Madras district of colonial India, where he is supervising the construction of a road that must be completed before the monsoonal rains begin to fall. Moores is also having a clandestine affair with a beautiful Indian housekeeper named Sajani (Nandita Das), who is herself married to an unloving and abusive husband from the village. Through a series of tragic circumstances, the affair manages to have lasting repercussions not only for Moores and his family but for Anglo-Indian relations in the area as well.The story by Cathy Rabin serves as a microcosm for what was occurring on a national scale at that time, as the oppressed natives were just beginning to assert their right to oust the British and become the leaders of their own nation. Thus, Moores' dilemma becomes much more than just a personal one of love and marital infidelity due to the extraordinary circumstances taking place around him. For not only is Henry breaking his own marriage vows with the affair; he is violating any number of social taboos involving race and class structure as well. The situation becomes even more complicated when another of his servants, T.K. Neelan (Rahul Boss), becomes a pawn in Moores' game to extricate himself from the consequences of his actions, and T.K. is finally forced to choose between his desire to be a part of a growing future promised by the Brits and his innate loyalty to his own people who serve under them. The triumph of the screenplay is that each of these characters emerges as a well-meaning but often flawed individual caught in a world greater than his or her own private ions.Even though there are times when the gravity of the social issues feels a bit diminished by the contrivance of the plotting – as if the melodrama were not commensurate in importance and value with the seriousness of the subject matter - on the whole, this is a well-acted, thoughtful and gripping drama that makes important points about colonialism, class structure, personal morality and the untamable nature of the human heart.

tswapnil I personally like Rahul Bose movies a good actor. The movie starts in British India where a Sahib dreams of making some cash through the cashcrops in kerala. He has a girl working at his place and they are in love with each other. The romantic scene in water is good and Nandita definitely looks HAWT in there. SAjani is being forced to marry against here will is in mad love with this sahib who later leaver her alone when his child and wife comes back to country. Sajanis husband finds out and beats her. She makes a rescue and an attempt to live with sahib who turns her down. Depressed sajani shots herself at TK(rahul bose) place. Sahib with help of TK drowns her. Villagers later find out her body.A tragedy film. Rahul bose has acted well in his serious role. There you get to see a bit of rural India and the old custom. The LIE DETECTOR test of rural India ... watch it to get it.

ashoktrex Stunning, superb film. Completely deserving of having won "Best Picture" at the Worldfest film festival. This romantic drama/tragedy, set in the Colonial India of the 1930's is compelling, and is even more poignant when put in context of the emerging Independence movement in India at that time. The powerful subtext is the end of Colonialism. The performances by the actors are outstanding - particularly Linus Roache (of Law and Order fame), Rahul Bose, Nandita Das and Jennifer Ehle. Energizing the story are four magnificent performances. Linus Roache as the English planter Henry Moores is trapped by a slowly debilitating moral choice, and his gradual moral deterioration is a symbol for every good Englishman whose moral shortcomings were tested in the era of empire. Nandita Das's wonderful portrayal as Henry's mistress Sajani is remarkably sensitive and very poignant. She is head-strongly in love, yet naive as to the ramifications of her reckless love affair. Her natural empathy for her character turns a potential victim into an emblem of feminine struggle. Jennifer Ehle as Herny's wife is probably the scene stealer of the movie.A marvelous performance is delivered by Rahul Bose, as the man caught in the middle - T.K. Neelam, the planter's trusted foreman and friend, who is caught in the middle as his two worlds collide. A Western educated man but with strong roots in his tribal village, TK has to choose whether is it right to betray a friend or one's own people? T.K. final choice forms the climax of the film when he forsakes both worlds for the Gandhian Independence movement.Santosh Sivan demonstrates his genius behind the lens, with breathtaking Cinematography, and Mark Killian outdoes his score from the Oscar winning film - Tsotsi. A MUST SEE FILM.

heyian Despite the mysteriously positive reviews and high rating, this is an awful movie. Awful enough, that l feel obligated to warn you how bad it is. The movie is set in the final period of the Raj, during the time of India's fight for independence. What follows in the ridiculous plot just fills me with disbelief. What the characters do and how they behave just does not persuade me that the characters exist in that era. For instance, would the young married Hindu housemaid from the local village have an affair with her married Englishman Master, knowing full well that discovery of the affair would likely mean utter social ostracization and shame if not mortal punishment? Unlikely, but still maybe. However, would the same young Hindu housemaid, in the conservative society of India of that era carry on like a half naked Britney Spears in heat, partake in hot outdoor sex during daylight in open view where they might be discovered at any moment? That is not only bloody unlikely, that is a retarded plot line.Such idiocies combined with the poor acting, drove me to leave the cinema an hour into the movie, so i did not watch the second half of the movie. One could only hope the ending is of more intelligence than what i saw in the first half.