watched this last night on a friend’s recommendation. this is a low-profile bombay movie from a few years ago that is set mostly at a university in a smaller indian city (allahabad). there are no major stars in this but it is a wonderful little film. actually, it is like two films: the first half is a spot-on profile of the criminalized politics at pretty much any indian university, with a nicely observed and detailed love-story woven in; the second half becomes a little more formulaic but is still rousing stuff–the finale, which is set against the backdrop of the maha kumbh mela in allahabad (millions of people descend on the town for this festival that occurs every 12 years,) is not as exciting as the netflix dvd sleeve makes it out to be but is still very good. it is very well shot as well–very atmospheric (the credits sequence in particular is one of the best i’ve seen anywhere in years). and the performances are all amazing. as non-hindi speakers you guys will miss out on most of the nuances of dialect and accent (and how they further detail the characters) but i think you’ll like it very much anyway. this is more solidly in the bombay tradition than something like “company” but don’t let that stop you. now i need to find out more about this director.
one note, if you do decide to see it: in the subtitles you’ll see the two student-leaders constantly being referred to by their hangers-on as “boss”. the literal word being used is “bhai” or “(elder) brother” (as in the kitano film), and i don’t know why they didn’t use that.