Before The Rains is set in India of the 1930s, when roads were being constructed through hills for spice trade. The story revolves around a Britisher (Roache) who falls in love with his Indian housemaid, Sajani (Das). When the affair is discovered, he seeks help from his farm assistant, T.K. (Bose) who belongs to Sajani’s tribe, to cope with the situation. T.K. then finds himself caught in a terrible dilemma. The 98-minute film has been shot in the picturesque Munnar hill station of Idukki district and explores the predicament of people who straddle two cultures. Malayalam actors Thilakan, Lal Paul and Indrajith Sukumaran are also in the film. It is produced by Adirondack Pictures, Echo Lake Entertainment, Excalibur Films and presented by Merchant IvoryPictures. Says James Ivory, “We at Merchant Ivory are thrilled to be able to bring this wonderful film to audiences in the US and around the world.” Roadside Attractions will release Before The Rains on May 9th in New York and Los Angeles and then expand over the subsequent two weeks into over twenty US cities.
Coincidentally, Sivan’s first feature film, The Terrorist marked the first notable commercial release of an Indian film in the US. The move was championed by actor John Malkovich. He saw the film as a jury member at the 1998 Cairo International Film Festival, and was so impressed with it and its lead Ayesha Dharker (she won Best Actor award), that he along with the film’s producer Mark Burton set out to find a distributor for it in North America. Phaedra Cinema then released the film.
Over the past ten years, small distribution inroads have been made by films from India. One was Ashutosh Gowarikar’s Lagaan five years ago. Last year the New-York based company Emerging Pictures released Shonali Bose’s AMU, which looks at the 1984 Sikh riots through an Indian girl arriving in India from her home base in the US, and Rajnesh Domalpalli’s celebrated Vanaja, on a spirited teenaged village girl in coastal Andhra Pradesh surviving her traumatic adolescent years in trying to better herself through her natural talent as a gifted classical dancer.
