India Post News Service

CHICAGO: Set in Kerala of 1930, Before the Rains is a romantic drama charting an illicit love affair between a British tea plantation owner and his Indian housekeeper. It is not the typical Bollywood film full of songs and the commercial angle. With the backdrop of the emerging Independence movement, the film still has a gripping tale starring Linus Roache, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das, Jennifer Ehle and John Standing.

A Merchant Ivory presentation in association with Adirondack pictures, Excalibur Pictures, Santosh Sivan Productions, and directed by Santosh Sivan of "Terrorist"/ "Ashoka" fame, it is slated for release in four theaters in the Chicago area from May 16 onwards.

The film was screened in some prestigious film festivals including Toronto, Pusan, Dubai, Palm Springs, Houston and Tribeca. At the Houston International film festival, it swept the top three awards - Best Picture, Best Cinematography, and Best Music.

It is an official selection for Toronto International Film Festival, Pusan International Film Festival, Dubai International Film Festival , Palm Springs International Film Festival, Grand REMI winner-Best Picture, Worldfest International Film Festival. Before the Rains was shot in the hills of Munnar, South India, by the master himself - Santosh Sivan. Its cinematography is simply breathtaking.

The Production designer Sunil Babu led a dedicated local art department who built an entire village (comprising over 30 structures), TK's home, a bridge, a small town and a ferry boat, all from scratch. The film itself is a metaphor of the oncoming Indian Independence movement - "rains" that swept away colonialism from all parts of the world.

An idealistic young Indian (Rahul Bose) finds himself torn between his ambitions for the future and his loyalty to the past when people in his village learn of an affair between his British boss (Linus Roache) and a village woman (Nandita Das). The film was made both in English and Malayalam. Though the characters in the film fight to straddle the great cultural divide, they ultimately suffer for their attempts. Sajani realizes that she and Moores cannot build a life together.

Moores and his Indian friend TK each realize that their dreams are not grounded in reality, and their vision of an India/British partnership is doomed by the divergent views of their respective cultures. But in addition to the tragic elements to this story it convey a sense of hope - hope for TK's independence and the independence of his people.

Just as the darker themes of the story continue to resonate today, the theme of hope resonates most strongly for the audience. Though in the film characters from different backgrounds struggle to achieve a great partnership, the making of this film felt like a true collaboration between East and West, according to Ashok Rao of Excalabiur Pictures.

Rao was in Chicago last week and in a talk with India Post pointed out that the film had an acclaimed international cast including Golden Globe nominee and new lead star of NBC's "Law and Order" Linus Roache, and veteran film and stage actor John Standing (both from UK), two time Tony winning American actress Jennifer Ehle, and internationally renowned Indian actors Rahul Bose and Nandita Das.

Local casting was done in Kerala, Sivan's home state and Sivan was able to attract top Kerala talent such as Thilakan, Lal Pal and Indrajith Sukumaran. Veteran editor Steven Cohen A.C.E was brought on to edit the film, and Mark Kilian of the Oscar-winning film "Tsotsi", came onboard to compose an original score for the film. From its inception, "Before the Rains" has been a uniquely international production.