"Actor: Anita Raj"

• Salaam Bombay! | DVD | (16/06/2003) from £20.97   |  Saving you £-7.99 (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Meera Nair's Salaam Bombay was her first film, and one of only three Indian films nominated for an Oscar (the others being Mother India and Lagaan). The deceptively simple documentary style hides a meticulously planned feature in which nothing is left to chance. Real street kids play the leads alongside veteran actors, such as Nana Patekar and Shaukat Azmi, as we follow Chaipau, the urchin who wants to save his 500 rupees to "go home", and his encounters with prostitutes, thugs and drug addicts among whom he finds love and companionship. The story avoids sentimentality by endowing the characters with humanity while never romanticising their plight. Nair eschews the obvious "city of contrasts" theme, presenting only the view from the street, shooting in real locations of Grant Road and its environs. This is one of the greatest presentations of Bombay to date, comparable across genres to Raghu Rai's photography or Vikram Chandra's fiction. On the DVD: Salaam Bombay on DVD includes a compelling scene-by-scene commentary, in which Nair discusses the problems of location shooting, training the children and the impact of the film on the lives of so many of its characters. The film is in Hindi with English subtitles. --Rachel Dwyer

• Sharada | DVD | (01/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £10.99

  Shekhar the eldest son of a wealthy widower with 3 younger siblings meets Sharada at a nature cure clinic. Sharada and Shekhar fall in love but Shekhar has to go abroad on business. Before going he makes Sharada promise that she will wait for him. Meanwhile unaware that it is Shekhar's house Sharada goes there occasionally to look after his younger siblings whom she dotes on. Shekhar's plane crashes and his father feeling helpless marries Sharada for the sake of his younger children unaware of the relationship between Shekhar and Sharada. Shekhar survives the crash and returns only to get devastated on seeing that his sweet heart has become his stepmother. He starts drinking in despair but ultimately reconciles accepting Sharada as his mother and marrying Chanchal (Shyama). But happiness continues to evade him as Chanchal starts suspecting the relationship between Sharada and Shekhar causing Shekhar to leave home. Will Shekhar come back? Will there be place in his life and heart for his wife and newfound mother? Sharada was L.V. Prasad's debut into Hindi films and a rare coming together of Indian cinema's two legends Raj Kapoor and L.V. Prasad. It was also one of the few films starring Meena Kumari opposite Raj Kapoor. L.V. Prasad was nominated for Best Director in the Filmfare Awards while Shyama and Raj Mehra won as Best Supporting Actors.

• Prem Geet | DVD | (03/03/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Prem Geet a young singer falls head-over-heels in love with a young beautiful woman. However his overbearing father has other ideas and insists he marries another girl.

• Jai Santoshi Maa | DVD | (07/11/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Jai Santoshi Maa is a story of the divine Goddess Santoshi Maa in heaven and the untiring devotion of the people on earth. There is conflict between Santoshi Maa and three Goddesses Parvati Lakshmi and Brahmani when Santoshi Maa's name become more popular in every household because of Sati Satyavati's faith in Santoshi Maa