Shakespeare Wallah

Film - Feature | February 22 | 7 p.m. |  Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Sponsors:  Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Institute for South Asia Studies

In Shakespeare Wallah (wallah means peddler), a family of English Shakespearean actors find themselves lost in the new India, reduced to giving performances at golf clubs, schools, and the palaces of declining maharajahs. Their conflict is heightened when the daughter of the family falls in love with a young Indian playboy. The Kendal familymother, father, and daughterplay themselves in the film, which has been called Chekhovian in its emphasis on life glowing fiercely amid the decay of an old order; the tragic comedy of indecisiveness . . . the humor and poignant details (Bernard Oesch, Film Society Review). The films score was composed by Satyajit Ray, and the cinematography is by Rays cinematographer, Subrata Mitra.

Event contact:  afox@berkeley.edu, 510-642-0365