Khargosh  (DVD Hindi)

In A Listless Town In An Old Fort, A CyclistS Shadow Sweeps Over Red Chilies Left Out To Dry. Colored Pennants Unfurl Atop Lazy Terraces. Adults Sit Idly Along Whitewashed Walls. Children In Schools Are Taught To March To Drum Beats. And An Old Puppeteer Sells Puppets Crafted By A God Too Tired To Animate Them.

Ten Year Old Bantu Goes Through The Routine Of Cajoling His Handsome Friend, The Youthful Avneesh To Fly A Kite With Him. Then One Day Avneesh Takes Bantu To The Bazaar. Boy And Youth Sit There Day After Day. The Boy Engrossed In Savoring Ice Candy While Avneesh Restlessly Awaits His Mrityu (Death). When Bantu Realizes This New Routine Is For Avneesh To Catch A Glimpse Of A Girl With A Snake-Like Plait And A Stabbing Smile He Is Flabbergasted And Dismayed.

Bantu Becomes The Cupid Between Avneesh And Mrityu. His Innocent Looks Are A Foil To The Clandestine Passion Blossoming In The Sleepy Old Town. He Carries Love LetteAnd Arranges A Rendezvous. Mrityu Blows A Long Warm Breath On BantuS Eye Sitting Beside Her In The Horse Cart He Feels The Roundness Of Her Arm And The Dip Of Her Waist. She Laughs Happily Over His Shoulder. Holding Her Hand He Softly Smuggles Her Up The Dim Staircase To AvneeshS Room.

But Bantu Is No Longer Satisfied With The Candy And Caresses Mrityu Rewards Him With. He Finds At Some Crucial Moment A Door Is Always Shut Upon Him. Something Strange And Confusing Haunts Him. He Frequents The Forest Trying To Outwit An Unseen Pursuer.

On The Moonlit Ghats Of A Tranquil River Bantu Watches The Devouring Ferocity Of The Two Lovers. Fearing That Someone Has Cast A Spell On Her Little Boy, BantuS Mother Takes Him To Be Exorcised. But The Devil Will Not Leave. And MotheEmbrace Is Suffocating. At School, The Teacher Tries To Instill Values Of Decency And Good Character In The Young Pupils. The River Floods. Bantu Sees The Puppets Animated By Flames. From The Fire He Wrests The Secret Of Passion.

AWARDS<, b>

In OSIANS INTERNATIONAL:

Best Film: NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema)<, li>Best Film: FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics)<, li>Best Film: Audience (Popular)<, li>Best Director: Special Jury Mention<, b><, ul>

In Imagine India Festival, Spain:<, li>Best Cinematography<, li><, ul>