Heat and Dust (1983)

Anne is investigating the life of her grand-aunt Olivia, whose destiny has always been shrouded with scandal. The search leads back to the early 1920s, when Olivia, recently married to ... See full summary »

Director:

James Ivory

Writers:

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (novel), Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (screenplay)

Stars:

Christopher Cazenove, Greta Scacchi, Julian Glover

Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christopher Cazenove	...	Douglas Rivers, the Assistant Collector (The Nineteen Twenties in the Civil Lines at Satipur)
Greta Scacchi	...	Olivia, his wife (The Nineteen Twenties in the Civil Lines at Satipur)
Julian Glover	...	Crawford, the District Collector (The Nineteen Twenties in the Civil Lines at Satipur)
Susan Fleetwood	...	Mrs. Crawford, the Burra Mensahib (The Nineteen Twenties in the Civil Lines at Satipur)
Patrick Godfrey	...	Saunders, the Medical Officer (The Nineteen Twenties in the Civil Lines at Satipur)
Jennifer Kendal	...	Mrs. Saunders (The Nineteen Twenties in the Civil Lines at Satipur)
Shashi Kapoor	...	The Nawab (At the Palace in Khatm)
Madhur Jaffrey	...	Begum Mussarat Jahan, the Nawab's mother (At the Palace in Khatm)
Nickolas Grace	...	Harry Hamilton-Paul (At the Palace in Khatm)
Barry Foster	...	Major Minnies, the Political Agent (At the Palace in Khatm)
Julie Christie	...	Anne (1982. In Satipur Town)
Zakir Hussain	...	Inder Lal, Anne's landlord (1982. In Satipur Town)
Ratna Pathak	...	Ritu, Inder Lal's wife (1982. In Satipur Town)
Tarla Mehta	...	Inder Lal's mother (1982. In Satipur Town)
Charles McCaughan	...	Chid (1982. In Satipur Town)

Storyline

Anne is investigating the life of her grand-aunt Olivia, whose destiny has always been shrouded with scandal. The search leads back to the early 1920s, when Olivia, recently married to Douglas, a civil servant in the colonial administration, comes to live with him in India. Slowly, Olivia becomes fascinated by India and by the local ruler, a nawab who combines British distinction with Indian pomp and ruthlessness. This fascination is not without risks: the region is being ransacked by a group of sanguinary bandits, and intrigues are opposing the prejudiced British community led by Major Minnies and Dr. Saunders against the nawab. As Anne delves into the history of her grand-aunt, she is led to reconsider her own life.

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Plot Keywords:

nawab | india | scandal | 1920s | singing | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

January 1983 (UK)

Also Known As:

Avak Lohet

Filming Locations:

Andhra Pradesh, India

Company Credits

Production Co:

Merchant Ivory Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

133 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Greta Scacchi was only chosen for her part one week before shooting.

User Reviews

A double-edged sword

This, the the first internationally successful Merchant-Ivory production, continues to be a major achievement. Effortlessly passing from post-sixties soul-searching to twenties scandal, it uses the stylistic freedom of the filmmaker to make solid what can be only suggested in the novel.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, long-time Merchant-Ivory scenarist, got most of the gongs - and rightly so - for her adaptation of her own novel is a copy-book to be studied by any aspiring scenarist. However, one should not overlook the unforced direction by James Ivory and Walter Lassally's truly wonderful cinematography.

One of the most endearing aspects of the film is that a great range of attitudes are expressed by the English characters towards India and the Indians. One suspects that less culturally confident filmmakers nowadays would feel obliged to be more black and white (no pun intended)about 'colonialism' and the like. Not so here. Anne (JC) exhibits a range of attitudes to modern India, as does her ancestral alter ego (GC). Such plurality make the film richer, more complex, less ideological and dogmatic and much, much less boring.

In a way, this is a twin film with Jefferson in Paris... see them both together and you will understand what I mean...

MO