Aastha: In the Prison of Spring (1997)

Mansi and Amar have been married for years, and have a daughter by this marriage. Amar is employed full-time, while Mansi looks after the household chores and their daughter. Amar earns a ... See full summary »

Director:

Basu Bhattacharya

Writers:

Basu Bhattacharya (story), Basu Bhattacharya,

Stars:

Rekha, Om Puri, Dinesh Thakur

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rekha	...	Mansi
Om Puri	...	Amar
Dinesh Thakur	...	Dinesh
Anwesha Bhattacharya	...	Amita
Sagar Arya	...	Vivek
Daisy Irani	...	Reena
Navin Nischol	...	Mr. Dutt (as Navin Nischal)
Shruti Patel	...	Neeti
Ishita Manjrekar	...	Pappi (as Ishita Manjarekar)
Konica Bajpai	...	Shalini
Navin Patel	...	Pappi's father
Milind Wagh	...	Professor
Mukund Bhatt	...	Professor
Kishore Bhatt	...	Professor (as Kishor Bhatt)
Sarvant Sanjar	...	Professor

Storyline

Mansi and Amar have been married for years, and have a daughter by this marriage. Amar is employed full-time, while Mansi looks after the household chores and their daughter. Amar earns a steady income, which enables the family to live comfortably, but they cannot afford to be extravagant at all. One day while buying shoes for her daughter, Mansi realizes that shoes are really expensive, and wants to leave the store without purchasing them. Another woman customer named Reena offers to pay for the shoes, as she feels sorry for Mansi. Mansi reluctantly accepts Reena's offer to pay for the shoes, not realizing that Reena has paid for these shoes with a secret agenda that will take Mansi to a whole new world, and change her life forever.

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Plot Keywords:

marriage | prostitution | money | indian

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Filming Locations:

India

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aarohi Film Makers

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Interesting and intriguing

Aastha is not your standard 'art film' though it seems like one, specially seeing Om Puri's name in the credits. This is a film that starts out great - brilliant cast, good story line, ok direction - but then it kind of fails to do all that it set out to achieve. Nevertheless it has its moments that you won't forget. My favourite is the scene where Rekha - playing a housewife next door - gives in to the advances of Navin ... who would turn out to be her first customer in a career of prostitution she chose unwillingly. Rekha is wonderful, and so is Om Puri. The only aspect that weakens the film is the story itself. Its not very convincing at the crucial moments, and there are some obvious directorial misjudgments. But its still a film you must watch.