Shakespeare-Wallah

19651965
Not RatedNot Rated
2h

6.8/10

The story of a family troupe of English actors in India. They travel around the towns and villages giving performances of Shakespearean plays. Through their travels we see the changing face ... Read allThe story of a family troupe of English actors in India. They travel around the towns and villages giving performances of Shakespearean plays. Through their travels we see the changing face of India as the old is replaced by the new, Maharajas become hotel owners, sports become m... Read allThe story of a family troupe of English actors in India. They travel around the towns and villages giving performances of Shakespearean plays. Through their travels we see the changing face of India as the old is replaced by the new, Maharajas become hotel owners, sports become more important than culture and the theater is replaced by Bolliwood movies. Based on the t... Read all

6.8/10

741

Director
- James Ivory
Writers
- Ruth Prawer Jhabvala(story and screenplay)
- James Ivory(story and screenplay)
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination

Videos1

Trailer 1:47

Shakespeare-Wallah

Shashi Kapoor and Michael Ochs in Shakespeare-Wallah (1965)

Greta Scacchi and Madhur Jaffrey in The Householder (1963)

Felicity Kendal in Shakespeare-Wallah (1965)

Shashi Kapoor and Madhur Jaffrey in Shakespeare-Wallah (1965)

Madhur Jaffrey in Shakespeare-Wallah (1965)

James Ivory and Felicity Kendal in Shakespeare-Wallah (1965)

Director
- James Ivory
Writers
- Ruth Prawer Jhabvala(story and screenplay)
- James Ivory(story and screenplay)
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

The story of a family troupe of English actors in India. They travel around the towns and villages giving performances of Shakespearean plays. Through their travels we see the changing face of India as the old is replaced by the new, Maharajas become hotel owners, sports become more important than culture and the theater is replaced by Bolliwood movies. Based on the travels of Geoffrey Kendal with his daughter Felicity Kendal. —Steve Crook <steve@brainstorm.co.uk>

india based on true story f rated shakespearean mute servant 11 more

Genres
- Drama
- Romance
Certificate
- Not Rated
Parents guide
- Add content advisory

Trivia
This film is partly autobiographical as the actors who play the Buckinghams, father, mother and daughter, had those same roles in real life as the Kendal family and had spent years in India performing Shakespeare with a touring company. The daughter, Felicity Kendal, however, was not born in India like her character in the film.

Quotes
Bobby: [Speaking to Lizzie] And when you're young, you never think. And when you're old... you're too tired to think.

Connections
Featured in The Wandering Company (1984)

Soundtracks
Dil dharke
Music by Prayag Raj (as Prayag Raaj)
Lyrics by Prayag Raj (as Prayag Raaj)

Top review

6/10

Early Merchant-Ivory is Diamond in the Rough

This early (if not first) Merchant-Ivory collaboration anticipates what the team was later able to do with larger budgets and color cinematography. Set in post-independence India, it tells the story of a small, though thoroughly professional traveling Shakespeare company fallen on hard times. The troop, built on the talents of the three Buckingham family members, including the young and fetching daughter Lizzie, is slowly dissolving in a culture increasingly hostile to their art and readier to worship the queens of the silly Indian pop cinema.

The main thread of the plot concerns a rather thin romance between Lizzie and a young Indian playboy quite under the thumb of a local movie vixen named Manula. Meanwhile we are given snippets from various Shakespeare plays: Hamlet, Othello, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra.

Fine B&W photography, though much in this film seems dated now.

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