THE COURTESANS OF BOMBAY - THE MERCHANT IVORY COLLECTION

Details

• Release Year: 1983
• Genre: Comedy, Documentary, Drama
• Plot: Intriguing, Colorful, and revealing, The Courtesans of Bombay is Merchant Ivory’s docudrama about Pavan Pool, and enclosed area where the city’s singing and dancing courtesans ply their trade. It presents a portrait of a unique location both exotic and tawsry: crammed tenements housing thousands of men playing up to the camera as they seek out forbidden pleasures – and the courtesans themselves, who appear more as entertainers than sex workers. It shows how young girls are groomed in the arts of singing, dancing, and by inference seduction. Neither sensationalist nor pruient, the film is about a tradition with a special place in Indian society: the entertainment of paying customers – always men – by songstresses and dancers who perform in the classical Hindustani style of the ancient “nautch” girls, India’s version of the Japanese geisha. ; ; This package also includes Street Musicians of Bombay, an hour long documentary by frequent Merchant Ivory composer Richard Robbins about the varied street Performers and personalities in one of India’s most bustling cities.;
• Cast: Saeed Jaffrey, Kareem Samar, Zohra Segal, Ismail Merchant, James Ivory, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
• Director: Ismail Merchant
• Runtime: 2:05
• Company: The Criterion Collection, Merchant Ivory Productions
• Media Format: Movie