Last Lear, The

Synopsis: Feature film. An ageing Shakespearean actor (Bachchan) is gravely ill, the rigours of a film shoot having left him in a coma. His co-star, Shabnam (Zinta), is deeply worried, but their director, Siddharth (Rampal), remains distant and refuses to visit his ailing star. In flashbacks, their story emerges. The impatient director attempts to win the trust and collaboration of the aged performer, who sits raging against the modern world from the sanctuary of his study. He champions the superiority of Shakespeare over anything cinema can create. And yet, the movies hold out a new challenge. Once he agrees to act in the film, THE LAST LEAR becomes a reflection on the comparative artifices of stagecraft and cinema.
Language: English
Country: India
Medium: Film
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 2007
Duration: 123 mins

Director

Rituparno Ghosh

Producer

Arindam Chowdhun

Cinematographer

Abhik Mukhopadyay

Screenplay

Rituparno Ghosh; Utpal Dutt

Music

21 Grams

Production Design

Indrani Ghosh

Cast

Notes: Estimated budget 100,000 NPR
General: Based on Utpal Dutt’s stage play Aajker Shahjahan.
History: Shown at The Times-BFI 51st London Film Festival.
Reviews: Paromita Chakravarti ‘Interrogating"Bollywood Shakespeare" : Reading Rituparno Ghosh’s The Last Lear’ in Bollywood Shakespeares ed. Criaig Dionne and Parmita Kapadia (Palgrave Macmillan 2014) pp. 127-145.

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Shakespeare, "Last Lear, The". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/av69199 (Accessed 26 Nov 2024)

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