''Trishagni'' (English: The Sand Storm) is a 1988

Hindi film Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

directed by Nabendu Ghosh. The film was based on a historical short story set some time after the Asokan Missions, ''Moru O Sangho'' written by

Saradindu Bandopadhyay Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay (30 March 1899 – 22 September 1970) was an Indian Bengali-language writer. He was actively involved with Bengali cinema as well as Bollywood. The creator of the Bengali detective Byomkesh Bakshi, Sharadindu compos ...

, and inspired by

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in ...

's '' Fire Sermon'', and starred

Nana Patekar Vishwanath Patekar (born 1 January 1951), better known as Nana Patekar, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, film maker, and a former Indian Territorial Army officer, mainly working in Hindi and Marathi cinema. He is regarded as one of the finest an ...

, Nitish Bharadwaj, Pallavi Joshi and

Alok Nath Alok Nath (born 10 July 1949) is an Indian film character actor known for his work in Hindi cinema and television. He made his film debut with the 1982 English (and Hindi) film '' Gandhi'', directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, which won an Os ...

in the lead roles. The film received critical acclaim, and was awarded the 1988 National Film Award for Best First Film of a Director, "For excellent exploration of complex philosophical theme for the first time in Indian cinema.".

Synopsis

The film is set in the Buddhist town of Sariput in the deserts of

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former ...

, around 200 B.C., when the town is struck by a devastating sandstorm that leaves behind only four survivors: two monks, and two children taking refuge in the monastery. Twenty years later, the monks have aged, while the boy ( Nitish Bhardwaj) and the girl ( Pallavi Joshi) have grown and fall in love. The jealous monk deceitfully persuades the boy to become a monk, but the girl wins him back. As a result, both are expelled from the monastery, and that is when the sandstorm strikes once again.

Cast

as Uchanda * Pallavi Joshi as Iti *

as Thera * Nitish Bharadwaj as Nirvana

Critical Reception

Trishagni is also one of the films featured in Avijit Ghosh's book, 40 Retakes: Bollywood Classics You May Have Missed

References

https://learningandcreativity.com/silhouette/trishagni-nabendu-ghosh/

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0300575

Review Essay in Visual Anthropology
1988 films Indian erotic films Films based on short fiction Films set in the 1st century BC Films about Buddhism 1980s Hindi-language films Films scored by Salil Chowdhury Best Debut Feature Film of a Director National Film Award winners 1988 directorial debut films Films based on works by Saradindu Bandopadhyay