La joven pareja

The Householder is a bit dated--filmed in the early 60s--but it bears a message that's rarely seen.

The movie begins with Prem and his young wife discussing a wedding they'll attend. At the wedding, Prem notices that the bride groom seems fretful. He tells the groom that there's nothing to worry about and proceeds to tell the story of his first year of marriage. His memories are shown in flashback and make up almost all of the rest of the movie.

Prem is married to Indu in an arranged marriage. The newlyweds have a difficult time adjusting to married life. Prem faces a host of problems--a low-paying job in which he's bullied by practically everyone, a drunken landlord, a contentious relationship between his mother and his new wife, and impractical advice from his best friend.

Along the way, Prem befriends the aptly-named Ernest, an American spiritual seeker. (Take note of what Ernest is doing when he's introduced--it's a really funny visual pun!) Prem has a lot to sort out, but in the end, he finds happiness.

Prem (Shashi Kapoor), an immature young teacher recently married, is not happy with his even younger wife, Indu (Leela Naidu). She doesn't do things the way his mother does, is more outspoken than he would like, and neither of them have any idea of how to form a working relationship. In a fit of childishness, Prem telegraphs for his mother (Durga Khote) to come, and what seems to spell doom for the marriage, instead works an amazing change.

Based on the novel Gharbar by the movie's screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, the Householder is a gentle, beautiful movie, with natural acting and a fully immersible plot. This Merchant Ivory Production was the pair's first collaboration, and yet it shows their now famous style fully formed from the beginning. This character study is a charming drama well worth watching.

I saw this one a few years ago.Shashi Kapoor is at his charming best. This one is funny and poignant of the nuances in any marriage. Leela Naidu looks stunning in this movie. Durga Khote is the quintessential overbearing mom. Although a little predictive, anyone who likes Jane Austin and the likes will enjoy the movie.

The Householder (1963) was directed by James Ivory, produced by Ismail Merchant, and written by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. This movie has a relatively simple plot, but in some ways the themes are universal. The well-know Indian actor Shashi Kapoor plays Prem Sagar, a young college professor who is bullied by his employer, his colleagues, and his students. His young wife, Indu, is portrayed by the beautiful Leela Naidu, a former Miss India. She is beset on all sides--by Prem's inadequate income, his comparisons of her cooking with his mother's superior cooking, and by what he perceives as his new wife's lack of intelligence and social skills. Then, to compound the problems, his mother (Durga Khote) comes to visit and dominates the lives of both young people.

Prem seeks advice from a friend to whom he looks for guidance, and from an American hippie, who takes him to visit a holy and virtuous man. The remainder of the plot consists of Prem's attempts to bring order and harmony to his life.

This film is almost 50 years old, shot in black and white, with low production values. It's worlds away (literally and figuratively) from the later Merchant/Ivory/Jhabvala movies. However, even if it's not slick, it has real merits and is worth seeking out and viewing.

We saw the movie on the TCM channel, as part of a series of Merchant/Ivory films. It worked well on the small screen. See it and judge for yourself.

Well, only if you have some deep psychotic Indian adventure, you'll understand the actual conflict taking place in the main character (a Shashi Kapoor at his best!), as in one of the most typical themes found in the novels of Hermann Hesse: is the spiritual life so much different from the material life? In India as elsewhere too, people left kingdoms to become beggars and realize the Truth; in time some Saints demonstrated realization of the Highest cannot be a consequence of the manner this body lives. This theme is quite complex and convoluted, but here Ivory deals with it in such a fair and light manner; you may even feel to watch a neo-realistic movie, as the environments and characters are dealt with. Tender and at the same time raw, sometime even fun in its small tragedy... Very touching is the sequence when you hear some devotees singing a beautiful sacred Bhajan in the forest to a Saint looking so much as the late Shri J. Krishnamurti, who sings a couplet from Kabir's poetry...