The Householder

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...