English, August

Agastya Sen (august) has just landed a prize government job, one which takes him to Madna, 'the hottest town in India', dep in the sticks. There he finds himself surrounded by incompetents and cranks, time wasters, bureaucrats and crazies. Feeling like a foreigner, August takes refuge in drugs and daydreams, disappearing into erotic reverie. Based on Upamanyu chatterjee's comic masterpiece, Dev benegal's film is a landmark in contemporary indian Cinema. The film won several international awards, and was among the first to break out of the main stream mould of bollywood, inspiring new genres in Indian film-making. Published for the first time, this original screenplay brings what the New York times called the 'irreverant humor, frustrated idealism and earnest compassion'of the film to a new genration of readers.