Pestonjee

Movie
Original title	Pestonjee
Country of production	India
original language	Hindi
Publishing year	1987
length	120 minutes
Rod
Director	Vijaya Mehta
script	Vijaya Mehta , BK Karanjia
production	National Film Development Corporation
music	Vanraj Bhatia
camera	Rajan Kothari
cut	Renu Saluja
occupation
Naseeruddin Shah : Phirojshah Pithawala Anupam Kher : Pestonjee (Pesi) Shabana Azmi : Jeroo Kiran Thakursingh-Kher : Soona Mistry Veera Sorabjee Chandu Parkhi : Phiroj's housekeeper Farrokh Mehta Dady Sarkari Mehra Vakil Achyut Potdar Girija Katdare Anant Bhave Rusi Sethna Mary Sethna Polly Shroff Rooky Dadachandji Mehru Madan Madhav Pradhan Shivaji Satam Suneel Tawde Nagesh Morvekar

Pestonjee is an Indian feature film by director Vijaya Mehta from the year 1987. He plays in Bombay in the 1950s and 60s in the community of Parsis .

action

Phiroj, a rather reluctant accountant, and Pestonjee, a lively businessman, are friends. Both are middle-aged and still bachelors, but try to find a suitable wife. Independently of one another, they examine Jeroo with their families. While Phiroj immediately falls in love with Jeroo during his visit, but is hesitant, Pestonjee decides for her and Phiroj is shocked when he suddenly sees Jeroo as his friend's bride. He puts his feelings back and remains friends with the couple. Phiroj is still writing to them when he takes a job outside of Bombay and moves away. When he discovers during a short visit that the marriage of the two is in tatters, he blames Pestonjee for this. He discovers that his friend is having an extramarital affair with the confident lawyer Soona. Phiroj ends his friendship with Pestonjee, but after his unexpectedly sudden death he realizes that the situation was completely different from what he had imagined.

Jeroo didn't like Phiroj right from the start, she didn't want any children and was dismissive of Pestonjee, so he entered into a relationship with Soona and they have a child they named after Phiroj. Phiroj realizes that everyone leads their own life and it is better not to interfere in the affairs of others but to accept their life choices as they are.

background

Pestonjee is based on a short story by Burjor Khurshedji Karanjia from the 1950s. It is one of the few films that exclusively focuses on parsing and their habits and rules. Acting, language and décor adhere to popular ideas about a community that is often caricatured as particularly peculiar. The melancholy comedy was produced by the Indian state film subsidy National Film Development Corporation and has been shown successfully at film festivals in Singapore, Hong Kong , Los Angeles and Hawaii .

Awards

The film was recognized as best film in Hindi at the 35th National Film Awards . The costume designers Ramilla Patel and Mani Rabadi received the National Film Award for best costume design .

Web links

• Pestonjee in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Entry on Pestonjee in Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen: Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema , p. 480