Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Numerootno
A story that's too fascinating to pass by...
Bob
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
jayleshd
Bose, Das and the production team have produced a epic feast not just for your eyes, but your brain. I enjoyed this film and the suspense was incredible.Das's acting is wow and Bose delivers, but we already know this. These are fine actors, with much talent. I am a keen fan of Nandita Das and enjoy her work.The period of the film is typical of that associated with India - colonial and historic. The scenery is beautiful - one of the highlights of this movie.It is a story of following your heart and making decisions. It is also a story about a woman - the pressure and expectations faced by them.I would highly recommend.
Avinash Patalay
When DOP holds the directorial reigns one can expect a visual feast nothing short of excellence. And precisely that what you are in for "Before the Rains". Every scene seems to hand-picked and aesthetically delivered. Brillaince perhaps would be an understatement for the visual poetry. The plot weaves a story of love, passion, friendship, loyalty and greed amidst the struggle for freedom from the British Raj neatly showcasing the customs and traditions of Gods own country, Kerala. Santosh Sivan gets down to business straight away and while the visuals keeps the audience glued, the same cannot be said about the plot/ narrative which seems to give away. Perhaps screenplay needed further cementing.Performances::Ψ Rahul Bose:: Needs no intro, he is might in his own right. Manages to pull off the various layers of the role effectively. His character seems to be inspired from Karna in Mahabharata.Ψ Nandita Das:: Her role was smaller than expected and needed more screen time to establish the character.Ψ Linus:: He was good, though has immense scope to make a dent.Ψ Jennifer:: Now literally stealing the thunder would be the apt idiom to compliment her performance and her character backs it up nicely. Ψ The other stalwarts from Malayalam cinema were confined to character roles and perhaps minuscule.
sbutterworth-2
I would not call this a film of love and longing at all. The situation is set up in the opening scenes, then it becomes a story of hard realities with no good choices and no happy endings in the disintegrating Raj. The setting is tribal India, not often depicted in literature or film. Beautiful as one might expect from a Merchant Ivory production; intelligent writing and acting. Rahul Bose's character and acting are especially notable. The arrogant Englishman doesn't come off well in this serious drama. The literary term "naturalism" comes to mind. The characters have no control over forces stronger than themselves, thus the metaphor of the monsoon rains.
heyian
Despite the mysteriously positive reviews and high rating, this is an awful movie. Awful enough, that l feel obligated to warn you how bad it is. The movie is set in the final period of the Raj, during the time of India's fight for independence. What follows in the ridiculous plot just fills me with disbelief. What the characters do and how they behave just does not persuade me that the characters exist in that era. For instance, would the young married Hindu housemaid from the local village have an affair with her married Englishman Master, knowing full well that discovery of the affair would likely mean utter social ostracization and shame if not mortal punishment? Unlikely, but still maybe. However, would the same young Hindu housemaid, in the conservative society of India of that era carry on like a half naked Britney Spears in heat, partake in hot outdoor sex during daylight in open view where they might be discovered at any moment? That is not only bloody unlikely, that is a retarded plot line.Such idiocies combined with the poor acting, drove me to leave the cinema an hour into the movie, so i did not watch the second half of the movie. One could only hope the ending is of more intelligence than what i saw in the first half.
