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City of Joy (1992)

Director: Roland Joffé

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From Time Out Film Guide

East and West learn from each other, and it's an interminable seminar. In Calcutta, the fortunes of rickshaw man Hasari (Puri) and American dropout doctor Max (Swayze) intertwine, but the acting styles are so divergent that they may as well be in different films. Max is selfish and suicidally sick of life, while Hasari has to fight for the daily bread to support his family; but Max learns how to care again after delivering a baby, while Hasari learns how to embrace American can-do and reject his Asian acceptance of the system. Together, they stand up to the razor-wielding bad guy (Malik). Presiding over the City of Joy school and clinic is Irish Joan (Collins), pushy, practical, and derived from other movies. It's very old-fashioned stuff, with the impoverished Indian slum-dwellers working like cheerful chipmunks to build a better clinic, and a climactic monsoon on hand to bring out the best in everybody.

Author: BC 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

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Cast & crew

Director: Roland Joffé

Producer: Jake Eberts, Roland Joffé

Cast: Patrick Swayze, Om Puri, Pauline Collins, Shabana Azmi, Ayesha Dharker, Santu Chowdhury, Imran Badsah Khan, Art Malik full cast

Duration: 135 mins


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