Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

The Square Circle (1996)

Director: Amol Palekar

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

An unnamed woman (Kulkarni) is kidnapped into prostitution by a madam and her henchmen, then gang raped by a three louts when she's plucky enough to escape. Salvation is at hand, however, in Pandey, a wandering entertainer. Having found his own identity through dressing as a woman, he puts the girl in men's clothes so they can pass as a 'straight' couple and travel in relative safety back to her home village. The direction is restrained for Bollywood (the dance number has been cut for the UK print), but pretty rough and ready to Western eyes, though once you adjust, it's easy to get swept up in the way every emotion is played to the hilt. The film's thematic daring is exceptional: the exploration of the tension between sexual identity and social circumstane in a staunchly traditional society.

Author: TJ 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Amol Palekar

Producer: Pravesh Sippy

Cast: Nirmal Pandey, Sonali Kulkarni, Faiyyaz, Rekha Sahay full cast

Duration: 98 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.