Mrinal Sen's minimalist masterpiece Genesis is a cinematic oddity - like the principal characters in the story - the weaver and the farmer - the film itself seems to exist outside of time and space.
Hardly anyone has heard of it, let alone managed to see it. Even Sen-iphiles continue to be blissfully unaware.
This is surprising considering the kind of talent of which the film boasts. The minuscule cast consists of the cream of the crop - Naseerudin Shah, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi - among the finest Indian actors of their generation.
The picture can be read as a religious and political allegory, but most of all it symbolizes itself - an obscure gem lost underneath the rubble of "progress".
Hardly anyone has heard of it, let alone managed to see it. Even Sen-iphiles continue to be blissfully unaware.
This is surprising considering the kind of talent of which the film boasts. The minuscule cast consists of the cream of the crop - Naseerudin Shah, Om Puri and Shabana Azmi - among the finest Indian actors of their generation.
The picture can be read as a religious and political allegory, but most of all it symbolizes itself - an obscure gem lost underneath the rubble of "progress".