City of Joy is a 1992 French-British drama movie. It was directed by Roland Joffé. The screenplay is by Mark Medoff.
It is based on the novel by Dominique Lapierre. The story looks at the life in Indian slums.
Plot
Hasari Pal (Om Puri) is a rural farmer. He moves to Calcutta with his wife Kamla (Shabana Azmi) and three children. They seek a better life. They are cheated out of their rent money and thrown out on the streets. It is difficult for Hasari to find a job. The family refuses to give up. They find their place in the poverty-stricken city.
At the same time, Max Lowe (Patrick Swayze) arrives in Calcutta. He is a US surgeon. He is upset after the loss of a young patient. He seeks spiritual enlightenment. He encounters misfortune as soon as he arrives. He is tricked by a young prostitute. He is roughed up by thugs. He loses his documents and valuables.
Hasari comes to Max's aid. He takes the injured doctor to the "City of Joy". This is a slum area populated with lepers and poor people. This becomes their new home. Max spends a lot of time there. He does not want to become too involved with the residents because he is afraid of becoming emotionally attached to them. An Irish woman, Joan (Pauline Collins), runs the local clinic. She persuades Max to help.
Max begins to fit in with his fellow slum-dwellers. He becomes more optimistic. Ther people around him have much worse lives. Their hope give new strengths to the depressed doctor.
Cast
Patrick Swayze as Max Lowe
Om Puri as Hasari Pal
Pauline Collins as Joan Bethel
Vishal Slathia as Joey Barton
Shabana Azmi as Kamla H. Pal
Anashua Majumdar as Selima
Ayesha Dharker as Amrita H. Pal
Santu Chowdhury as Shambu H. Pal
Imran Badsah Khan as Manooj H. Pal
Shyamanand Jalan as Mr. Ghatak, the godfather
Anjan Dutt as Dr Sunil
Art Malik as Ashok Ghatak
Nabil Shaban as Anouar
Sanjay Pathak as Shoba
Debatosh Ghosh as Ram Chande
Sunita Sengupta as Pormina
Loveleen Mishra as Shanta
Pavan Malhotra as Ashish
Iftekhar as Hasari's father
Chitra Sen as the angry woman
Dipti Dave as a school girl
Reception
The movie was not a box office success. The film grossed $14.7 million in the United States.
The film received mixed reviews. It received a 56% 'rotten' rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes.