Merchant Ivory Productions

India, 1825: the country lives in mortal fear of cult members known as the “Deceivers." They commit robbery and ritualistic murder. Appalled by their activities, an English military man, Captain William Savage, conceives a hazardous plot to stop them. In disguise, he plans to himself become a “Deceiver” and infiltrate their numbers. Ever present in Savage’s adventures is a sense of dread; he is in constant fear of betrayal and vengeance and also undergoes a disturbing psychological transformation as he experiences the cult’s blood lust firsthand.

Ismail Merchant's feature directorial debut addresses a subject close to his heart: the expressive Urdu language of Northern India, in danger of extinction as political trends and modernization obscure its contributions to Indian culture. Merchant 's treatment is wry and good humored , as his characters - an aging Urdu poet (Shashi Kapoor) and a worshipful young college lecturer - clash despite their shared passion for the beauty of words.

Britain's top pop artiste, Tom Pickle, travels to Bombay, India, circa 1960s to learn to play the sitar from renowned maestro Ustad Zafar Khan.

A legendary collection of miniature paintings have been locked up in the storeroom of an Indian palace for years; the collection's fame attracts a group of art lovers and fortune seekers who converge simultaneously on the palace.

Prem, a young school teacher, is arranged married and begins the journey of learning the roles and responsibilities required of him.

Off-camera, a Western traveler tells us of hearing singing from his hotel window in Bombay. He searches for the source, and discovers a caste of street performers, eking out a modest living. We see individuals and groups, old and young, snake charmers and those hired to sing at family celebrations. A few talk about their lives and refute accusations of kidnapping lodged against the caste. A troupe of women sing at a party for a pregnant woman - they are saucy and blunt, encouraging and sisterly.