Idiot (1992 film)

Idiot is a 1992 Hindi drama film based on Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1869 novel The Idiot.^[1] It was directed by Mani Kaul and starred Shah Rukh Khan and Ayub Khan-Din. The film debuted at the New York Film Festival in October 1992. In this version of the tale, placed in contemporary Mumbai, Prince Miskin (Khan-Din) is a man whose epilepsy is mistaken for idiocy.

Idiot
Based on	The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Written by	Anup Singh Hemendra Bhatia Rajeev Kumar
Directed by	Mani Kaul
Starring	Shah Rukh Khan Ayub Khan-Din
Music by	Vikram Joglekar D. Wood
Country of origin	India
Original language	Hindi
Production
Cinematography	Piyush Shah
Editor	Lalitha Krishna
Running time	165 minutes
Original release
Release	8 October 1992 (1992-10-08)

Cast

• Shahrukh Khan as Pawan Raguhajan
• Ayub Khan Din as Prince Miskin
• Mita Vashisht
• Imam Khan

Production and release

The film was first released as a four-part television mini-series on state-run Doordarshan channel in 1991, and despite it outing at debuted at the New York Film Festival in October 1992, it was never commercially released.^[2][3] In 1993, it was not part of the 24th International Film Festival of India but was shown privately to some festival delegates.^[4] It was screened at the Mumbai Film Festival in October 2016 with the title "Ahamaq".^[5]

Reception

According to the New York Times, "it turns a literary masterpiece into a numbing soap opera as incoherent as it is technically crude."^[6]

Awards

• 1993 Filmfare Awards: Critics Award For Best Movie^[7]

References

1. Derek Malcolm (14 July 2011). "Mani Kaul obituary". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
2. Holden, Stephen (8 October 1992). "Review/Film Festival; Dostoyevsky's 'Idiot,' by Way of Bombay". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
3. Anupama Chopra (2 October 2007). King of Bollywood: Shah Rukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema. Grand Central Publishing. pp. 44–. ISBN 978-0-446-50898-8.
4. Jain, Madhu (15 February 1993). "Reflecting reality". India Today. New Delhi: Living Media. Archived from the original on 21 March 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
5. "Shah Rukh Khan's unreleased film Ahamaq to screen at MAMI". 17 October 2016. Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
6. Holden, Stephen (8 October 1992). "Dostoyevsky's Idiot by way of Bombay". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 September 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
7. "Critics Award for Best Film". Indiatimes. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 20 May 2014.

External links

• Idiot at IMDb