Cloud Door is a short film from 1994. Indo-German drama produced by the well-known Indian filmmaker Mani Kaul and featuring Hindu literary themes of erotica. The film was made by German director Regina Ziegler. The Cloud Door was included alongside other short films like Susan Seidelman’s The Dutch Master and Ken Russell’s The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch, as a part of Ziegler Films’ compilation of short movies that are erotic known as Erotic Tales.
Mani Kaul used three literary sources for the story The first is The Sanskrit play Avimaraka which was written by Bhasa in the 5th-7th century. the Sufi epic love poem Padmavat written by Mohammed Jayasi in the 13th century and the romantic Indian stories Sukasaptati.
An Indian King is listening to an erotic parrot telling stories for his child. Furious, he decides to kill the bird. The princess intervenes and saves bird’s life by telling her dad that it doesn’t understand what it is saying. In gratitude, the bird flew to the lover of the princess and guides him into a maze leading to her private room. The lover and the princess are able to spend the night in love.
In the beginning of January 1995 The Cloud Door was presented for the first time to the public during The International Film Festival of India in Mumbai as part of the Erotic Tales program. Kaul was a well-known filmmaker known for his artful work has never before made the Indian Erotic film in spite of India’s long tradition of erotic folk literature and art. The film’s one-screen screening was met with controversy because of its erotic theme and nakedness on the screen. This caused the police to be brought in to control riots. ] A second screening, geared towards the media, was held later in a different location. Also, the film played in an event called the Munich Film Festival, Locarno International Film Festival, New York Film Festival and the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar.
Reviewer Todd McCarty said the film has beautiful images, sensuality slowly building and unexpected humor that create an enthralling effects”. The critic for The New York Times stated that the film when viewed without subtitles and stripped of its cultural background from Muslim or Hindu literary works, “becomes a succession of vibrantly colored images that tell the story of a beautiful woman, possibly courtesan, an elongated, green parrot, who repeats the sexual phrases he’s gathered in her bedroom; possible lovers; and a fish that laughs. Another reviewer said it was The Cloud Door has plenty of sexually and funny images, and is an old-fashioned folk tale. Beautiful , perhaps however, it’s still nothing. Absolutely, the actors are gorgeous The costumes and sets are beautiful however, the plot is a bit stale and has very few memorable moments that make the film memorable.
IMDB RATING
A clever parrot is a resident of an Hindu palace, which is surrounded by beautiful girls However, the bird escapes and is far away from the palace. When the new owner is asleep The bird convinces an untrained boy to unlock the cage’s door. In exchange the bird shows the boy an undiscovered way that leads to the palace.
Director
Writers
Mani Kaul(script written by)
Bhasa(original story: ‘Avimaraka’)
Jayasi(original story: ‘Padmavat’)
Full Cast & Crew
Directed by
Writing Credits
Cast (in credit in order) verified as complete
| Anu Agarwal | … | Kurangi (as Anu Arya Aggarwal) | |
| Murad Ali | … | Ratnasen | |
| Vasadeva Bhait | |||
| Shashi | |||
| Yusuf Khurram | |||
| Shambhavi | |||
| Irrfan Khan | … | (as Irfan) | |
| Bahauddin Dagar |
Produced by
| Ronald Grabe | … | Commissioning Editor |
| Lalitha Krishna | … | producer |
| Hartmut Kohler | … | Associate Producer |
| Judy Tossell | … | assistant producer |
| Regina Ziegler | … | executive producer |
