A POCKET FULL OF DREAMS

The Movie " A Pocket Full of Dreams" was completed in 2000. It is in English l. The film was shot on 35mm at Pune, India and at New York, USA. Its duration is 90 minutes. The cast and crew of the film are both Americans and Indians. The cast, Dr. Mohan Agashe, Anju Mahendroo and Sachin Khedekar have acted in many famous movies and are well known throughout the world. The film was selected for International Film Festival of India 2000, where the film received a very positive response.

The story is about two brothers - one in America (Prem) and one in India (Om). The opening scene is a call from Prem, in America, to his sister-in-law, Asha. He tells her of his good fortune in America, which prompts her to egg on her husband, Om, to try their fortune in America. Meanwhile, Om's daughter, Sanjana is accepted to an American College. Om, a Colonel in the Indian Army, does not want to leave India and his secure job, but on Asha's insistence that it is the best option for their daughter, Sanjana, he agrees.

The family travels to America where they find Prem living in conditions that are a far cry from what he described. He works at a restaurant as a cleaner and lives in a basement apartment. To help support themselves, Om agrees to find a job and gets one, as a security guard. Sanjana joins college and befriends Jane and Nick - American kids of her own age. Meanwhile, Prem loses his job and Asha is forced to work as a domestic worker. She remembers her good days back home, as does Om at his work place. They were both unhappy that Sanjana stopped acting in the traditional way. Sanjana does not listen to her parents. At one instance, Om gets upset at her and slaps her. She, in turn, calls police but declines to pursue the matter. Things come to a head when Nick seduces Sanjana and she discovers that she is pregnant. With the help of her friend Jane, who is aware of Nick's reputation Sanjana has an abortion without informing her family.

Prem finds a new job in a TV station, which is the break he was looking for. With his first pay check, he decides to take his family out for dinner. Jane accompanies them. Coaxed into dancing in spite of her fragile condition, Sanjana faints on the dance floor. When the family takes her to the hospital, they learn the truth.

The shock of this immense revelation is the last straw for Om, who decides he can no longer live in the "land of dreams". He decides to return to India and plans to take his entire family with him. Asha, who is skeptical about having burnt all their bridges, is reassured by Om, who reveals that his job is secure and that they can go back to the life they were accustomed to. The last scene is at the JFK Airport in New York where one realizes that only Om and Asha are going back, whereas Prem and Sanjana have decided to stay on in America.