# Party (पार्टी) (1984 film)
**Party** (पार्टी) is a 1984 Hindi-language drama film directed and photographed by Govind Nihalani and produced by the [National Film Development Corporation of India](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-film-development-corporation-of-india) (NFDC), adapted from Mahesh Elkunchwar's Marathi play of the same name[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248289) • [2](https://mubi.com/en/in/films/party-1984). Set almost entirely at a Bombay society gathering held to honor a prize-winning writer, it uses the party's conversations to expose the gap between the political talk of India's urban intellectual elite and the risks taken by those who act on their beliefs[3](https://theprint.in/feature/reel-take/1984-film-party-cjp-protest-political-satire/2997228/). The film is regarded as a prime example of Indian parallel cinema, the realist, socially engaged movement of the 1970s and 1980s[4](https://www.hinducollegegazette.com/post/film-review-party-1984).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director and cinematographer | Govind Nihalani, his fourth feature as director[1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248289) • [5](https://nfaindia.org/images/pdf/35th%20National%20Film%20Award%20Catalogue.pdf) |
| Source | Mahesh Elkunchwar's Marathi play *Party*, with the screenplay credited to Elkunchwar and contributions from Vasant Dev, Satyadev Dubey, and Anil Rakeshi[2](https://mubi.com/en/in/films/party-1984) • [6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248289/fullcredits/) |
| Producer | National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC), Mumbai, 1984[7](https://books.jgu.edu.in/bib/32215) |
| Principal cast | Vijaya Mehta (Damyanti Rane), Manohar Singh (Divakar Barve), Rohini Hattangadi (Mohini Barve), Naseeruddin Shah (Amrit), Om Puri (Avinash), Amrish Puri (Doctor), Deepa Sahi (Sona Rane)[8](https://www.nfdcindia.com/catalogue/NFDC%20-%20Feature%20Films%20Catalogue%202024.pdf) |
| Awards | National Award for Best Supporting Actress, 1985 (Rohini Hattangadi); Best Actress, Asia Pacific Film Festival, 1985 (Vijaya Mehta)[8](https://www.nfdcindia.com/catalogue/NFDC%20-%20Feature%20Films%20Catalogue%202024.pdf) |
| Festival | India's entry in the competition section of the 10th International Film Festival of India[5](https://nfaindia.org/images/pdf/35th%20National%20Film%20Award%20Catalogue.pdf) |
| Runtime | 110 minutes per NFDC and IMDb; other listings give 113, 118, or 118+ minutes[8](https://www.nfdcindia.com/catalogue/NFDC%20-%20Feature%20Films%20Catalogue%202024.pdf) • [9](https://www.justwatch.com/in/movie/party) • [10](https://www.cinemaazi.com/film/party) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and structure
The party of the title is hosted by Damyanti Rane, a wealthy widow and patron of the arts, in honor of Divakar Barve, a celebrated playwright and novelist who has received a prestigious literary award (in one synopsis, the [Government of India](https://www.edgepedia.org/government-of-india)'s Literary Award)[8](https://www.nfdcindia.com/catalogue/NFDC%20-%20Feature%20Films%20Catalogue%202024.pdf) • [13](https://search.worldcat.org/title/Party/oclc/865004627). Her guests are the literary and cultural elite of the town, along with the fawning hangers-on who follow them[8](https://www.nfdcindia.com/catalogue/NFDC%20-%20Feature%20Films%20Catalogue%202024.pdf).
One name recurs through the evening's talk: Amrit, a poet of great talent who was once patronized by this circle and who abandoned a promising literary career to join tribal people in their struggle against exploitation[8](https://www.nfdcindia.com/catalogue/NFDC%20-%20Feature%20Films%20Catalogue%202024.pdf). Amrit never appears among the guests; the audience hears his poetry about truth and justice and sees him only at the film's close, soaked in blood[14](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/film-of-the-month-govind-nihalani-satire-party-1984-6073071/lite/). By the end of the party the guests learn that Amrit was killed by police in a false encounter (a police killing staged to look like self-defense), and the news haunts them after they return home[7](https://books.jgu.edu.in/bib/32215).
The film's drama is carried almost entirely by conversation. Debates range over the literary value of [V. S. Naipaul](https://www.edgepedia.org/v-s-naipaul) and [Salman Rushdie](https://www.edgepedia.org/salman-rushdie), whether great art can be separated from the artist, and whether activism is itself a form of romanticism[14](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/film-of-the-month-govind-nihalani-satire-party-1984-6073071/lite/). The sharpest exchange belongs to Avinash ([Om Puri](https://www.edgepedia.org/om-puri)), a journalist who argues that all art is a tool in socio-political conflict, against the poet Bharat (K.K. Raina), who asks whether art has no independent existence of its own; Avinash replies that if an artist is not politically committed, then their art is not relevant[3](https://theprint.in/feature/reel-take/1984-film-party-cjp-protest-political-satire/2997228/).
## Production and source
The film adapts a play by Mahesh Elkunchwar, a major figure of modern Marathi theater, working with Vasant Dev (assistant dialogue), Satyadev Dubey and Anil Rakeshi (poems), and Vishnu Vaman Shirwadkar, whose Marathi play *Natsamrat* is also credited[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248289/fullcredits/). Nihalani, who had won the National Award for Best Colour Cinematography for *Junoon* (1979) and directed *Aakrosh* (1980) and *Ardh Satya* (1983), shot *Party* himself and edited it with [Renu Saluja](https://www.edgepedia.org/renu-saluja); Nitish Roy was art director and Vanraj Bhatia composed the music[5](https://nfaindia.org/images/pdf/35th%20National%20Film%20Award%20Catalogue.pdf) • [11](https://www.nowrunning.com/movie/998/bollywood.hindi/party/cast.and.crew.htm).
Nihalani described the difference between play and film in an interview preserved on Indiancine.ma: the play concerns the question of art versus life, while the film goes further and asks whether a person can hold two contrary sets of morality, one as an artist and one as a human being[12](https://indiancine.ma/YZM/player).
## Cast
Nihalani assembled a repertory of leading parallel-cinema and theater actors[14](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/film-of-the-month-govind-nihalani-satire-party-1984-6073071/lite/):
- Vijaya Mehta, a theater doyen, as Damyanti Rane[14](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/film-of-the-month-govind-nihalani-satire-party-1984-6073071/lite/)
- Manohar Singh as Divakar Barve, the award recipient[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248289/fullcredits/)
- [Rohini Hattangadi](https://www.edgepedia.org/rohini-hattangadi) as Mohini Barve, Barve's wife[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248289/fullcredits/)
- [Naseeruddin Shah](https://www.edgepedia.org/naseeruddin-shah) as Amrit, the absent poet-activist[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248289/fullcredits/)
- Om Puri as Avinash, a journalist[3](https://theprint.in/feature/reel-take/1984-film-party-cjp-protest-political-satire/2997228/)
- [Amrish Puri](https://www.edgepedia.org/amrish-puri) as the Doctor, a mostly silent observer[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248289/fullcredits/) • [14](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/film-of-the-month-govind-nihalani-satire-party-1984-6073071/lite/)
- Deepa Sahi as Sona Rane, Damyanti's daughter, known in the film's world as an unwed mother[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248289/fullcredits/) • [14](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/film-of-the-month-govind-nihalani-satire-party-1984-6073071/lite/)
- Supporting players including Shafi Inamdar (Ravi), Akash Khurana (Agashe), Soni Razdan (Malvika), K.K. Raina (Bharat), Ila Arun, Pearl Padamsee, Gulan Kripalani, and Jayant Kripalani[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248289/fullcredits/) • [15](https://digiguide.tv/programme/Film/Party/205294/)
## Reception and awards
At the 10th [International Film Festival of India](https://www.edgepedia.org/international-film-festival-of-india), *Party* was included in the competition section as India's entry[5](https://nfaindia.org/images/pdf/35th%20National%20Film%20Award%20Catalogue.pdf). In 1985 Rohini Hattangadi received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress, and Vijaya Mehta won the Best Actress award at the Asia Pacific Film Festival[8](https://www.nfdcindia.com/catalogue/NFDC%20-%20Feature%20Films%20Catalogue%202024.pdf).
Contemporary commentary in the government's 1984 Indian Panorama catalog described how party-talk in Nihalani's hands reveals "a pus-ridden, pulverized mass of social tissue," holding up a mirror that alternately shows society's pretty and diseased face, and noted that the closing credit line, "producer, National Film Development Corporation," marked state support for this kind of filmmaking[16](https://dff.nic.in/images/Documents/140_IPCatalogue1984.pdf).
## Legacy
Critics have returned to the film repeatedly. Jai Arjun Singh, cited by *The Indian Express*, called it the best example of "chamber drama" in [Hindi cinema](https://www.edgepedia.org/hindi-cinema), and the same paper's retrospective placed it among the essential works of the 1970s and 1980s parallel cinema movement[14](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/film-of-the-month-govind-nihalani-satire-party-1984-6073071/lite/) • [17](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/opinion-entertainment/parallel-cinema-movies-6375603/). Shubhra Gupta, writing in 2021, read the film as a record of a mid-1980s India in which differences and argument were welcome at gatherings, and in which a "Maoist activist" could be shown with understanding and context[18](https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/will-you-join-the-party-7256951/).
The film has also found new audiences decades after release. In 2026, *ThePrint* reported that the Avinash–Bharat exchange on art and politics circulated widely on Instagram during student protests led by the [Cockroach Janta Party](https://www.edgepedia.org/cockroach-janta-party), and described the film as a portrait of comfortable people performing political engagement while avoiding risk[3](https://theprint.in/feature/reel-take/1984-film-party-cjp-protest-political-satire/2997228/). In India the film streams on EPIC ON and the NFDC Amazon Channel; [JustWatch](https://www.edgepedia.org/justwatch) reported no streaming availability in the United States as of its 2026 check[9](https://www.justwatch.com/in/movie/party) • [19](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/party-1984).
## References
1. [Party (1984), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248289)
2. [Party (1984), MUBI](https://mubi.com/en/in/films/party-1984)
3. [1984 film Party got a second life in CJP protest. It is political satire at its finest, ThePrint](https://theprint.in/feature/reel-take/1984-film-party-cjp-protest-political-satire/2997228/)
4. [Film Review: Party (1984), Hindu College Gazette](https://www.hinducollegegazette.com/post/film-review-party-1984)
5. [35th National Film Award Catalogue, National Film Archive of India](https://nfaindia.org/images/pdf/35th%20National%20Film%20Award%20Catalogue.pdf)
6. [Party (1984) Full cast & crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248289/fullcredits/)
7. [Party videorecording, O. P. Jindal Global University Library catalog](https://books.jgu.edu.in/bib/32215)
8. [NFDC Feature Films Catalogue 2024](https://www.nfdcindia.com/catalogue/NFDC%20-%20Feature%20Films%20Catalogue%202024.pdf)
9. [Party streaming: where to watch movie online?, JustWatch (India)](https://www.justwatch.com/in/movie/party)
10. [Party (1984) Movie Details, Cinemaazi](https://www.cinemaazi.com/film/party)
11. [Party Cast & Crew, Nowrunning](https://www.nowrunning.com/movie/998/bollywood.hindi/party/cast.and.crew.htm)
12. [Party (Govind Nihalani) 1984, Indiancine.ma](https://indiancine.ma/YZM/player)
13. [Party, WorldCat](https://search.worldcat.org/title/Party/oclc/865004627)
14. [Film of the Month: Catch 'Humans of South Bombay' in action in Govind Nihalani's biting satire Party, The Indian Express](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/bollywood/film-of-the-month-govind-nihalani-satire-party-1984-6073071/lite/)
15. [Party (1984), DigiGuide](https://digiguide.tv/programme/Film/Party/205294/)
16. [Indian Cinema 1984, Indian Panorama catalogue, Directorate of Film Festivals](https://dff.nic.in/images/Documents/140_IPCatalogue1984.pdf)
17. [Our ultimate guide to the 1970-80s parallel cinema gems, The Indian Express](https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/opinion-entertainment/parallel-cinema-movies-6375603/)
18. [Will you join the 'Party'?, The Indian Express (Eye)](https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/will-you-join-the-party-7256951/)
19. [Party streaming: where to watch movie online?, JustWatch (US)](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/party-1984)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Hindi films of the 1980s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license