The Criterion Collection has released a double-DVD set featuring two film adaptations of Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths by two screen masters - Jean Renoir and Akira Kurosawa. Don't know when/if this DVD will be available in India. I've seen the Kurosawa version and while I agree that it's one of his lesser works, in some ways it's more interesting for that reason. (Mifune rocks as the peasant!) And I'm very surprised by Ian Johnson's assertion, in this Bright Lights Journal article, that Renoir is "an immeasurably greater director" than Kurosawa.
If you're in Bombay, call up Movietime in Andheri. They'll get you whatever Criterion stuff you need. Cheers.
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