L ETHIQUE DE KANT, L ORIENTALISME DE SAID ET LE SYMBOLISME DANS THE DARJEELING LIMITED.

India is a fascinating country that has always attracted many western filmmakers. Filmmakers as diverse as Jean Renoir (Le Fleuve), Alain Corneau (Nocturne Indien), Fritz Lang (Le Tigre du Bengale), James Ivory (Shakespeare Wallah, Le Gourou) and David Lean (La Route des Indes), Claude Lelouch (Un + Une), etc. American filmmaker Wes Anderson?s film The Darjeeling Limited can be read as a tribute to Satyajit Ray and makes allusions to him and his work. Co-written by Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman, The Darjeeling Limited includes many of Anderson\'s signature themes and styles, such as despair, abandonment, sibling relationships, a privileged class who rarely works, and timeless fashions and props. This film is a finely-tuned critique of American materialism, emotional vacuity, and lack of spiritualism. In this paper, I would try to look at three different aspects: firstly, what remains of India in the Western imagination after more than two millenniums of constant fantasies, fictions and stereotyping about this dream-land called India. Thus, I strive to unveil if Anderson has provided a fertile ground for engendering Orientalist cultural assumptions by producing a film using exotic locales and if he has made a significant contribution towards de-mystifying the Orient vis-?-vis Edward Sa?d?s groundbreaking work Orientalism. Secondly, I endeavour to assess the value of ethics in everyday life by portraying how humanity should confront relationships with others, from inner family to complete strangers? vis-?-vis the belief system of Emmanuel Kant. Thirdly, I make an attempt to hit upon the elements of symbolism in this film.