Monday, May 2, 2011

Best 5 Movies of Director : Satyajit Ray

Sat1. The Visitor (1991) Agantuk (original title)


Drama

An well-off Indian family is paid an unexpected, and rather unwanted, visit by a man claiming to be the woman's long lost uncle. The initial suspicion with which they greet the man slowly dissolves as he regales them with stories of his travels, tales that are at odds with their conventional middle class perspective on the world.






Cast

  Dipankar Dey  ...  Sudhindra Bose (as Depankar De) 
  Mamata Shankar  ...  Anila Bose 
  Utpal Dutt  ...  Manomohan Mitra 
  Dhritiman Chatterjee  ...  Prithwish Sen Gupta 
  Robi Ghosh  ...  Ranjan Rakshit 
  Subrata Chatterjee  ...  Chhanda Rakshit 
  Promode Ganguly  ...  Tridib Mukherjee 
  Ajit Banerjee  ...  Sital Sarkar 

















2. Days and Nights in the Forest (1970) Aranyer Din Ratri (original title)

Drama

A group of four middle class workers in India take the week off to have a holiday. When they get to the forest, they meet up with another group and spend their time flirting with women.







Cast

  Sharmila Tagore  ...  Aparna 
  Kaberi Bose  ...  Jaya 
  Simi Garewal  ...  Duli (as Simi Garowal) 
  Soumitra Chatterjee  ...  Ashim (as Soumitra Chatterji) 
  Subhendu Chatterjee  ...  Sanjoy (as Subhendu Chatterji) 
  Robi Ghosh  ...  Shekhar (as Rabi Ghosh) 
  Samit Bhanja  ...  Hari 
  Aparna Sen  ...  Hari's former lover 
  Pahadi Sanyal  ...  Sadashiv Tripathi 








3. The Big City (1964) Mahanagar (original title)


Drama

Calcutta in the early 1960's. Bhambal supports his wife Arati, his parents, and two children. Money is tight, so Arati goes to work. She's successful and enjoys it, but this untraditional step throws the household into chaos: her in-laws initiate a "cold war" of silence and approbation. When Bhambal loses his job, her working is essential; he loses self respect, and the gulf between them widens. Arati questions whether to keep her daughter in school. At work, her friendship with Edith, a Euro-Indian who smokes, swears, and uses lipstick, brings Arati close to impertinence with her genial boss. Her job is imperiled, she acts impulsively, and who will understand her actions?

Cast

  Anil Chatterjee  ...  Subrata Mazumdar 
  Madhabi Mukherjee  ...  Arati Mazumder 
  Jaya Bhaduri  ...  Bani 
  Haren Chatterjee  ...  Priyogopal (Subrata's father) 
  Sefalika Devi  ...  Sarojini (Subrata's Mother) 
  Prasenjit Sarkar  ...  Pintu 
  Haradhan Bannerjee  ...  Himangshu Mukherjee 
  Vicky Redwood  ...  Edith 


















4. The World of Apu (1959)Apur Sansar (original title)

Drama

Apu is a jobless ex-student dreaming vaguely of a future as a writer. An old college friend talks him into a visit up-country to a village wedding. This changes his life, for when the bridegroom turns out to be mad, Apu's friend asks him to become the husband! After initial revulsion at the idea, Apu agrees. Apu takes his exquisite bridge, Aparna, back to Calcutta. But Aparna dies in childbirth, Apu leaves Calcutta, crazy with grief, and his son Kajal is left abandoned with his wife's parents. Only after a long period of total indifference to worldly responsibilities, does Apu become capable of returning to the world.

Cast

  Soumitra Chatterjee  ...  Apurba Roy 
  Sharmila Tagore  ...  Aparna 
  Alok Chakravarty  ...  Kajal 
  Swapan Mukherjee  ...  Pulu 
  Dhiresh Majumdar  ...  Shashinarayan 
  Sefalika Devi  ...  Shashinarayan's wife 
  Dhiren Ghosh  ...  Landlord 
  Shanti Bhattacherjee  ...  Office Associate 
  Abhijit Chatterjee  ...  Aparna's Brother 
  Belarani Devi  ...  Apu's Neighbor (as Belarani) 

















5. Company Limited (1974) Seemabaddha (original title)

Drama

Shyamalendu (Barun Chanda) is a successful executive at a fan company where he is expecting a promotion shortly. His life revolves around his work and socialising with colleagues along with his wife, Dolan (Paromita Chaudhuri). His sister-in-law, Tutul (Sharmila Tagore) comes to stay with them for a few days. She is given a tour of the life they lead - in restaurants, beauty parlours, clubs and race courses. But then crisis strikes in the form of agitation at the factory just before the shipment of a prestigious export order and Shyamalendu is held to blame. With the help of a shady labour officer, Shyamalendu averts the crisis by declaring a lock-out at the factory after staging a false riot. For his 'efficient' handling of the crisis, Shyamalendu is promoted and there is congratulations all around - except from Tutul, who has understood the vacuousness of Shyamalendu's world and has hated it. Shyamalendu is left successful and desolate - at the top.

Cast

  Barun Chanda  ...  Shyamalendu Chatterjee 
  Parumita Chowdhury  ...  Dolan 
  Sharmila Tagore  ...  Tutul 
  Ajoy Banerjee   
  Haradhan Bannerjee  ...  Talukdar 
  Harindranath Chattopadhyay  ...  Sir Baren Roy 
  Shefali  ...  Cabaret Dancer 

1 comment:

  1. One of the greatest directors of all time. Always the last scene of his movies would be the one that kept us haunting long after we finished watching it. He was the only one who could explain how an eclipse is magic!

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