Charulata (1964)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Satyajit Ray

Writers:

Satyajit Ray (writer)
Rabindranath Tagore (story)

Release Date:

17 April 1964 (India)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Charu lives a lonely and idle life in 1870s India. Although her husband devotes more time to his newspaper than to their marriage...

Plot Keywords:

Loneliness | India | Love | Male Female Relationship | Husband Wife Relationship

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Soumitra Chatterjee	...	Amal
Madhabi Mukherjee	...	Charulata
Shailen Mukherjee	...	Bhupati Dutta
Shyamal Ghoshal	...	Umapada
Gitali Roy	...	Manda
Bholanath Koyal	...	Braja
Suku Mukherjee	...	Nishikanta
Dilip Bose	...	Shashanka
Joydeb	...	Nilotpal Dey
Bankim Ghosh	...	Jagannath
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Subrata Sensharma	...	Motilal

Also Known As:

The Lonely Wife

Runtime:

117 min

Country:

India

Language:

Bengali | English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

R.D.Banshal & Co.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

A subtly rich period film from late 1800s, certainly worth relishing

Satyajit Ray is one of my very favorite film makers, and I especially love his "Apu" Trilogy and "Home and the World", all four of which I would probably rate 10/10 or possibly 9/10. I saw "Charulata" ("The Lonely Wife") on videotape in the closing days of 1999.

"Charulata" clearly espouses S.Ray's distinctive style with very strong and realistic characters subtly developed, rich immersion into the period of the film (in this case around the time of the Indian Mutiny in the 1860s or 1870s, as I recall from history), having of a very few settings that are each portrayed in detail, and compelling and introspective camera shots. I am not surprised that some people are reminded, in viewing S. Ray's films, of Russian author Chekhov; I think of the paralysis of the characters in "The Cherry Orchard" and their juxtaposition against a lovely estate that they are in the process of losing.

In this film there isn't the same faded glory, but the lovely home decor and liberating gardens do contrast starkly with the paralysis of the wife. Bright and with clear literary talent, she is stuck as but a home fixture for her well-intentioned but unseeing husband. The husband has laudable passion for his newspaper and the truth, but is sadly ignorant of the companionship and time that any relationship, particularly a marital one, demands.

I would probably rate this film 8.5-9 out of 10. For me, it didn't have the strong emotion of any of the other films I mentioned above or the intricate story of "Agantuk" ("The Stranger", in color and which I believe was his last film). But overall, "Charulata" is another masterpiece film by Satyajit Ray with a quiet and humble, yet powerful, presentation, rather uncommon in contemporary film.