Mahapurush (1965)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Satyajit Ray

Writer:

Rajshekhar 'Parashuram' Basu (story)

Release Date:

7 May 1965 (India)

Plot:

A devout Hindu family falls victim to a charlatan posing as a holy man.

Cast

Charuprakash Ghosh	...	Birinchi Baba
Robi Ghosh	...	Birinchi Baba's assistant
Prasad Mukherjee	...	Gurupada Mitter
Gitali Roy	...	Buchki
Satindra Bhattacharya	...	Satya
Somen Bose	...	Nibaran
Santosh Dutta	...	Professor Nani
Renuka Roy	...	Nani's wife

Also Known As:

The Saint

Runtime:

65 min

Country:

India

Language:

Bengali

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

India:U

Company:

R.D.Banshal & Co.

Cultural vignette

This is one of Ray's short stories. It lacks the intensity of his full-length features. Its a satire which appropriately captures the post-independence Indian zeitgeist. Its a sweet tale of how a charlatan is exposed with help from basic science and motivation from a lover boy in distress. Be it a short story or not, in every one of his movies, Ray has been a beacon by conveying his socially progressive ideas. He's a master at exposing the fault lines in the Indian society and delivering his wisdom packaged in a entertaining manner. I saw the movie in a combination pack with another one of his shorts - Kapurush. Kapurush is an emotion-packed drama. It captures the anxiety and rekindling of emotions of a chance meeting between two estranged lovers.