Ray's first Color film, a cinematic masterpiece, filmic experiment at its height and incidentally my most favorite. For some reasons, this movie is least understood among the Bengali speaking people and abroad as well and hence remains least appreciated.
The single most noteworthy feature about this movie is the equivalence of real time (total time of the day being depicted in movie) and movie time (total screening time). At least among the Indian movie makers, Ray is the first one who had done such experiment and of course, he succeeded comprehensively.
In order to understand the screenplay of 'Kanchanjangha', I would recommend every non-Bengali speaking people, for the first time at least, to look for a good and authentic translation of the script and then only they should sit for watching this movie. You have to keep one thing in mind; Ray's screenplay is extremely dependent on the usage of dialogue and silence and they are, in this case, written in Bengali Language and set into Bengali context. Unlike Kieslowski, Kurosawa and Bergman, Ray's imagery lacks the dramatic element. So, in order to understand 'the drama' it's recommended to understand his language to the extent possible.
The single most noteworthy feature about this movie is the equivalence of real time (total time of the day being depicted in movie) and movie time (total screening time). At least among the Indian movie makers, Ray is the first one who had done such experiment and of course, he succeeded comprehensively.
In order to understand the screenplay of 'Kanchanjangha', I would recommend every non-Bengali speaking people, for the first time at least, to look for a good and authentic translation of the script and then only they should sit for watching this movie. You have to keep one thing in mind; Ray's screenplay is extremely dependent on the usage of dialogue and silence and they are, in this case, written in Bengali Language and set into Bengali context. Unlike Kieslowski, Kurosawa and Bergman, Ray's imagery lacks the dramatic element. So, in order to understand 'the drama' it's recommended to understand his language to the extent possible.