Teen Kanya (1961)

The first story is about Nanda, a young man who leaves Calcutta to work as a postmaster in an isolated malaria-infested village. The postmaster is looked after by a young orphan girl, Ratan... See full summary »

Director:

Satyajit Ray

Writers:

Satyajit Ray (screenplay), Rabindranath Tagore (stories)

Stars:

Anil Chatterjee, Chandana Banerjee, Nripati Chatterjee

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anil Chatterjee	...	Nandal (segment "Postmaster") (as Anil Chattopadhyay)
Chandana Banerjee	...	Ratan (segment "Postmaster") (as Chandana Bandyopadhyay)
Nripati Chatterjee	...	Bishey (segment "Postmaster") (as Nripati Chattopadhyay)
Khagen Pathak	...	Khagen (segment "Postmaster")
Gopal Sen	...	Bilash (segment "Postmaster")
Krishnakamal Bhattacharya	...	(segment "Postmaster")
Haridhan Nag	...	(segment "Postmaster")
Narayan Ghosh	...	(segment "Postmaster")
Batakrishna Nandan	...	(segment "Postmaster")
Haricharan Nag	...	(segment "Postmaster")
Khana Roy Chowdhury	...	(narrator) (segment "Postmaster")
Kali Bannerjee	...	Phanibhushan Saha (segment "Monihara") (as Kali Bannerji)
Kanika Majumdar	...	Manimalika (segment "Monihara")
Kumar Roy	...	Madhusudan (segment "Monihara")
Govinda Chakravarti	...	Schoolmaster and narrator (segment "Monihara") (as Gobinda Chakrabarti)

Storyline

The first story is about Nanda, a young man who leaves Calcutta to work as a postmaster in an isolated malaria-infested village. The postmaster is looked after by a young orphan girl, Ratan. His only solace in the village is in teaching Ratan how to read and write. The second story is about a student, Amulya, who returns to his village after finishing his exams. His widowed mother is very anxious for him to marry, and has already picked out a girl. He rejects his mother's choice and, being forced to choose some girl, marries a lively tomboy who is not ready to give up her freedom.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama

---

Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Bengali

Release Date:

5 May 1961 (India)

Also Known As:

Three Daughters

Box Office

Gross:

$81,200 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Satyajit Ray Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

173 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Trivia

The "Monihara" segment of the film was dropped for the first international release because subtitles could not be finished in time due to budgeting constraints.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

User Reviews

Has one of the most heart-wrenching moments I have ever seen in cinema.

Two daughters by Satyajit Ray was my first introduction to Indian cinema. Satyajit Ray has produced a gem of a movie that differs from almost any other Indian films I have seen. Two daughters actually consists of two separate stories based on stories written by Rabindranath Tagore.

The Postman is the better of the two stories. Not giving away the plot, this movie had one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in cinema. The simple, but powerful way Ray pulls his quiet films together at their end makes these quiet films very memorable. Sampati drags out somewhat longer, but has a powerful climax of its own. After years, these two movies have stuck in my memory. I would recommend them to anyone.