Kapurush: The Coward (1965)
"Kapurush" (original title)

Amitabha Roy (Soumitra Chatterjee), a sriptwriter has a breakdown near a tea-estate and he is offered a place to stay by the estate manager (Haradhan Banerjee) at his bungalow. When he ... See full summary »

Director:

Satyajit Ray

Writers:

Premendra Mitra (story), Satyajit Ray (screenplay)

Stars:

Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Haradhan Bannerjee

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Soumitra Chatterjee	...	Amitabha Roy (as Soumitra Chattopadhyay)
Madhabi Mukherjee	...	Karuna Gupta (as Madhabi Mukhopadhyay)
Haradhan Bannerjee	...	Bimal Gupta (as Haradhan Bandyopadhyay)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Santi Chatterjee	...	(as Shanti Chattopadhyay)
Satish Haldar
Deochand Lal

Storyline

Amitabha Roy (Soumitra Chatterjee), a sriptwriter has a breakdown near a tea-estate and he is offered a place to stay by the estate manager (Haradhan Banerjee) at his bungalow. When he reaches, Amitabha finds out that the manager is married to his ex-girlfriend, Karuna (Madhabi Mukherjee). The manager has invited Amitabha to assuage his own boredom # and fails to notice the uneasiness between his wife and the guest. The plot unfolds over a period of approximately one-day when they have dinner, breakfast and go for a picnic # and small gestures rekindle Amitabha's memories. Through a series of flashbacks, he remembers their first meeting, courtship and separation (which was solely because of his lack of courage to make a commitment). Amitabha's current affluence and his suspicion of Karuna's unhappiness leads him to propose to Karuna once again but she is inclined to believe that the time to muster up courage has gone past.

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Bengali

Release Date:

7 May 1965 (India)

Also Known As:

The Coward

Company Credits

Production Co:

R.D.Banshal & Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

User Reviews

Revival of burnt out passions or de-ja vu?

This can be categorized as another Ray short-of-a-full-length venture! The title could not be more apt, as COWARD is written all over the young writer(Soumitra Chatterjee)- especially after we are told of the past sequence. Some years ago, Amitabh had refused to marry lover Karuna in haste. He needed 'time' to think it over, the city was big, he was starting to work, he wasn't even established properly- how could he marry Karuna suddenly?

Many years later, his car breaks down and he is given shelter for the evening in Bimal Gupta's house- a successful tea planter somewhere in Darjeeling. The tea-planter is lonely in that part of the world with no neighbors nearby, hence he talks garrulously about his takes on life. Amitabha is now an established screen-writer who talks less but is astounded to meet Bimal's wife- Karuna.

A breakthrough performance by Madhabi Mukherjee, this is a wonderful movie which will not fail to appeal anyone.