The Music Room (1958)

Depicts the end days of a decadent zamindar (landlord) in Bengal, and his efforts to uphold his family prestige even when faced with economic adversity.

Director:

Satyajit Ray

Writers:

Tarashankar Banerjee (based on the story by) (as Tarashankar Bandhopadhaya), Satyajit Ray (script)

Stars:

Chhabi Biswas, Sardar Akhtar, Gangapada Basu

Top Rated Indian Movies #115 | 1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Chhabi Biswas	...	Huzur Biswambhar Roy
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sardar Akhtar	...	Singer (as Begum Akhtar)
Gangapada Basu	...	Mahim Ganguly
Bismillah Khan	...	Musician
Salamat Ali Khan	...	Khyal singer
Waheed Khan	...	Ustad Ujir Khan (as Ostad Wahed Khan)
Roshan Kumari	...	Krishna Bai, dancer
Tulsi Lahiri	...	Manager of Roy's Estate
Tarapada Nandy
Padmadevi	...	Mahamaya, Roy's wife (as Padma Devi)
Kali Sarkar	...	Roy's Servant
Pinaki Sengupta	...	Khoka, Roy's Son

Storyline

Huzur Biswamghar Roy is a rich landowner who lives in a palace with his wife and son and his many servants. His passion - his wife would call it his addiction - is music and he spends a great deal of his fortune on concerts held for the locals in his magnificent music room. His wealth is in decline however. His lands are being eroded by the local river and he pays for the concert he arranges for his son's coming of age party by selling some of the family jewels. When his neighbor Ganguli invites him to a party at his house, Roy decides to one up him and organizes a lavish party for the same day - costing him the last of the jewels. After his wife and son are killed in a storm, Roy becomes something of a recluse, closing up the music room. Now, many years later he decides to have one final concert, spending the last of his money to again outdo - and spite - Ganguli.

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Plot Keywords:

landlord | storm | one word title | spider | flashback | 

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Genres:

Drama | Music

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #573.

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Quotes

Huzur Biswambhar Roy: [laughing drunkenly, deriding the moneylender's son, Ganguly] He failed. He failed!
Huzur Biswambhar Roy: [now talking to his servant Ananta, who is refilling his glass with liquor] He couldn't do it. He couldn't do it! That moneylender's son! He wanted to be king of the mountain. What arrogance, huh? What arrogance! A dwarf reaching for the moon! He couldn't do it. You know why he failed?
Huzur Biswambhar Roy: [speaking directly to Ananta] Blood! The blood in my veins! You know whose blood flows in my veins? You want to see? Come...
Huzur Biswambhar Roy: [...]

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Connections

Featured in Celluloid Man (2012)

User Reviews

best music film ever !

Just to appreciate Roshan Kumari's legendary performance -one of the most mesmerizing dancing sequences ever filmed, this masterpiece deserves a repeated viewing.

There is something savage, auto-destructive but also the purest in form about the landlord's passion for music and childish vanity in front of his peers, which made me ponder over the place of music in our society long after the credits end. In the age of MTV and MP3, we are used to the idea of carrying routinely our favorite songs everywhere from streets to bathroom, and it's pity that we hardly experience anymore the authentic ambiance of intimate music gathering such as miraculously acted and filmed in Jalsaghar. Music in other era and other place must have been high point and extra-ordinary moment of community life, source of the spiritual inspiration for civil life as well as its destruction. The decor and lighting of the music room is sumptuous and otherworldly, in perfect contrast with the wearisome monotony of domestic scenes the declining aristocrat is forced to endure.

Details

Official Sites:

YOUTUBE [India]

Country:

India

Language:

Bengali

Release Date:

10 October 1958 (India)

Also Known As:

The Music Room

Filming Locations:

Nimtita, West Bengal

Box Office

Gross USA:

$94,886

Company Credits

Production Co:

Arora, Angel Digital Private Limited

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1