The Big City (1963)

Life at home changes when a house-wife from a middle-class, conservative family in Calcutta gets a job as a saleswoman.

Director:

Satyajit Ray

Writers:

Narendranath Mitra (from a story by), Satyajit Ray (scenario)

Stars:

Anil Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Jaya Bhaduri

Top Rated Indian Movies #11 | 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Anil Chatterjee	...	Subrata Mazumdar
Madhabi Mukherjee	...	Arati Mazumder
Jaya Bhaduri	...	Bani
Haren Chatterjee	...	Priyogopal (Subrata's father)
Sefalika Devi	...	Sarojini (Subrata's Mother) (as Shephalika Devi)
Prasenjit Sarkar	...	Pintu
Haradhan Bannerjee	...	Himangshu Mukherjee (as Haradhan Banerjee)
Vicky Redwood	...	Edith
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bibhuti Banerjee	...	(as Bibhuti Bandyopadhyay)
Manisha Chakraborty
Tapan Chatterjee	...	(as Tapen Chattopadhyay)
Arun Chowdhury
Pritish Dey
Shailen Ganguli
Shyamal Ghoshal

Storyline

Calcutta in the early 1960's. Bhambal supports his wife Arati, his parents, and two children. Money is tight, so Arati goes to work. She's successful and enjoys it, but this untraditional step throws the household into chaos: her in-laws initiate a "cold war" of silence and disapproval. When Bhambal loses his job, her working is essential; he loses self respect, and the gulf between them widens. Arati questions whether to keep her daughter in school. At work, her friendship with Edith, a Euro-Indian who smokes, swears, and uses lipstick, brings Arati close to impertinence with her genial boss. Her job is imperiled, she acts impulsively, and who will understand her actions?

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Plot Keywords:

lipstick | money | kolkata india | tradition versus modernity | toy gun | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Bengali English

Release Date:

27 September 1963 (India)

Also Known As:

The Big City: Mahanagar

Filming Locations:

Calcutta, West Bengal, India

Company Credits

Production Co:

R.D.Banshal & Co.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min 122 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jaya Bhaduri's only film with Satyajit Ray.

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Goofs

When Priyogopal (Subrata's father) goes to visit his student Anupam Roychowdhury to ask for money he is shown having a conversation with Anupam in his office. When he is explaining his circumstance the camera shows him only sitting on a chair with his walking stick. In the very next scene when all the three characters are shown (third one being Anupam's wife ) the top of his walking stick has changed direction. The round bit on top was towards the right before and is turned to the left in the very next scene.

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Quotes

Arati: [to her husband] You would not recognize me if you saw me at work.

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Connections

Remade as Humkadam (1980)

User Reviews

A charming and totally engaging film

The struggle between traditional and modern values in Indian life is the centerpiece of The Big City (Mahanagar), a charming and totally engaging film by the great Indian director Satyajit Ray. Unlike Ray's earlier works which were centered either on the very poor or the very affluent, The Big City deals with the life of an ordinary middle class Bengali family and spotlights the changing role of women in India during the 1960s. Based on a short story by Narendranath Mitra and set in Calcutta, Subrata Mazumdar (Anil Chatterjee) is the sole breadwinner in his family but does not make enough to support his extended family that includes his wife Arati (Madhabi Mukherjee), their young son Pintu (Prasenjit Sarkat), sister (Jaya Bhaduri), father (Haren Chatterjee) and mother (Sefalike Devi).

Subrata's father is a retired school teacher whose pupils have gone on to considerable success as doctors, lawyers, and businessmen while he has slid further into poverty. When the aging patriarch is in need of new eyeglasses, he turns to one of his former pupils to help him out. After Subrata casually mentions that a friend's wife has gone to work, Arati gets the idea of supplementing the family's meager income by getting a job herself but this idea is looked on with disdain by the traditionally-minded family. A "cold war" prevails in the household as Arati takes a job selling sewing machines in affluent neighborhoods, enrolling the woman of the house who is always at home.

After several abortive attempts in which she backs off after hearing the sound of a guard dog, Arati settles into her job and begins to thrive, gaining increased self-confidence and inner strength. Even young Pintu is mollified when his mother brings him home some toys after getting paid. Influenced by co-worker Edith (Vicky Redwood), an Anglo-Indian, Arati begins to wear lipstick and sunglasses and is more assertive with her boss (Haradhan Bannerjee) but her husband is resentful and complains that he doesn't know her anymore. Although Edith persuades her boss to grant the workers a commission on sales, he seems to resent her Westernized manner and feels more comfortable with Arati whom he offers a promotion.

Due to a run on the bank in which he is an employee, Subrata is laid off and this causes additional stresses and strains in the family but their love for each other transcends economics and allows Arati to stand up to her boss on a matter of principle. The Big City is not as sweeping in scope or as in-depth a character study as some of Ray's more well-known films, but it is an honest and compelling portrait of a young woman's discovery of herself with strong performances by Mr. Chatterjee and especially Ms. Mukherjee, who would go on to star in one of Ray's most acclaimed films, Charulata.