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 Bachchan

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Anil Chatterjee	...	Subrata Mazumdar
Madhabi Mukherjee	...	Arati Mazumder
Jaya Bachchan	...	Bani (as Jaya Bhaduri)
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

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 correct portrayal of life in the sixties

I found the movie exhilarating. This a movie where a Bengali housewife's actual stand in the eyes of those near to her comes to life. The house wife Aarati takes up the load of a job only to care for her family. While other family members gradually accept her new role, mostly because of the dire need of money, its her closest ally in the family, her husband, who isn't very warm to her new role. It first of all hurts his pride to accept her contribution, and he also resents her new found confidence, more than her independence. At the same time, Its the housewife Aarati who passes every test, as she copes with every challenge thrown at her, at home, at work and in her relationships with every individual. Personally i think thats what women are groomed to be, from birth, brave to take on the world whenever necessary. Its the husband who falters and learns to accept her after a big fight within himself.

Satyajit Ray, in Mahanagar, made a movie where ( in terms of cinematography and story-telling) not a single frame is wasted in anyway. Every movement of the actors, every hint relates to something or the other, while the story-telling is still simple enough for the ordinary to follow the story. I would recommend this to anyone.

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Bengali

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