Distant Thunder (1973)

As food shortages reach catastrophic proportions, Gangacharan attempts to preserve his privileged situation, while his generous wife, Ananga, conversely tries to help and support the community.

Director:

Satyajit Ray

Writers:

Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (novel), Satyajit Ray (screenplay)

Stars:

Soumitra Chatterjee, Bobita, Sandhya Roy

2 wins & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Soumitra Chatterjee	...	Gangacharan Chakravarti (as Soumitra Chattopadhyay)
Bobita	...	Ananga, Gangacharan's wife
Sandhya Roy	...	Chutki
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Chitra Banerjee	...	Moti
Paritosh Banerjee
Sachin Chakraborty
Govinda Chakravarti	...	Dinabandhu
Shrikumar Dutta
Subal Dutta
Tapan Dutta
Anil Ganguly	...	Nibaran
Noni Ganguly	...	'Scarface' Jadu
Debatosh Ghosh	...	Adhar
Gobardhan Ghosh
Dalim Guha

Storyline

Gangacharan is the new Brahmin of a village, where he assumes various duties: teaching, organizing religious events, and trying to prevent epidemics. But in that year 1943, war is raging (as reminded by the planes occasionally heard flying over the countryside), and a major famine is under way. As food shortages reach catastrophic proportions, Gangacharan attempts to preserve his privileged situation, while his generous wife, Ananga, conversely tries to help and support the community.

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Plot Keywords:

food shortage | brahmin | india | disaster | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Satyajit ray won golden bear at berlin film festival for this movie. This was first and last time for an indian to do so.

User Reviews

beautiful.....

DISTANT THUNDER is a very hard to find film (at least it was for me), so, if you see at your local library or film rental, don't pass up the chance to see it. It tells the story of the famine of 1943, in India, where a young Brahmin doctor (Soumitra Chatterji) and his beautiful wife (Babita) must search for rice, as the price continues to climb. The doctor is humbled by the experience and is forever changed (for the better) through experiencing, firsthand, what it feels like to be hungry. This is a beautiful masterpiece by the incomparable Satyajit Ray. If you haven't seen his films already, this is a great introduction. I also highly recommend THE APU TRILOGY, TWO DAUGHTERS, DEVI and THE STRANGER.

Details

Official Sites:

YOUTUBE [India]

Country:

India

Language:

Bengali

Release Date:

26 October 1975 (USA)

Also Known As:

Distant Thunder

Company Credits

Production Co:

Angel Digital Private Limited, Balaka Movies

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)