Aranyer Din Ratri

Film opens with a shot of paddy fields while a man traveling with his pals in a car ,reads the following " Bengali people are as happy looking at seasons and nature, as they are at looking death in the face". Now I'm not very sure whether this statement is true, but I suspect that this kind of cultured stoicism aptly applies to the director of this movie - Satyajit Ray. Four friends - all young men from Calcutta- go into a forest and plan to stay in a rest house there, while aspiring to have sexual fun with tribal women who are presumed to be liberal in such matters. Of course, this sort of plot is not standard territory for the said director but even with this unlikely template, Ray directs his masterly rays of perspective to illumine the hinterlands and give larger wings to a fledgling premise.

Though it is not set in the city or even a village, the film is a composite shot of civilization in decline. But in Ray's world, there is always hope, a calm sense of being obliged to emerge from the ruins, and in A.D.R we also see a beautiful example of strong but tranquil feminism.

This latter aspect emerges in the form of Sharmila Tagore who registers a great performance in this movie. In Ghare Baire, Ray made Victor Banerjee essay a model man, and here he has Sharmila Tagore giving us a portrait of the model woman. Kohl-lined beautifully curving eyes, luxuriant hair coiffed into a bouffant, and a softly contoured figure clothed in sari ,all set off a face that can essay feminine mystique as smoothly as it can show child-like amusement. Aparna (Tagore), it is steadily revealed, is gifted intellectually, bears the weight of the past, nurtures a humane mind and yet sequesters all these facets beneath a regally controlled visage that can hint at displeasure as beautifully as it can sport a smile.

Technically too, this is an accomplished film with superior camera-work by Soumendu Roy. There is a famous static shot in which the lens stands just outside the car window and looks inside, through the car compartment, and past the other window into the background -4 visual planes hold four different people ,all sporting a range of interesting expressions and emotional dynamics. The other memorable sequence is the Memory Game wherein all the players are seated in a circle, and the lens flicks from one face to another as they play the game.

Starting with this script, countless other story-tellers might have produced a work of dissipated effect, but Satyajit Ray makes fine use of the novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay to present not just a sylvan jaunt enjoyed by four young men, but also an elegantly presented humanist tapestry. Some directors don't need the Midas touch, they possess something greater.

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Adapted form Sunil Ganguly's story, the film zooms in on the vagaries and vicissitudes of the then bourgeoisie and their disillusionment with their state of affairs. A motley quartet ventures into the woods of Palamau to spend some days in order to extricate themselves from the trammels of their ordered social and city life. Culled from the various strata in the middle class the four characters reflect completely different attitudes bound by a thread of friendship. 'Breaking the rules', they drop anchor at a government forest bungalow without the required permission, consequently browbeating, and finally bribing the chowkidar, putting his job at stake. They remain unshaven, exchange diatribes at a local arrack shop and indulge in a drunken twist causing problem to vehicles. Their behaviour with and indifference (frequently found among the bourgeois people) of the lower orders of the society and their suffering, quite often verging on brutality, may make them, for the time being, unlikeable; but their innocent and ignorant self-esteem doing them in at last draws back our sympathy once again. Ashim (as Soumitra Chatterji) loses his self-confidence finally after the memory game; Sanjoy (as Subhendu Chatterji) finds himself hollow as a man in front of a seductive Jaya; Hari himself mislays his wallet but beats the local boy Lakhai which rebounds on him at last; Shekhar (as Rabi Ghosh) is only the man who escapes much of the humiliation because of his hilarious nature.

Their unexpected spotting, one morning, of two ladies of their social stratum within the tribal village brings them back, somewhat, to their superficial selves and they try to meet them in person and try their own hands at flirting. Though a forging of relationships is on the way under the hammer-blows of a set of consecutive meetings between the opposite sexes, yet each of the conceited quartet is blown to bits as the women come up trumps. Each of the quartet is chastened in his own way near the end of the film, and the women, winners in the beginning, appear to be pale, gloomy and their voices plangent beneath their jocund exterior and mellifluous chatter and pithy elicitation.

Like in most of Ray's films, here also, the characters smile, but they find it rather painful to laugh. Though it is a matter of pity that a film of this momentousness received a lukewarm response form the native audience and critics when it was screened, yet it, then, was, and still is, a surefire narration of epic dimensions and the film's aura doesn't seem to dim even though it is watched over and over again. Unfortunately, they, who search for a single and simple theme in a film like this, will not be able to comprehend herein the interplay of various themes. Ray once said regretfully in a Sight & Sound interview, "The film is about so many things, that's the trouble. People want just one theme, which they can hold in their hands." He likened the structure of the film to a fugue, where disparate elements appear, develop interwoven, transformed pitted in a balanced way against each other.

Lastly, the memory game sequence in the forest is as much psychological as it is appealing. Ray's astute handling of the mise-en-scene surpasses every character study heretofore attempted. Aparna pulls out when only Aparna and Ashim are left in the fray. Sexual undercurrents and each one's mental preferences are reflected during the game. With the forest as the setting the visitors engage in a primitive game of dethroning the other with one's mental might. The mysterious forest exudes revelations of the highest order at once perceivable and profound to be taken into, absorbed and preserved for perennial use by the unfortunate and innocent souls, who often get consumed with the fire of self-esteem and self-satisfaction thereby closing doors to experience and knowledge that's omniscience in it's vastness and immanence.

Probably one of the most underrated works of Satyajit Ray....this is a beautiful take on life of few middle urban class people as they go on a vacation.......There's so much depth in every characters and sequences that is handled with so much immense realism......The Memory gane scene alone is enough to make this film into the top tier......

-'Aranyer Din Ratri' opens with four Calcuttan friends on a hedonistic road trip to a forest. Each friend has a distinctive personalitry trait: Ashim (Soumitra Chatterjee) is successful, slightly dominating and slightly narcissistic, Sanjoy (Subhendu Chatterjee) is shy, conventional and neutral, Shekhar (Robi Ghosh) is the funny one, and Hari (Samit Bhanja) is rash and impulsive. While they almost forcefully settle down in the guest house much against the caretaker's request (as it will cost him his job) and observe the surrounding locales, they come across three different women: Aparna (Sharmila Tagore) an enigmatic confident and smart young lady, her widowed sister-in-law (Kaberi Bose) who is welcoming and cheerful and a tribal girl named Duli (Simi Garewal) who is ready to offer services in exchange of money. It is this encounter in the forest that leads to a development that will change the lives of Ashim, Sanjoy and Hari while Shekhar remains his own funny self. Ray proves again that less can be more if done properly. The lyrical story is told with sheer subtlety and profound depth. The sexual chemistry, the underlying themes such as class differentiation, poverty, loneliness and love are displayed with a skillful quietness. His fluid direction and the actors performances draws the viewer into this little forest of quiet enigma. It is no surprise that Ray has worked with the best actors and 'Aranyer Din Ratri' is no different in that respect. The two Chatterjees, Ghosh and Bhanja are superb. It really felt as though we were watching four close friends. Garewal provides some comic relief. She may be an unusual choice for Duli but she pulls it off quite well. Sharmila Tagore excellently downplays the part of Aparna. Ray's films have a timeless quality as they never feel outdated. Needless to say, the terrific 'Aranyer Din Ratri' is one such movie.

As a passionate movie buff, I have the highest regard for Ray's films. That has been reconfirmed after watching this subtly nuanced film from Ray. To the casual viewer, it might seem like the escapades of four middle class gentlemen when they go out of their constrictive surroundings into the wilderness and meet three women. However, a rigorous viewing will expose different layers, some surprising, and others not so surprising. With flawless and fluid direction, Ray tells a story of love lost, confidence regained, inhibitions of a conservative society blown away, overwhelming sadness, and the joy and freedom of coming close to nature. Even though it is quite an old film, it speaks of the human nature and its eternal characteristics so beautifully, that it does not seem dated at all- which is the mark of a classic. Highly recommended.