Le lâche

This melancholy little chamber piece from the director of 'Pather Panchali' also ends beside a railway line; once again holding out the possibility of a new departure.

It has much of the mood of the epilogues of 'Une Partie du Champagne' and 'Les Paraplues de Cherbourg', but this time comprises the entire movie, with the sadly recalled happier times just brief flashbacks.

Two years after Jean Luc Godard's brilliant "Contempt" ("Le Mepris," 1963), about a feckless screenwriter, who loses his wife to a wealthy and powerful man, Satyajit Ray released his film about a feckless screenwriter, who lost his college girl friend to a wealthy and powerful man. I wonder what these directors have against screenwriters. Could it be that they did not like the scripts they were getting and had to sweat over their own? A car driven by Soumitra Chatterjee breaks down in a remote village and the local garage will have to send away for a part. But it just so happens that a friendly man of substance is in that same garage at that same time and offers the writer the hospitality of his home. The writer agrees and when they reach their destination, it just so happens that the man of substance is married to the writer's college girl friend (Madhavi Mukherjee), who he rejected but never got over. Perhaps a professional screenwriter would be uncomfortable with all these coincidences, but, once accepted, there's much suspense in how this ends.

A short, simple & stimulating drama released as one half of the double bill presentation along with Mahapurush, Kapurush (The Coward) follows a screenwriter who rekindles old memories following a chance meeting with his ex-girlfriend who is now married to the person who offers him hospitality for the night after his car breaks down.

Written & directed by Satyajit Ray (The Apu Trilogy & Charulata), the premise is a love triangle brimming with strong emotional undercurrents & gradually increasing tension between the two characters with a shared past. Ray utilises the camera with a probing eye to keep us guessing and smoothly navigates from present to past to inform the viewers.

The drama isn't hurried and the actors play their roles with conviction but it still requires extra breathing space than what its 74 mins runtime offers. Performances from the trio are gripping throughout, plus their interactions also hint at complex emotions swirling beneath the surface, for our lovelorn protagonist pays the price for his earlier betrayal & cowardice.

Overall, Kapurush is the better & stronger story of the two entries that make this double feature offering as it not only narrates its story in more enriching & productive fashion but also benefits from sturdier inputs from its cast. A brutal reminder of how our past actions are responsible for our present being, this poignant drama doesn't dig too deep but still delivers the desired goods.

The most fascinating quality about Kapurush is its brevity – the brevity of the film runtime (74 mins), its terseness in dialogues and the concision in expressions delivered by the protagonists of this film. It is a remarkable craft.

It's hard to imagine for any film maker of international repute to deal with a subject like Kapurush and tackle in-depth human emotions and consciousness, so succinctly and precisely, in just about 74 minutes. Some filmmakers would take alteast the normal 120-140 minutes length to be able to deal with a subject like Kapurush in order to give a wholesome cinematic form. Satyajit Ray took just 74 times to tell a story revolving around 3 main characters, depicting their psyche and intense mental turmoil – all unspoken but using subtle eye movements and small body gestures. The film is the finest example of optimal usage of speech, gesture, expression and length. The film highlights Ray's prowess in the economy of speech and cinematic resources. Kapurush inevitably epitomizes Ray's mastery and control over every aspects of film-making.

The ending of the film is undoubtedly the most exciting part - as with many of Ray's films, it leaves the audience to draw several conclusions, and as a result makes you think. And that's what makes Ray's films so unique – they are all subtle, calm and composed films – but after you have seen them, they bore a deep imprint on your mind and makes you think. Kapurush is one of them.

Unfortunately, Kapurush is a highly underrated film, perhaps because Ray is impeccable and had consistently produced masterpieces. As a result of this, a film like Kapurush got overshadowed. For any other world-class film-maker of today, it would have been a jewel in his or her oeuvre. Well, as I always say – Satyajit Ray is the God of Cinemas....period.

(1965) The Coward/ Kapurush (In Bengali with English subtitles) DRAMA

Adapted from the short story ""Janaiko Kapurusher Kahini" by Premendra Mitra music, co-written and directed by Satyajit Ray that tells about an inspiring screenwriter, Soumitra Chattopadhyay as Amitabha Roy (also known as the Coward) by chance meeting an ex-former flame, Karuna (Madhabi Mukhopadhyay), and he continues to pursue for her affections despite her already married with an already successful owner Bimal Gupta (Haradhan Bandyopadhyay). Throughout the entire movie, viewers get to witness flashbacks how the two first met and what drove them apart.

It is not just a movie about a young man vying affections for a former flame, for it is also about class, culture and principle. I love the civil discussions that does not involve murder. This is the sixth of fourteen films actor Soumitra Chatterjee collaborated with writer/ director Satyajit Ray.