Trovão Distante

This film takes as its subject the Bengal famine of 1943 when, due to the negligence and indifference of the authorities, some 5 million lives were lost. The subject is certainly harrowing, but one does not come to a film like this for light entertainment.

Ray focuses on a remote village, where the war is little understood, and is merely "distant thunder". The warplanes flying overhead are regarded uncomprehendingly, but with wonder. Soon, shortages of food start making themselves felt; the price of food rises above what may be afforded, and there is starvation.

At the centre of this is a young Brahmin couple, who make use of their caste to earn a living. The horrific turn of events bring home to them the concept of social responsibility. When an untouchable girl dies at their door, they break the greatest caste taboo of all by deciding to dispose of the corpse themselves. In the context, this action is heroic; but this is heroism on the brink of extinction. The final unforgettable shot, where the sheer scale of the holocaust is brought home to us, sends a shiver down the spine even on repeated viewings.

In dealing with this very difficult subject, Ray displays his usual all-embracing humanism, and a level of artisty that appears well beyond that of ordinary directors. This is not an easy film to watch, but is required viewing for anyone who values cinematic artistry, and by those who believe that horrors such as those depicted here should not be forgotten.

The chemistry between Chatterjee and Babita is amazing in this classic study of the conflicts between religion, station, and the inner workings of human souls. Ray's best-known masterpiece improves with repeated viewings. Every time, I watch it, I pick up new nuances, particular on Babita's performance. The thin lines between devout and callous, love and loathing, & heroism and insanity have never been examined more in-depth or with greater insights. On one level, great art, on another flawlessly technical, but overwhelmingly emotionally draining in the best possible way.

The legendary Ray tackles what is known as The Great Bengal Famine in 1943 when India was still under the British Raj. Food was becoming scarcer as the price skyrocketed far beyond what was affordable and in the end, there just wasn't any left. With the attempt to help England during WWI, Churchill used the help of India and exported the majority of food that was so badly needed by the local Indians. As someone had stated, he also forbade other countries from offering any aid to India. The starvation resulted in more than 5,000 000 deaths.

'Ashani Sanket' takes place in a poor rural Bengali village where most people are illiterate and even unaware of the war going on in the other side of the world. In a beautiful scene Ananga and her friend Chutki are fascinated by the flying jets which hardly means anything more to them than a distant thunder. They aren't even aware that those jets are flying to war. Gangacharan and Ananga are the newer inhabitants of the village and are of a 'sophisticated' Brahmin class. The villagers look up to them.

However, as hunger strikes an become more severe, it gradually strips the villagers off their humanity (the fight over the rice) and integrity (Chutki offering herself in exchange of rice) but at the same time it also brings a more positive change in Gangacharan and Ananga. Gangacharan, who was arrogant and pompous, learns that he had lived his affluent life at the cost of the villagers. He becomes aware of the sacrifices others have made for him and that in this tragic ordeal there are no inequalities. Class does not matter for everyone is suffering equally. Consequently, he offers to give the the 'untouchable girl' a proper death ritual. The always compassionate Ananga grows from the naive housewife to a stronger woman.

Ray's treatment is simple and this makes the portrayed village life look very authentic. At the same time he brings depth and there is plenty of detail and metaphor like the two butterflies that intrigue Ananga. Ray has always been known to be one of the greatest storytellers and 'Ashani Sanket' is no different. He gradually unfolds the story as he reveals how powerless hunger can cause humans to become and yet how these people fight to survive. On the technical front, background music is effectively minimalized and the cinematography is stupendous.

Soumitra Chatterjee is marvelous. Obviously, there's a reason why Ray has repeatedly cast him in so many of his films. Thanks to Ray for discovering Babita's talent because this is one of the very very few movies in which she is given a role that does full justice to her acting abilities. Sandhya Roy too delivers a noteworthy performance as Chutki.

'Ashani Sanket' is an astounding film that I found to be very enlightening. Many have claimed for it not to be their favourite Ray film but to me it's a remarkable film, another gem from the legend.

My favourite thing of this movie of was beautiful Bobita. Soumitra Chatterjee, who appeared in half of Ray's films, did awesome job here. If I am not wrong, this is the first proper colour film made by Ray. The topic here is a little bit sensitive, so fanatics might be angry if I share my honest opinion. Even though this has a unique narrative than others, and it carries the most universal themes of all his movies, I always thought the subject was kind of opportunistic. This decision of mine might be influenced by the best of Mrinal Sen, 'Akaler Sandhane', which itself is based on making a "famine film". Actually, just hit my mind, these two movies can be watched back to back for a reason.

"Ashani Sanket", or "Distant Thunder", is one of the first color films of Satyajit Ray (probably my favorite film maker). It is a story about a young Brahmin couple, Gangacharan Chakravarti (played by Soumitra Chatterjee) and his wife Ananga (played by the simply named Babita), who come to settle in a rural and largely illiterate peasant community in India's eastern province of Bengal. Gangacharan takes up teaching and the occasional priestly duties, disparaging the backwardness of the people he is serving.

There are several scenes of military aircraft flying in formation; the villagers wonder how they can fly and remark at their beauty. But the planes are flying because of their participation in WWII, and soon people start hearing that their (British) king is at war, and food shortages are causing their rice prices to increase from 6 (presumably rupees per kilogram?) to 8. The price skyrockets to 10, 11, 12, ... and gets to over 30.

The historical background is a seemingly forgotten Holocaust, the Great Bengal famine of 1943. The British callously disregarded and even facilitated the starvation deaths of 3-5 million people in rural Bengal. While ironically India was very significantly supporting the British war effort with over 3 million troops (after again being denied independence after its WWI support), Winston Churchill exported food from India that was desparately needed domestically, and even barred other countries who were ready to send aid to India from doing so. This after a series of famines under the British Raj, such as one in 1770 that decimated 1/3 of Bengal's population - 10 million people - and that was compounded by the greed of the East India Company.

As hunger affects all, including Ananga and Gangacharan, and some to the point of starvation, Gangacharan is shamed to realize that the relatively luxurious life they had led was at the expense of the landless peasants. "Ashani Sanket" is a portrayal of the horrors inflicted on rural Bengal by the wartime famine, and of Gangacharan's new questioning of caste restrictions and privileges, as well as the selfless sacrifices others less fortunate than he willingly make for him, as a hardly understood conflict goes on as distant thunder.

I would recommend the film as a poignant but by no means maudlin historical drama. Technically, I think the film would have been more powerful in black and white - but that could just be because it is difficult to watch a Ray film and not compare it to his famous Apu trilogy or "Home and the World", with the stark reality of lower middle class life that the films' medium displays. I finished watching the film minutes ago on video and leave with the impression that it's by no means my favorite Ray film, but, like everything by him I've seen, worth seeing.

--Dilip 10/28/2001