6. Charulata (1964)

Alternative title: The Lonely Wife

Language: Bengali

Director: Satyajit Ray

Running time: 117 mins

Starring: Madhabi Mukherjee, Soumitra Chatterjee, Sailen Mukherjee

Company: R.D.B.

The film, which Ray considered as his best, depicts the tensions generated by the arrival into the life of Charulata, a lonely housewife, of her husband's young nephew. As it stands, the film unfolds as a dialogue between cinematic figures of desire conjured out of shades of black and white, a dramatic play of gazes and a meticulously punctuated soundtrack. The camera-eye frequently assumes the heroine's point-of-view and at other times retreats to an autonomous subjectivity of its own. Ray's music adds that extra bit of movement to intensify a mood here and lead the action elsewhere. Charu's swing sequence has acquired textbook status in film studies. Technique apart, Charulata was critically acclaimed as a successful cinematic adaptation of Tagore's literary universe depicting the social world of the emergent Bengali colonial bourgeoisie. It also marked the maturation of Soumitra Chatterjee's career with Ray and gave Madhabi Mukherjee her career-best role.