Mahanagar

Subrata Mazumdar (Anil Chatterjee) is struggling to support his extended family in the big city of Calcutta. He has a job as an accountant at a new bank, but he doesn't make enough to make ends meet. Going against the norm, his wife, Arati (Madhabi Mukherjee), decides that she must find a job. Condemned by her conservative father-in-law, she begins working as a door-to-door salesgirl, representing a line of knitting machines. The better she does at her job, the happier and more confident she becomes. But this change makes her husband extremely unhappy. He finally insists that she resign her position. He'll find a part-time job instead. But just before she can do this, there is a run on Subrata's bank and it must close. Jobless, he has to live with the shame of having his wife support him. Like Charulata, this film eventually resolves itself on a more hopeful note than much of director Satyajit Ray's work. Although made in 1963, this film has a surprisingly modern feel to it. The problems faced by the Mazumdar family in Calcutta do not seem too different from those faced by families in Cincinnati or Cairo today. Ray does a masterful job of visual storytelling, and the performances of the entire cast are both evocative and moving. Ray favorite Madhabi Mukherjee, who also appeared in Charauta, is simply amazing as she transforms herself from an obedient, spoiled wife to a confident, hardworking career woman. --Luanne Brown