INFORMATION

Director: Satyajit Ray
Year: 1963
Duration: 131’
Language: VOSC
Genre: Drama

SYNOPSIS

When Arati, a young Indian woman, decides to look for a job to help her family financially, everything seems to turn against her. No one sees it as a good idea for a married woman with children to bring home a salary instead of taking care of her family. Only her husband decides to give her permission for the sake of the family economy. Under the beautiful portrait of the everyday that Satyajit Ray constructs, a woman who refuses to live subjected to the patriarchal conservatism of the society in which she lives imposes herself. Based on the short story Abataranika, by Narendranath Mitra, it reflects the reality of the time of the urban middle classes, where women’s employment is motivated by ideas of emancipation, but also by their economic reality.

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY

Satyajit Ray was born in Calcutta in 1921. Son of Sukumar Ray, one of the leading figures of the Bengali literary scene, in 1940 he graduated in economics from the University of Calcutta and went to work as an illustrator at Tagore University in Viswa-Bharati. He made his directorial debut in 1955 with the eponymous adaptation of the 1928 novel Pather Panchali (“Song of the Road”), which began his trilogy on the life of the young Apu, followed by Aparajito (“The Invincible”, 1956) and Apur Sansar (“Apu’s World”, 1959). This was the basis for the rise of his reputation as one of the country’s best filmmakers. In addition to being a director, he was a screenwriter, composer of the soundtrack, editor and designer of the credits and publicity material for his films. Throughout his extensive film career, Ray received as many as 36 Indian National Film Awards, a Golden Lion, two Silver Bears, as well as the Bharat Ratna, India’s most prestigious civilian award. Almost a month before his death, he became the first Indian to receive an Honorary Oscar in 1992.