Ghare Baire

aka Home and The World 1984 140’ col Bengali d/sc/m Satyajit Ray pc NFDC st Rabindranath Tagore’s novel c Soumendu Roy lp Soumitra Chatterjee, Victor Bannerjee, Swatilekha Chatterjee, Gopa Aich, Jennifer Kendall, Manoj Mitra, Indrapramit Roy, Bimal Chatterjee

Twenty years after Charulata (1964) Ray returned to Tagore, in colour, adapting a controversial novel that had increased in stature over the years. Set during the terrorist movements following the first communal partition of Bengal (1905), the book tells a triple story, interweaving the diaries of the zamindar Nikhilesh (V. Bannerjee), a critic of nationalism, with the stories of the man’s wife Bimala (Sw. Chatterjee) and of their guest, the fiery activist Sandeep (So. Chatterjee). Sandeep and Bimala become involved with one another, which for her leads to a sense of liberation. In the end Nikhilesh dies, and Bimala is widowed, punished for her transgression (the novel ends differently, with Nikhilesh accepting Bimala back). Ray played down the novel’s political overtones in favour of a straight love triangle enacted in a meticulously researched period setting. The film, which Ray had intended as his debut work, recalls Charulata in some ways. Ray’s son, Sandeep, completed the postproduction after Ray suffered his first heart attack.

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