Days and Nights in the Forest (Aranyer Din Ratri, অরণ্যের দিনরাত্রি , Bengali, 1970)
Screenplay & Direction: Satyajit Ray
The interesting thing about the movie is that they story is not your usual beginning, climax and resolution. You gather the story as the film rolls on and you pick up the bits of juicy information as you go along. Like onion peel the juice bits unfold, no your typical story where there is an introduction of characters, building of crisis or suspense, climax and finally resolution. Not here, he brings out the issues, you percolate, perambulate then you realise that that is the way the society is. Things do not change overnight, then you procrastinate and move on to watch the next movie....
4 friends are off on a trip to spend some quality time in solitude in a bungalow by a forest in Bihar. I gathered that all of these friends have baggage that they have back home that they would like to put aside during this holiday. Asim (Soumitra Chaterjee, whom has acted in many of Ray's films), the leader of the pack, in some high ranking officer in an international arena but must have been sacked recently. He is the driver of the car and is quite accommodative of his other friends' antics. Seated beside the driver is the comical Shekar who is unattached to any girl and is not highly educated. He is the joker who livens the party of 4. Then there is Hari, is seem to be sleeping most of the time trying to get over the break-up with his uppity girlfriend in Calcutta over some letter. Finally, there is Sanjoy, the low earning wager whose salary supports many dependents in his family. Of course, the story does not make the difference in their socioeconomic status so apparent. The friends do not treat each other in any different.
In the course of the film, you would notice the great divide between the haves/educated and the have-not/less, not educated. The way our friends talk to others of lower is embarrassingly apparent. The condescending and rough tone spoken to them is crystal clear even to someone untrained in the intonation of the Bengali language like me! Later in the movie, we also see how no body bothers about the caretaker's wife who is allegedly very sick.
They land at a forest bungalow where strict instructions are placed at the entrance on need to prior permission before staying in the bungalows. Asim, using his subtle strong arm tactics, that he is so and so in Calcutta manage to grease the palms of the helpless caretaker with his sickly wife. And they cheekily tell themselves, "What the country can do without corruption!"
They laze around in the rest house, sleeping, talking nature walks and visits to the local liquor den to kock themselves drunk. They came in contact with the local people. The love sick Hari lays his eyes on a local vixen, Gulli (Simi Garewal). Looks like having enough with modern city girls with their demands, he find the simple village lass more to his taste.
The following day, our 4 heroes realise that the neighbouring bungalow was occupied by 2 ladies, a young boy and a old gentleman. The two ladies are Aparna (the lovely Sharmila Tagore again) and her sister in law Jaya, a widow with a son. The four are on a short holiday there en route to elsewhere.
The occupants of two bungalows become close. When the forest officer finds out about their unannounced, this straight-by-the-book demanded of the 4 heroes to vacate, only to saved by their neighbours, again showing how rules can be bend based on patronization!
Asim and Aparna show interest in each other in their own subtle way. We discover that Aparna is a highly intellectual lady with her own skeletons in the closet. Beneath her strong exterior, she is vulnerable underneath after witnessing suicides in the family including her brother's, Jaya's husband. Jaya, the lonely widow, exposes her feelings to Sanjoy. Sanjoy, even though fascinated with her, cannot bring himself to her advances, probably because of his middle-class mindset - that she is a widow!
Meanwhile, Sekhar with own weakness for gambling burns all his money in the local fair. Hari meets his lass in the fair and releases his lust on her. On his way back, a local helper whom Hari accuses of picking his wallet gets his revenge. After watching Hari's clandestine acitivity with Gulli in the jungle, he beats Hari on the head.
The time comes for everyone to leave the holiday hideout. The ladies leave - Aparna leaves her contact in Calcutta with Asim, Jaya has no hard feelings even though her love was declined - she left boiled eggs, the guys' favourite. The guys probably devoid of their worries, rejuvenated to face the real world all over again.
As usual a Ray classic, a gem, a good watch.
Screenplay & Direction: Satyajit Ray
The interesting thing about the movie is that they story is not your usual beginning, climax and resolution. You gather the story as the film rolls on and you pick up the bits of juicy information as you go along. Like onion peel the juice bits unfold, no your typical story where there is an introduction of characters, building of crisis or suspense, climax and finally resolution. Not here, he brings out the issues, you percolate, perambulate then you realise that that is the way the society is. Things do not change overnight, then you procrastinate and move on to watch the next movie.... 4 friends are off on a trip to spend some quality time in solitude in a bungalow by a forest in Bihar. I gathered that all of these friends have baggage that they have back home that they would like to put aside during this holiday. Asim (Soumitra Chaterjee, whom has acted in many of Ray's films), the leader of the pack, in some high ranking officer in an international arena but must have been sacked recently. He is the driver of the car and is quite accommodative of his other friends' antics. Seated beside the driver is the comical Shekar who is unattached to any girl and is not highly educated. He is the joker who livens the party of 4. Then there is Hari, is seem to be sleeping most of the time trying to get over the break-up with his uppity girlfriend in Calcutta over some letter. Finally, there is Sanjoy, the low earning wager whose salary supports many dependents in his family. Of course, the story does not make the difference in their socioeconomic status so apparent. The friends do not treat each other in any different.
 |
| Hari, Asim, Sanjoy, Sekhar |
They land at a forest bungalow where strict instructions are placed at the entrance on need to prior permission before staying in the bungalows. Asim, using his subtle strong arm tactics, that he is so and so in Calcutta manage to grease the palms of the helpless caretaker with his sickly wife. And they cheekily tell themselves, "What the country can do without corruption!"
They laze around in the rest house, sleeping, talking nature walks and visits to the local liquor den to kock themselves drunk. They came in contact with the local people. The love sick Hari lays his eyes on a local vixen, Gulli (Simi Garewal). Looks like having enough with modern city girls with their demands, he find the simple village lass more to his taste.
 |
| Gulli (Simi Grewal) |
 |
| Aparna (Tagore) |
Asim and Aparna show interest in each other in their own subtle way. We discover that Aparna is a highly intellectual lady with her own skeletons in the closet. Beneath her strong exterior, she is vulnerable underneath after witnessing suicides in the family including her brother's, Jaya's husband. Jaya, the lonely widow, exposes her feelings to Sanjoy. Sanjoy, even though fascinated with her, cannot bring himself to her advances, probably because of his middle-class mindset - that she is a widow!
 |
| A day at the fair |
The time comes for everyone to leave the holiday hideout. The ladies leave - Aparna leaves her contact in Calcutta with Asim, Jaya has no hard feelings even though her love was declined - she left boiled eggs, the guys' favourite. The guys probably devoid of their worries, rejuvenated to face the real world all over again.
As usual a Ray classic, a gem, a good watch.
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