Charulata

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Charulata
Directed by Satyajit Ray
Produced by RDB Productions
Written by Satyajit Ray
Rabindranath Tagore (novella)
Starring Soumitra Chatterjee,
Madhabi Mukherjee,
Sailen Mukherjee,
Syamal Ghosal
Distributed by Edward Harrison
Release date(s) 1964
Running time 117 min
Language Bengali
IMDb profile

Charulata (The Lonely Wife) is a 1964 film by Bengali director Satyajit Ray, based upon the novella Nastanirh (The Broken Nest) by Rabindranath Tagore. It features Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee and Sailen Mukherjee.

Contents

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film tells the story of a lonely housewife, known as Charu (Madhabi Mukherjee), who lives a wealthy, secluded and idle life in 1870's Calcutta. Her husband, Bhupati (Sailen Mukherjee), runs a newspaper, The Sentinel, and spends more time at work than with his wife. However, he notices that Charu is lonely, and asks his cousin, Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee), to keep her company. Amal is a writer and is asked to help Charu with her own writing. However, after some time, Charu and Amal's feelings for each other move beyond those of a mentoring relationship.

Reversal of the gaze, Charulata (Madhabi Mukherjee), sitting on her swing and looking at Amal
Reversal of the gaze, Charulata (Madhabi Mukherjee), sitting on her swing and looking at Amal

The famous scene of Charu (Madhabi Mukherjee) on her swing singing Rabindranath Tagore's song "Fule Fule Dhole Dhole" while looking at Amal (Soumitra Chatterjee), is referenced in the Bollywood film, Parineeta (2005 film). Indeed, Parineeta 's Lalita (Vidya Balan) is dressed to resemble Nashtanir/Charulata 's Charu. Furthermore, Parineeta (2005 film) is based upon the novel Parineeta by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay who was a noted contemporary of Tagore (and who also wrote novels concerned with social reform) [1], [2].

Many critics and commentators consider Charulata to be Ray's greatest achievement, with Ray famously remarking that it had the "least flaws" of all his movies, and Charulata (the character) also was Ray's favorite among his many films. This movie belongs to the Indian tradition of parallel cinema, and Ray cited the influence of French New Wave directors such as François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard in the making of Charulata.

Charulata won Satyajit his second Silver Bear for best direction in Berlin in 1964. He had won in the previous year with Mahanagar. The film also won the Golden Lotus Award for Best Film at the National Film Award for Best Film in 1965.

          History of Motion Picture in Bengal              
Notable Directors     Artists    

Buddhadev Dasgupta
Ritwik Ghatak
Gautam Ghose
Rituparno Ghosh
Tarun Majumdar
Hrishikesh Mukherjee
Satyajit Ray
Bimal Roy
Aparna Sen
Hiralal Sen
Mrinal Sen
Tapan Sinha
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• Pramathesh Barua
• Chhabi Biswas
• Victor Bannerjee
• Jaya Bhaduri
• Sabitri Chatterjee
• Soumitra Chatterjee
• Rabi Ghosh
• Uttam Kumar
• Kajol
• Madhabi Mukherjee
• Konkona Sen Sharma
• Suchitra Sen
• Sharmila Tagore
• more...

History
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Notable Films 36 Chowringhee LaneAparajitoApur SansarBillwamangalCharulataChokher BaliDena PaonaDeep Jwélé JaaiGhare BaireHansuli Banker UpokothaHarano SurMeghe Dhaka TaraNeel Akasher NeecheyPather PanchaliSaptapadiTahader KathaTitliUnishe AprilMore...   
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