Charulata(1964)

Charulata(The Lonely Wife) is my favourite film from the great Indian director Satyajit Ray. With the exception of directors such as Hitchcock, Chaplin, Kurosawa and Bergman, very few film directors have ever had as much control over their respective projects as Satyajit Ray had over his: working as director, producer, scriptwriter, as well as creating his own storyboards and marketing materials. Charulata was Ray’s eleventh feature and was his favourite from amongst his own work. It is arguably the most personal film that he ever made. Satyajit Ray at work. Surprisingly the film was not accepted at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival, a decision that led to protests from fellow directors including David Lean and Ingmar Bergman. It was however shown at the Berlin Film Festival that year, where it won Ray the coveted Silver Bear for Best Director. Charulata is based upon the 1901 novella Nastanirh(The Broken Nest), written by the Bengali author, poet and playwright, Rabindranath Tagore, who…