The Big City (1963) User Reviews

Ray's unforgettable metropolis...

[Peter_Young · 8/10 · 13 March 2010]

Arati is a young middle-class housewife. The household includes Arati, her husband Subrata, who works as a bank clerk, their children and his elderly parents. Subrata is unable to support the entire family with his salary, and after a great deal of indecision, the couple decide that Arati must find a job. And she does so, much to the displeasure of his parents, who react with shame and anger when they find out that their daughter in-law has turned from a housewife into a working woman against tradition.

The story follows Arati's acclimation with her job as a sales woman, her growing independence, and her new relationships with people from different social and financial classes, one example being a young Anglo-Indian colleague named Edith whom she befriends. The real conflict, however, does not happen when Arati's in-laws start a silent "cold war", but when her husband himself loses his own job and Arati becomes the sole breadwinner of the family. Subrata loses self-respect and is filled with negative feelings of inferiority and shame.

This is the story of Satyajit Ray's extraordinary classic 'Mahanagar', a poignant, quiet and moving picture which depicts a whole world of conflicts resulting from modernisation and changing social and generational norms. Ray's portrayal of the urban India, its lifestyle and people, is brilliantly done. Everything about the film is, as expected, very authentic, very real and very easily identifiable with Ray's style of film-making. He makes the proceedings and the characters very interesting and very easy to relate to.

The film deals with the struggle of middle-class families to survive in the big city through their everyday hardships, but in the process, shows the gender role conflicts and criticises the hypocrisy of traditional conservativeness. One such instance is shown when Arati's father-in-law, a retired teacher who had complained that he was in need of a new pair of spectacles, now prefers going and begging from his former student rather than accepting money from his working daughter-in-law who 'breaks tradition'.

The relationships in Mahanagar are perfectly portrayed, whether it's Arati's relationship with her husband, with her kid, with her in-laws, with her employer. But the best thing about it is the portrayal of Arati's acquaintance with her new self. Her job provides her with confidence and self-belief as she grows increasingly independent, both socially and economically. Mainly due to her friendship with the Anglo-Indian Edith, who she would later stand up for, Arati learns to use lipsticks, wear dark fashionable glasses, speak more assertively and stand up against injustice, while still maintaining her individuality as a simple, unselfish woman.

Madhabi Mukherjee is astonishing as Arati. She is a natural beauty, and acts with grace and dignity. She convincingly transforms from a simple housewife into a modern and smart woman of substance, always letting the viewer sense her struggle, confusion and pain. Anil Chatterjee is great as the slightly embittered yet loving husband. Jaya Bhaduri is completely lovable and charming in her debut role. Prasenjit Sarkar is cute as a button as Pintu. Vicky Redwood is quite nice though her line delivery is often weak. Haradhan Bannerjee is very sympathetic as Arati's boss though his character is slightly prejudiced.

Mahanagar is another example of Ray's indelible craftsmanship, of his superb storytelling and his exceptional ability to tell a universal story which is both moving and educative in a simple yet very effective way. The film's pace may be a bit slow, but it is steady enough, and the picture remains thoroughly and consistently engaging and captivating. The ending is bittersweet - sad yet optimistic, satisfying and inspiring. Mahanagar is overall a beautiful social drama; a classic and fascinating piece which is highly recommended.

A correct portrayal of life in the sixties

[muneera13 · 9/10 · 25 March 2006]

I found the movie exhilarating. This a movie where a Bengali housewife's actual stand in the eyes of those near to her comes to life. The house wife Aarati takes up the load of a job only to care for her family. While other family members gradually accept her new role, mostly because of the dire need of money, its her closest ally in the family, her husband, who isn't very warm to her new role. It first of all hurts his pride to accept her contribution, and he also resents her new found confidence, more than her independence. At the same time, Its the housewife Aarati who passes every test, as she copes with every challenge thrown at her, at home, at work and in her relationships with every individual. Personally i think thats what women are groomed to be, from birth, brave to take on the world whenever necessary. Its the husband who falters and learns to accept her after a big fight within himself.

Satyajit Ray, in Mahanagar, made a movie where ( in terms of cinematography and story-telling) not a single frame is wasted in anyway. Every movement of the actors, every hint relates to something or the other, while the story-telling is still simple enough for the ordinary to follow the story. I would recommend this to anyone.

Despite this story being about ordinary people, it's told extraordinarily well.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 3 May 2011]

Before I discuss the merits of this film, I must make a comment about the captioning on the English language version DVD. It's pretty bad. Occasionally conversations are entirely omitted from the captions. Other times, the grammar is atrocious. And, some of the English language conversation (in India, it's not usual to mix English and Hindi or Bengali) was tough to follow due to the accents. I would REALLY love to see this film re-captioned--and since it's considered a classic, it's way overdue.

Satyajit Ray wrote and directed "Mahanagar" ("The Big City")--a story about how a changing social structure is affecting one particular family. It seems that the husband just isn't making enough money at his bank job to take care of all the bills. Plus, like most Indian households, his parents also live with them. So, his wife offers to go to work--even though traditionally women stay home and keep house. And, as expected, this causes problems--though the family really has no choice. Despite the reality of the situation, her in-laws make it tough for her and she has some difficulty balancing her home life with her job. But, on the positive side, her job is going great--she is a great employee and she loves her job. But, because of the pressure the husband's parents put on him, the husband then pressures his wife to quit her job. That is, until he loses his job. At this point he cannot ask her to quit--though it kills his sense of manhood having her working to support the family. Can all this be worked out or will the family be headed for a major crisis?

Looking at this film as an American, I really am not sure of the exact pressures on this family. I can only guess, as a woman working out of the home in the mid-1960s in the US was unusual and surely would have created some tension. But I liked that it seemed to give a window into their world working-class world--something you rarely see in movies. The only ones I can think of like this off the top of my head are the films of Majid Majidi (such as "Children of Heaven" and "The Color of Paradise") and the Neo-realist films of Vittorio De Sica (such as "The Children Are Watching Us" and "Umberto D")--films where the lives of ordinary people are explored and even celebrated. I personally love these sort of films, as I like the non-polished and non-Hollywood look to the acting and stories themselves. And, as a result of such a good quality film, I am sure to try other films by Ray, though they are indeed hard to find here in the States. Particularly good aspects of "The Big City" are the personal interactions--particularly in the final scene with the husband and wife--this is great cinema.

By the way, one of the side stories I found particularly interesting. The attitudes of the boss towards his Anglo-Indian employee was a bit surprising to me--a form of reverse-racism following the British abandoning rule over India. I'd like to know more about this--was this common and does it continue today?

UPDATE: I had a very nice email from PrinceBansal1982 explaining that the boss' actions towards the Anglo-Indian lady was for reasons I hadn't even realized. It was less about race but more about the lady's revealing clothing and aggressive manners that created this conflict between her and her traditional boss. Interesting....

A Classic Gem It Is

[Chrysanthepop · 5 March 2008]

Through 'Mahanagar' the great Satyajit Ray tells a story of an ordinary traditional family living in the modern big city (hence the title). However, the breadwinner of the family does not earn enough money to support the whole family. The wife decides to support him by working herself. Fortunately she finds a job and befriends a modern Anglo-Indian co-worker who does influence her by applying lip-stick and giving her a pair of sunglasses. The father of the family is a retired teacher and he does not accept the fact that his daughter-in-law is working. Gradually, the rest of the family disapprove her working. The retired teacher visits his former student and 'asks' for financial help.

Through this wonderful family drama, Ray tells us a story of the clash between modern and traditional values in a middle-class family struggling to make a living in the big city. Furthermore, Ray examines the 'urban' relationships as is reflected between the employer and employee, the husband and wife, the co-workers, the working mother and her child and so on. It is no surprise that Ray is THE most accomplished director of Indian cinema. This film, like pretty much everything else he did, only reminds us why.

The performances are top-notch. Again, this is no surprise as Ray manages to extract the best from his actors. Madhabi Mukherjee is breathtaking as we see her transform from a naive housewife, to a determined and excited employee to a strong courageous woman who stands up for her friend. Anil Chatterjee is excellent as the struggling husband who tries to make ends meet, silently accepts his wife's working but secretly resenting it. Vicky Redwood adds freshness with a strong presence and a likable performance. Haradhan Bannerjee is very good as the prejudiced but sympathetic boss. Jaya Bhadhuri delivers a very natural performance. The rest of the cast are all just as competent.

The ending isn't the traditional happy ending one witnesses in the numerous Indian films but it's one of optimism and hope that beautifully 'seals' the film. 'Mahanagar' is a fantastic example of the best of Indian cinema. A classic gem it is.

Thoughtful Filmmaking From One of India's Masters

[museumofdave · 9/10 · 2 March 2013]

How does Satyajit Ray manage to evoke such a set of complex emotions with such simplicity? Madhabi Mukherjee delivers a amazingly nuanced, sensitive performance in this tale of personal empowerment. In an odd way, the story of personal triumph reminds me a bit of American films in the 1930s, when the hero struggled against odds and won; this time its 1960's India, at a time when women began to assert themselves simply because men failed to move with the times. I can just imagine a modern Hollywood remake of this film, with sex situations aplenty, lots of screaming and perhaps a stabbing or two! This worthy film about a struggling family attempting to maintain tradition in the face of modernity is subtle, and if you stick with it, involving. That said, this two different DVD versions I could find were hard to stick with, -the subtitles often did not match the picture, were often poorly translated, and the print itself, like so many Satyajit Ray films available in the U.S., looks like an old television print, grainy and too often dark, missing the subtle shades that typify his work. Whoever is in charge of this important film legacy needs to get on the stick and provide the clarity Ray deserves. Invest in the future of this important world filmmaker!

Absolute craftsmanship !!!

[sreenathansaber · 9/10 · 18 March 2014]

I haven't watched much of Satyajit Ray's films, but now I strongly have an urge to watch more and more.. My first Ray film was Charulata, which was once screened in our college film club. It too had Madhabi Mukherjee playing the title character, 'The lonely wife'.

After having finished watching Mahanagar, I felt that the lonely house wife I had seen earlier had achieved a sense of fulfillment..a sense of completion.The entire film is a microcosm of an typical urbane family of the 1960's Calcutta. The legendary city of Calcutta in the 1960's has been impressionistic-ally captured with all its charm as well as confusion.We can see some of the best well-scripted, realistic emotional sequences. An young Jayabhaduri too appears as the little sister of Mr. Mazumdar(The main character's husband). Madhabi Mukherjee again dons a intense character and proves her brilliance in acting.Now I have become impatient enough to watch Ray's Calcutta Trilogy and other films too.It is very difficult to get good prints of most of them.

Ray had based this film on Abataranika, a Bengali short story. All the actors have been handpicked-especially Anil Chatterjee and Haren Chatterjee-who played the role of Mr. Mazumdar and his father.The film was well-received at the 14th Berlin Festival and Ray won a Silver Bear for direction. Even though it was rejected at the Oscars, it received an All India merit certificate at the National awards that year.

Exceptional

[zetes · 10/10 · 6 March 2003]

If, at some point in the future, Pather Panchali cannot fulfil its duties as Satyajit Ray's masterpiece, Mahanagar can step up and fill in the position. Or perhaps the two films can co-rule, as they compliment each other so nicely. Pather Panchali is the simple, straightforward masterpiece and Mahanagar is the more ambitious and complex work. The first is Ray's La Strada and the second his La Dolce Vita.

The Big City is a subtle, flowing work about a young housewife (Madhabi Mukherjee, who would also star in Ray's Charulata) in a middle-class family who finds a job when her father-in-law needs a new pair of spectacles. The family is very conservative, and this upsets everyone. Her husband's manhood is somewhat insulted, her father- and mother-in-law (who both live with the married couple in a rather small apartment) feel that it's just not right, and her son thinks he's been forgotten. The only one who supports her is her younger sister-in-law; she sees her as a role model. The husband (Anil Chatterjee) tries to get her to quit, but, when he loses his own job, he changes his mind quickly. Now she becomes the breadwinner, and he is effectively castrated.

This could have been a little, humble film, like many of Ray's works. But here he decides to examine a huge portion of his own culture, setting up many opposites and studying them closely. We have the husband and wife, man and woman, old-world conservatism and new-world progression, young and old, employer and employee. The list goes on. The depth of this film is nearly endless, and I'm sure it would hold up to any number of repeated viewings. The only flaw that I can see is a somewhat contrived climax - Ray had this problem in a few of his films.

I do have to give special praise to the two leads. Mukherjee and Chatterjee are just brilliant in the film. The supporting cast is also uniformly excellent.

City Blues

[lyrxsf · 8/10 · 29 December 2005]

Mahangar captures the middle class culture of post-independence Calcutta effectively. The movie shows the emotional crisis of a family caught between family tradition and increasing expenses. The husband-wife relationship starts unraveling under the stress of brand new corporate identity and financial comfort the wife discovers. Its interesting how the other family members come to terms and make peace with the changed dynamics when they see their own gratification with the higher salary. Ray has done an exceptional job in uplifting the role of the Indian wife and depicting an almost perfect superwoman character – rising to the occasion and being the pillar of support at home and at work. Throughout these changes in lifestyle, she continues to rely upon her husband for moral support. The ending is well scripted – in their current dire situation, the couple finds mutual confidence and solace to continue the struggle and dream.

A Real Treat From India

[gavin6942 · 8/10 · 21 September 2017]

Life at home changes when a house-wife from a middle-class, conservative family in Calcutta gets a job as a saleswoman.

According to Roger Ebert, "the power of this extraordinary film seems to come in equal parts from the serene narrative style of director Satyajit Ray and the sensitive performances of the cast members." He described Mahanagar as "one of the most rewarding screen experiences of our time".

Ebert, as usual, is spot on. This film was a stunning surprise for me. With very few exceptions, I have found the "great" Indian films to be a let down, and the modern Bollywood film is just unbearable. This was, however, a treat and a great exploration of culture. The idea of women working and how that affects the esteem of their husbands is not unique to India, but there are certain themes -- the reaction of her father-in-law! -- that are unlike what you might see in an American film.

A fascinating dissection of gender roles in the age of modernity.

[hypostylin · 10/10 · 22 January 2008]

I loved this film. Madhabi Mukherjee is gorgeous and so engaging, with the virtuosic ability to represent the stresses of a changing Calcutta through a simple glance. Mahanagar is a fascinating dramatic case study of the collision of modernism and traditionalism that produced a sociocultural duality/dichotomy in twentieth-century India's urban landscapes.

We see all sorts of manifestations of duality in Mahanagar. The tension-cum-rivalry of Arati and Subrata is, of course, the most obvious manifestation. However, we also have the duality of the new- generation Arati/Subrata and the old-generation Sarojini/Priyogopal (Subrata's mother and father) and Arati, who wears traditional clothing and speaks Bengali, versus Edith, the English-speaking Anglo-Indian in Western dress. These instances of duality speak directly to the moment in which things began to make a 180-degree shift in India, when women became the breadwinners of the household and traditional gender norms became subsumed by sexual liberation.

With a leading lady as precise as Mukherjee, Ray was able wrap these complex coterminous processes up in a relatively tidy package. Mahanagar is essential viewing.

Good but not fascinating

[palashdebrayd · 7/10 · 20 May 2020]

The mainstram movies of Satyajit Ray focuses it's light into revealing the inner beauty of everyday's life. This come true with a bazzle like narrative. But this movie lacks a strong script I think. The story might have been some twists, thinking scope and a better insight. It's not a must watch but a better watch. Happy watching!

A charming and totally engaging film

[howard.schumann · 9/10 · 30 July 2007]

The struggle between traditional and modern values in Indian life is the centerpiece of The Big City (Mahanagar), a charming and totally engaging film by the great Indian director Satyajit Ray. Unlike Ray's earlier works which were centered either on the very poor or the very affluent, The Big City deals with the life of an ordinary middle class Bengali family and spotlights the changing role of women in India during the 1960s. Based on a short story by Narendranath Mitra and set in Calcutta, Subrata Mazumdar (Anil Chatterjee) is the sole breadwinner in his family but does not make enough to support his extended family that includes his wife Arati (Madhabi Mukherjee), their young son Pintu (Prasenjit Sarkat), sister (Jaya Bhaduri), father (Haren Chatterjee) and mother (Sefalike Devi).

Subrata's father is a retired school teacher whose pupils have gone on to considerable success as doctors, lawyers, and businessmen while he has slid further into poverty. When the aging patriarch is in need of new eyeglasses, he turns to one of his former pupils to help him out. After Subrata casually mentions that a friend's wife has gone to work, Arati gets the idea of supplementing the family's meager income by getting a job herself but this idea is looked on with disdain by the traditionally-minded family. A "cold war" prevails in the household as Arati takes a job selling sewing machines in affluent neighborhoods, enrolling the woman of the house who is always at home.

After several abortive attempts in which she backs off after hearing the sound of a guard dog, Arati settles into her job and begins to thrive, gaining increased self-confidence and inner strength. Even young Pintu is mollified when his mother brings him home some toys after getting paid. Influenced by co-worker Edith (Vicky Redwood), an Anglo-Indian, Arati begins to wear lipstick and sunglasses and is more assertive with her boss (Haradhan Bannerjee) but her husband is resentful and complains that he doesn't know her anymore. Although Edith persuades her boss to grant the workers a commission on sales, he seems to resent her Westernized manner and feels more comfortable with Arati whom he offers a promotion.

Due to a run on the bank in which he is an employee, Subrata is laid off and this causes additional stresses and strains in the family but their love for each other transcends economics and allows Arati to stand up to her boss on a matter of principle. The Big City is not as sweeping in scope or as in-depth a character study as some of Ray's more well-known films, but it is an honest and compelling portrait of a young woman's discovery of herself with strong performances by Mr. Chatterjee and especially Ms. Mukherjee, who would go on to star in one of Ray's most acclaimed films, Charulata.

Believe in Yourself

[frankwiener · 7/10 · 23 March 2020]

Watching this captivating film at the height of the global coronavirus pandemic, a time when the world seems so bleak and disrupted, I am truly uplifted by its very hopeful, prevailing message. Here we have a couple, the Mazumdars of 1963 Calcutta (now Kolkata), who are faced with the responsibility of providing for three generations of their family while their financial future suddenly collapses all around them without advance notice. At this time of widespread misery--physical, emotional, and financial--throughout the world, this film, directed so brilliantly by Satyajit Ray, could not have arrived by way of Turner Classic Movies at a more appropriate time.

As the story of one struggling family unfolds, the film explores very important themes concerning traditional gender roles, social upheaval in India at the time of its early independence from British rule, and, most importantly, the ability to maintain respectability and moral integrity during difficult economic circumstances. Instead of the director preaching his ideas to us by repeatedly hitting us over the head with them, as is so common among the many mediocre films of today, he more effectively shows us his views through the actions of very sympathetic, complex characters. In this success, he is greatly assisted by the talents of the entire cast, most notably Madhabi Mukherjee, who plays Arati, the newly employed wife. Even the boss, played so ably by Haradjan Bannerjee, cannot be dismissed easily as a narrow-minded bigot without our consideration for his own background, his own story. The elderly father of the house, who understandably feels cheated by life, reveals another, very important set of tragic and distressing circumstances of impoverishment and dependence that especially hit home to me as a senior citizen. Nothing that is presented here is simplistic or superficial.

In her introduction of the film, TCM's Alicia Malone, stated that director Ray was inspired by the post-World War II movies of Vittorio De Sica, one of my favorite directors ("Two Women", "Bicycle Thieves", and "Umberto D"). Personally, I would have liked more "on location" photography of 1963 Calcutta in the way that De Sica so dramatically captured post war Rome during the 1950's, but I was very appreciative of the street scenes that were featured here. After this favorable introduction of his work, I will be sure to pay much closer attention to the films of Satyajit Ray in the future.

A weak link in the Ray canon

[evening1 · 4/10 · 21 August 2021]

I'd never seen a Satyajit Ray film with a happy ending till this one, and it's entirely unconvincing.

We have here a lugubrious meditation on the changing roles of women, with characters about as substantial as stick figures.

Protagonist Arati (Madhabi Mukheree) is indeed beautiful, but entirely lacking in credibility as a housewife who gets a job. With money troubles at home, she takes a position as a knitting-machine seller, only to experience radical personality changes after just four months of bringing in the rupees.

Arati comes up with a highly lame scheme for chucking it all, just to keep the peace with her deeply depressed husband (Anil Chatterjee), who does little more than brood, sip tea, and smoke throughout the drama.

I kept expecting this to come together in a meaningful way. But its ending seemed a total copout.

Way below Ray's usual standards!

Change takes place due to necessity !!!

[avik-basu1889 · 10/10 · 22 September 2015]

'Mahanagar' or 'The Big City' was perhaps one of the first occasions where Satyajit Ray explored contemporary society and his beloved Calcutta. His earlier films were mainly period pieces which involved themes of the transition from traditions to modernism like The Apu Trilogy or The Music Room. Interestingly even though 'The Big City' was a contemporary film, it still has this aforementioned theme running through it in a different context and in a different time and place. The story based on a novel by Narendranath Mitra explores a family belonging to the lower-middle class of the income divide in early 1960s Calcutta. The financial constraints that the family goes through renders the money earned by the sole breadwinner Subrata insufficient for survival and this financial inadequacy makes it necessary for Arati, Subrata's wife to start a new life as a working woman to help out her family which subsequently leads to complications within the family. This film is extremely layered and complex, but the characteristic gentle and graceful style of Ray's filmmaking adds an incomparable humanism to the film and makes the viewer helplessly feel for the characters and fall in love with the film as a whole.

There is a whole array of themes being explored here but due to the beauty of the screenplay and the dialogues written by Ray, everything flows effortlessly. Arati certainly can be used as a symbol of feminism, but the way Ray uses this character is different from some other big feminist characters like the two leads in 'Thelma & Louise'or Nana in 'Vivre Sa Vie'. Arati is not working to show the men in her life that she is equally capable if not better than them. Satyajit Ray's film is in no way adversarial. Arati's reasons for working are completely rooted in the financial needs of her family, but I think at a deeper level, she also wants to eliminate all her shame and inhibitions for not receiving good education and prove to her own self that she is good enough. I think this is established in a beautiful scene set in the bathroom of her office when she stands in front of the mirror and looks at herself and her salary notes.

Although this is majorly Arati's journey in her transition from being a housewife to a working woman, but the film won't be complete without the other characters. The husband Subrata is not evil. We never see any dramatic and loud arguments between him and Arati. He does get engulfed gradually by a feeling of jealousy towards his wife and her success, but under the circumstances that he finds himself in, such a reaction is very understandable. He never shows anger, the only signs of his light disapproval comes in the form of faint sarcasm and subtle taunts. But these reactions are attracted due to his own mental struggles as a result of his father's attitude towards him which makes him feel like a failure as a son and a provider. Aratis's in-laws are people who are products of their times. The mother-in-law remains subservient and accepts things without saying much. The father-in-law who used to be teacher, is a lot more adversarial. He finds it difficult to adjust his beliefs and opinions with the changing society and considers himself to be a victim of social injustice as someone who remains poor while his students achieve success and he feels neglected by his son. But Ray still refuses to judge him and treats him with respect by understanding his helpless condition.

Ray's screenplay beautifully juggles the prospects the telling the story and showcasing the emotional struggles of Arati and her family as well as making a social commentary on the financial status of the city in general. Ray explores the income gap existing within the city's population. This family is one of the innumerable families that have to deal with similar financial deficiencies in Calcutta and there are many Aratis and Subratas in the city which gets underlined by the last shot of the film. Conservatism and racism with its roots in conservative ideas and the friction caused when these ideas confront the new and fresh ideas of the changing social scene of India and Calcutta also gets explored deftly by Ray. This film is also a beautiful account of how the nature of a marriage changes with the changes in society. The chemistry between Subrata and Arati is brilliant. The love that they have for each other is undeniable. They go through a lot of struggles due to surrounding circumstances,but in the end we see them reconcile in the most heart-wrenching manner possible and the lost shot of the film underlines the feminist ideas which Ray explores in the film. Subrata whole-heatedly accepts Arati as a working woman and they walk together side by side on the Calcutta streets.

There are plenty of beautiful subtleties in the film which are very expressive. The camera work and cinematic style is also remarkable. The first half of the film like Arati is majorly shot indoors. But once Arati gets her job, we get beautiful shots of the Calcutta streets in the style of Cinéma vérité.

Madhabi Mukherjee as Arati puts in a spellbinding performance. She is compelling and graceful and flawlessly portrays every emotion and makes the character a real person. Anil Chatterjee is almost equally brilliant as Subrata. He also plays the character with subtlety and makes him believable.

'The Big City' is one of many masterpieces which fill Satyajit Ray's filmography. It is one of those transcendental pieces of cinema that makes you love art as well as the artistes. It is very personal as well as completely universal. Its themes which ring true even today make it a must watch for every cinephile.

The Metropolis' Middle Class

[cdebayudh · 10/10 · 10 September 2006]

Like all other Satyajeet Ray movies, this one too is wonderful. As the name signifies, Mahanagar or 'The Metropolis' is about Kolkata of the 1960s. The position of women, the biased views of the older generation, helpless conditions of banks and offices find a perfect blend in the movie. Bhombal supports his parents, sister, wife and children and works a clerk in a bank. Wife Arati understands their present day situation and decides employ herself as a sales girl. No one in the family- her in laws, her father, Bhombal and even her son liked her position though they had to completely rely on her after Bhombal lost his job. In her work, she met an Euro-Indian girl- Edith with whom she made friends. Eventually Edith got sacked from her job due to false charges and Arati, who protested against it, resigned. The films ends with a wonderful scene- Bhombal and Arati walking amongst thousands of people in the streets of Kolkata searching for a job. I personally liked a lot the last dialog of the movie- Bhombal said, 'You did nothing wrong resigning, you protested against corruption.. who dare does such a thing in such circumstances? Don't lose hope Arati, won't any one of us find a job in such a vast city?.....' Personally I liked very much the screen-play of Anil Chatterjee and Madhabi Mukherjee. The movie is overall a dedicated, sophisticated work of Satyajit Ray.

A delightful, sophisticated work of art from Satyajit Ray

[sbansban · 10/10 · 1 April 2002]

I watched the "Sony Classics" version of this movie (restored by Merchant-Ivory) yesterday, 03/31/02, here in DC as part of the complete Satyajit Ray retrospective organized by the Smithsonian Museum where the series is attracting a full house. I had watched this movie once before and liked it a lot, but this time, I am literally floating in the clouds.

This vintage, mellow Ray masterpiece, showing vulnerable human beings pitted against an unpredictable outside world is unbelievably authentic, and soooo heartwarming without a trace of melodrama. No one seems to be "acting" - and nearly 40 years after it was made, the way Ray has gone about women's issues in this movie is sure to keep researchers and academicians busy for quite some time to come.

In an era when working women in Calcutta (and perhaps many other places in the world) sometimes invited snide implications of inadequate income against their husbands, a very naive and unsure Arati grapples with her first job, but is also excited by it. Her in-laws, living in the same, cramped house, however, look askance at their son (her husband) for letting her work, and try to scorn him by starting a silently emotional and undeclared "cold war". Though the husband attempts to obtain an additional part-time job, and convinces Arati to resign, he suddenly loses his main job and manages to contact his wife just in time to stop her from submitting the resignation letter.

There follows the inevitable feeling of worthlessness and depression for him - a man living off his wife's income, but Subrata, the husband goes through it all with dignity despite the occasional sarcasm and testiness.

It is difficult to say who has performed the best - the husband, the wife, their children, the husband's parents or the boss at the office. The tenderness and sensitivity portrayed amidst all the tension brings out the eternal humanist in Ray. Even the smug, authoritarian boss, who is gracious to Arati, but is prejudiced against her colleague Edith, warms up to Arati's recently unemployed husband, reveals a weakness for their common home town, and attempts to find him a job. Edith - who herself is struggling to make ends meet, quietly strikes a friendship with small gestures towards Arati, who later stands up for her friend against the boss with grave personal consequences. In spite of the movie having anything but a happy end, the unmistakable and wonderful optimism that somehow breaks through at the end is infectious.

This film brought forth a spontaneous, standing ovation from a full house of 525 at the National Gallery of Art, and considering the fact that to more than 70 per cent of the audience, this was a "foreign" movie accessible only through the subtitles, the universal appeal of this film was very obvious.

Stunning Drama From Satyajit Ray

[davidals · 10/10 · 15 September 2003]

Ray is one of my all-time favorite directors, and this is one of his best. MAHANAGAR is instantly notable for the beautiful cinematography and for remarkable performances from all - from start to finish the film has a flowing, hypnotic gracefulness which compliments the story of a woman overcoming her (and her family's) apprehensions as she takes a job out of financial necessity, only to discover her independence and emerge with a newfound sense of confidence. While perhaps intended as an examination of the changing role of women (at least middle class women) in Indian society after independence, it's observations also have a global resonance - Ray's talent for highlighting specific pieces of Indian culture and society and using them to make great human insights that anyone would get is at it's peak here, and this film prefigures a number of other, similarly themed films to emerge globally through the 60s.

I'm biased towards Ray, but this is a flawless film, very highly recommended.

worth watching

[cs_somnath · 10/10 · 26 July 2003]

Mahanagar is a masterpiece of Satyajit Ray. It shows how good a movie can be and how great he is. I feel proud of being bengali as I can understand this movie and feel sorry for those who will never be able to taste this excellent work of Satyajit Ray.

It shows how a woman or only a woman can stand against injustice, sacrifice her crying need for a colleague's insult. It is a lesson for us to learn.

The film is directed with all his excellence by Satyajit Ray. Every sceen of the movie shown with subtle care. I failed to find out a single scene as irrelevant or I never felt that there can be a better presentation of any scene shown in the movie. It clearly portraits a poverty ridden bengali family which still have some morale. The movie is really worth watching

THE BIG CITY is simply a marvel to behold, to cherish and to ruminate

[lasttimeisaw · 9/10 · 13 July 2016]

My introductory piece of Satyajit Ray's canon, it is first and foremost an ineffable experience, a common-or-garden story of a young Bengali housewife takes on a job as a door-to-door salesgirl to support her family in Calcutta in the 50s, under Ray's astute concoction, it throbs with human tenderness, realistic cognisance of its society and glinting performances.

Arati (Mukjerjee) and Subrata (Anil Chatterjee) are a young couple has a toddler son Pintu (Sarkar), they live under the same roof with Subrata's parents, his teenage sister Bani (Bhaduri), and Subrata is the only breadwinner of the household, he takes extra work as a private tutor, in addition to his post as a bank clerk. Still, they can barely make ends meet, so Arati, decides to looking for a job with the hesitant acquiescence of Subrata. In the traditional and patriarchal universe, no husband is willing to let his beautiful wife dabble into a business world unless it is absolutely necessary, certainly Subrata's parents are strongly against the idea, but under the circumstances, it seems to be the only makeshift plan.

Never been worked before, Arati is thrusted into an eye-opening, horizon-widening new world, although his boss Himangshu (Bannerjee) is a smooth-talking businessman, Arati discreetly brings about decorum in her daily canvassing work (her targets are mainly upper-middle class housewives), and makes a good fist of it. Also she strikes a rapport with fellow salesgirls, especially the Anglo-Indian Edith (Redwood), whose modern lifestyle begins to influence her, things such as lipsticks and sunglasses are duly entering Arati's quotidian life.

At home, the domestic tension has never dissipated, Subrata's ailing father (Haren Chatterjee) protests with silence treatment, as a former teacher who now has no income, he even abases himself to cadge for largesse from his well-to-do former pupils (the doctor and lawyer sort), which is bartered with his own dignity, a scathing commotion of pathos is achieved without ever sensationalising the subject.

Things aggravate in a dramatic slope when Subrata loses his job on the same day when Arati is supposedly to hand in her resignation out of her own will, on the grounds that Subrata will procure a sideline from his friend. All out of a sudden, Arati inadvertently becomes the only source of income for the family, she makes no dithering to demand an immediate raise from Himangshu, an out-of-left-field bid one might not expect from her reserved nature. Her subtle transformation from a compliant housewife to a liberated woman who can competently take on a more independent role in the society is the main arc of this patiently and non-intrusively limned narrative, a rare fruition considering the movie's time and place, taking the paragraph where Arati has to keep up appearances by inventing a tall tale (with Subrata's presence which is unbeknownst to her) in front of a potential buyer, it potently testifies that the film safeguards a coolheaded spin not to bring its heroine to perfection, she lies out of vanity (or to save her and her husband's faces), it is foibles like this make her a fleshed-out persona making progress in the real world borne out of a plain fiction, Ray is a crack storyteller, who is incredibly well-versed in human nature and refuses to go on board with stilted emotional manipulation in his pinpoint methodology.

Also Ray adroitly projects his dissent concerning the social maladies onto his prudently shaped characters, the non-existent pensions for the elderly, the fraudulent nature of banking business and the injustice prevails in workplace (the case of built-in racism here). In the final battle, Arati has to fight for her sense of justice in an impulsive way, and she is ever so vulnerable and doubtful after that, then, propelled by a promised job opportunity, Subrata, who, although has been constantly fretted by a mixed bag of frustration, anxiety, jealousy and low self-esteem, which in the lesser hands, would in no time unleash himself into a hysterical breakdown, pouring scorn on those nearby, however, arrives when he is most needed and sensibly does the right thing and sends an auspicious message in the end. Once the dissection is done, we still need hope to carry on against the unfavourable situation, to right the wrong, to live and hold our heads high, thanks to Ray's profound accomplishment as a cinematic raconteur, his unostentatious aesthetic codes and a perspicacious cast headlined by Mukherjee, whose unfeigned impersonation is exceedingly heartfelt, THE BIG CITY is simply a marvel to behold, to cherish and to ruminate.

The social side of India.

[DukeEman · 7/10 · 7 February 2003]

A woman takes a job to support her family much to the disgrace of her unemployed husband and invalid father-in-law. Only Satyajit Ray could have made a social comment on the changing face of India interesting with touching performances by all.

Appearances

[kurosawakira · 9/10 · 5 June 2014]

is full of such seemingly small moments, that somehow add up to an avalanche of emotion, and cinematic thrill. His films appear simple enough to be seen as descriptions of everyday life, but when one is swept into them they suddenly reveal themselves as grand, painterly vistas of the whole cosmos.

Funny that I should use the word "appear", since appearances are one of the key motifs in the film. "You don't pay attention to appearances" says the husband Subrata, somewhat chidingly, to Arati, and very soon after that the ironies of fate (or should we say of reality) kick in: Arati has to find a job, and the job she applies for seeks, in the job advertisement in the paper, an attractive- looking woman; and the truly tragic irony shows its face when Arati actually does begin to pay more attention to the way she looks: the lipstick and sunglasses become, in the hands of the master film-maker, containers of such jealousy that their handling in the film equals the handkerchief in "Othello".

And whereas Arati is a source of multifaceted jealousy to her husband (her stunning beauty, her well-paying job, his unemployment, her social standing within the work community), another motif of the film, aside from appearances, is in the act of seeing properly. In the beginning of the film there are several characters with glasses (Subrata, his sister Bani), and Subrata's father Priyagopal has lost his and pouring over crosswords at night is well-nigh destroying all that is left of his eyesight. This is all physical, but there is the figurative sense, too: Subrata, during the film, fails to see the solution that Arati go to work and earn money; he fails to see the dire straits the bank he works in is in; then he is blinded by jealousy, and does not realize the stroke of luck Arati is for the family. His father is no different in his own way: unable to fully realize that his son and daughter-in-law are in great financial difficulties, partly because of him and his wife, he wants to use money to gamble on crosswords; he fails to see his son's worth, and goes on to disgrace Subrata to Priyagopal's former students. Even Mr. Mukerjee is painted as someone who does not see further than his own nose, and it is, ultimately, Arati who wakes him up (assuming he does wake up, Ray doesn't show).

(Arati is painted as impulsive by Mr. Mukerjee (written without the 'h' in the Criterion booklet), but at the same time she is the one who sees clearer than the rest, and acts on that, impulsively or not. He has the same surname as Madhabi Mukherjee, by the way)

I think this is a marvellous construction on Ray's part, and the way he weaves even cosmic importance from the everyday life is magical. But it wouldn't work if the characters weren't so rooted in their reality, and interact so truly with each other. For example, the banter between Arati and Subrata is not only hilarious, it's real, and so the characters become real people to us, and thus we enter the film on a whole new level. My favourite moment is the phone conversation between Arati and Subrata, where she asks what kind of questions they might as in the job interview. The expressions on both their faces, especially on Arati's, give such a simple joke a meaning that goes beyond what we see in the film. Their relationship reaches beyond the film, and it really feels like they've always been married and we look into their lives for these two hours only, after which they'll continue living on.

Ray's films always exhibit the highest level of acting. No matter what the role, the actors and actresses not only give their all but their performances are sculpted into poems by Ray. Madhabi Mukherjee is among the most inspiring actresses of the twentieth century, and a legend on her own right. There are other fabled director-actress combinations in European cinema, but the films they made together, Ray and Mukherjee turned into art, and art into magic. She lights up the screen whenever she's in-frame, and one thinks of her whenever she's not there. I hardly think anyone could ever ask for, or achieve, more than that.

LONG story from india

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 13 July 2021]

India, 1963. When hubby (played by Anil Chatterjee) loses his job, Arati (Madhabi Mukherjee) goes to work, and now the whole extended family depends on her income for support. But they don't like it. And they let her know they disapprove. It was 1963, so even american husbands wouldn't have approved of the wife working, much less in calcutta. Another LONG two hour epic. So much talking. It's good, but jeez.... over two hours. Couldn't they have left some on the cutting room floor?? Based on a story by Narendranath Mitra. Had several works made into films. Directed by Satyajit Ray. Won an honorary award in 1992 for his body of work.

Big City Woes

[the_weirdo · 8/10 · 8 January 2010]

If you ask what is the basic difference between Ray movie and any other good movie, you would get various answers. A movie critic might vouch for 'subtlety', a photographer might be awed with the frames, a musician would go with the background score, a storyteller might fall in love with the characters and a Bengali with 'everything'. For me, what stands out in Ray movie is 'Honesty' Be it the innocence of country life or the chaotic city life, Ray's portrayals of his characters and situations are so honest that you wouldn't feel for a second that you are in front of the screen and not in it. One thing I noticed in both the Ray movies I have seen in last 2 days ( Pather Panchali and Mahanagar), that he is not trying to tell us a story. But he just tries to paint the life of ordinary human beings, the first in a village and now this one in the big city of Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta)

Mahanagar addresses the dilemmas faced by common man - progressiveness vs conservatism, opportunism vs ethics, practicality and social practices. A man is confused should he let himself depend on his wife's income ignoring parental criticisms or stick to hunger and poverty owing to his joblessness. A woman is confused whether she should raise voice against her benign boss who has helped her in her troubles but has been unfair to her friend. A retired teacher is jealous of his well-to-do students and faces the perplexity of asking them a favour.

Watching 'Mahanagar' is like reading a rich literature, which might not have a compelling story, but has a subtle lyrical description.

(Originally posted @ weirdo-on-movies.blogspot.com)

"Work! -An exercise in futility" - cried the slow monster of urban poverty

[warrior_rommel · 10/10 · 16 November 2005]

Have u heard the Tracy Chapman song "Subcity" ?

"Thank You Mr President for Disregarding me!"

-Mahanagar (The Big City) carries the same vein of faceless struggle,only with infinitely more subtle nuances. The revolts of Madhobi against the trying times both at home and professionally,forced job seeking,uncomfortable but obvious rise to "the man (bread winner)in the house' status,the gradual acceptance of that by her family esp the patriarchal father-in-law and the final revolt for the sake of ideals- against the backdrop of a devastated Calcutta under the stream of refugees arriving daily from East-Pakistan------can't have a masterpiece better than that. Coupled to it her husband's vulnerability at being unemployed,he doesn't want but can't help feeling inferior to his wife whom he loves--each shade is crafted with poise and care of a virtuoso.Moreover Ray addresses the issue of reverse-racism,the agonies of a ill treated race manifest, when the Indian manager fires the Anglo Indian employee just because of her Anglo-Christian roots.The ending is almost philosophical in its expansive acceptance of one's fate and belief that some hope must be still left.Watch this movie to realize the angst of urban poverty in one of post-world war II history's most turbulent times.