Product Code Database
Jalsaghar ( Jalsāghar, ) is a 1958 Indian Bengali drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray, based on a popular short story by Bengali writer Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay, and starring Chhabi Biswas. The fourth of Ray's feature films, it was filmed at Nimtita Raajbari in Nimtita, Murshidabad district.
Despite an initially poor critical reception in India, the film went on to win the Presidential Award for Best Film in New Delhi, and it played a significant role in establishing Ray's international reputation as a director. It has since gained near-universal critical acclaim, and has come to be regarded by the cinema community as one of the greatest films of all time.
While Mahamaya and Khoka, who wanted to be just like his father, were away visiting Mahamaya's sick father, Mahim invited Biswambhar to a New Year's celebration at his new house, which has an electric generator. Not wanting to be outdone by a commoner, Biswambhar said he already had a celebration planned for that day at his palace. He sent word for Mahamaya and Khoka to return, sold some more jewels, and hastily found an available khyal singer. Mahamaya and Khoka were still not home when the concert began, so a nervous Biswambhar stepped out during the performance to check if there was any news, only to be told that their boat was caught in a cyclone and they were both killed. He closed his music room and withdrew from the world for the next four years, never leaving his palace.
Mahim visits a visibly-aged Biswambhar with an invitation to the inaugural concert in his new music room, which will feature a popular young kathak dancer. Biswambhar declines the invitation, but, when he hears the music that evening, he has his steward reopen his music room and announces he is having a concert featuring the same dancer that Mahim hired. As the preparations get underway, some life returns to Biswambhar and his palace.
After the performance, Biswambhar delights in asserting his dominance over Mahim by making the first offering to the dancer, even though the payment is almost all of his remaining money, and, once the guests have left, he drunkenly pontificates to his servant about his hereditary superiority to Mahim. When the candles in his chandelier begin to go out, he gets spooked, but the servant calms him by opening the curtains to show him that it is dawn. Biswambhar's white horse neighs, and he jumps on it and gallops away. He is drawn toward a beached boat, and, just before he runs into it, the horse rears up, throwing him to the ground. His servant and steward run over to help him, but he is dead, his noble blood spilled on the floodplain.
While in pre-production, Ray and his crew had difficulty finding a suitable location for Biswambhar Roy's palace. By chance, they met a man who recommended the palace of the Choudhurys in Nimtita, known as the Nimtita Rajbari, and Ray decided to scout the location. To his surprise, the palace was not only perfect for the film, but he later learned that the main character of Bandopadhyay's short story was inspired by Upendra Narayan Choudhury, the uncle of the current owner.
According to Ray, "The Nimtita palace was perfect, except that the music room–it did have one, for Ganendra Narayan's uncle Upendra Narayan Choudhury had been a patron of music much like the nobleman in our story–was not impressive enough to serve as the setting for the sumptuous soirées that I had planned."Ray, Satyajit. "Winding Route to a Music Room," in Our Films, Their Films. New York: Hyperion, 1994, p. 46 Therefore, a more lavish music room was built at the Aurora Film Corporation studio In Maniktala, Kolkata. The studio has now been demolished.
Ray worked closely with composer Vilayat Khan on the film, although he was initially uncertain about the composer's musical choices, and had to convince Khan to compose more sombre pieces for the film.
John Russell Taylor called Jalsaghar "one of Ray's most masterly films, exquisitely photographed and directed with a complete, unquestioning mastery of mood ... For those willing to place themselves under its hypnotic spell it offers pleasures of unique delicacy." Pauline Kael gave the film a rave review, calling it a "great, flawed, maddening film -- hard to take but probably impossible to forget. It's often crude and it's poorly constructed, but it's a great experience. Worrying over its faults is like worrying over whether King Lear is well constructed; it really doesn't matter". Roger Ebert hailed the film as "Ray's most evocative film, and he fills it with observant details."
John Coleman of the New Statesman compared Ray's work in the film to that of Jean Renoir,Wakeman. pp. 842–843. and Marie Seton said the film "challenged the whole convention of songs and dances in India cinema. Audiences...conditioned to the introduction of songs and dances as entertainment interludes and dramatic and romantic stresses, had never before been confronted with...classical singing and dancing as integral focal points of realistic sequences."Wakeman. pp. 843. Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle described it as "A wonderful tale of pride and the fools it makes of men." German filmmaker Werner Herzog praised the film and Ray's use of music in it, saying: "it's of phenomenal beauty and Ray really knew how to use music and create a drama around music."
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 25 critics' reviews of the film are positive, with an average rating of 9.1/10.
Jalsaghar has been included on many retrospective "best films" lists. On French magazine Cahiers du cinémas 2008 list of the "100 Best Films", it was ranked at #20. It was ranked at #27, #146, and #183 on the Sight and Sound "Greatest Films" lists compiled in 1992, 2002, and 2012, respectively. Film critic Derek Malcolm ranked the film at #56 on his list of the "Top 100 Movies" in 2001. The British Film Institute included it on their "360 Classics" list. The film was ranked at #7 (jointly with few other films) on Cinemayas 1998 list of the "Greatest Asian Films". In 2015, the film ranked at #18 (jointly with few other films) on the "Asian Cinema 100" list compiled for the 20th Busan International Film Festival. The Daily Star ranked the film at #3 on its 2021 list of the greatest short story adaptations.
In July 2011, an HD digitally restored version of the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection.
|
|
