Days and Nights in the Forest

 

“Anything signed by Satyajit Ray must be cherished and preserved; but the nearly forgotten Aranyer Din Ratri is a special/particular gem … Made in 1970. Modern and novelistic. Ray worked in terrain perhaps more familiar to Cassavetes. A clash/negotiation between castes and sexes. Urbans and rurals. Selfish men and their hopes and cruelties and spectacular lack of wisdom. Women who see through them. The great Soumitra Chatterjee: lost but searching. The great Sharmila Tagore: mysterious, cerebral, mesmerising. From the master, another masterpiece” (Wes Anderson). Aranyer Din Ratri is a Bengali gem that offers a nuanced and introspective portrayal of post-colonial urban India. Through the lens of four young men seeking a temporary escape in the forests of Palamau, the film subtly unravels the complexities of class-consciousness, gender relations, and the enduring weight of tradition in a rapidly changing society. Far from serving as mere scenery, the verdant landscape becomes a catalyst, exposing the protagonists’ inherent prejudices and simultaneously illuminating their potential for self-awareness and personal evolution. Right from the script to hand-drawn storyboards, casting, editing, music as well as the design of the unusual credit titles and the publicity material – Satyajit Ray did it all. He even operated the camera himself for the famed memory game sequence in the film, where every movement of the camera captures the complexity of the relationships and identity of the characters. The film boasts a constellation of talent, including Sharmila Tagore, Kaberi Bose, Simi Garewal, Soumitra Chatterjee, Shubhendu Chatterjee, Rabi Ghosh, Samit Bhanja, Pahari Sanyal, Premashish Sen, Samar Nag, Khairatilal Lahori, Master Dibyendu Chatterjee and Aparna Sen. Hailed by David Robinson in the “Financial Times” as “Ray’s work at its best”, Aranyer Din Ratri transcends its narrative framework to offer a profound meditation on the challenges faced by a generation caught between inherited privilege and the burgeoning promise of a new India.

Shivendra Singh Dungarpur