The Lonely Wife (Charulata)
TITLE
The Lonely Wife (Charulata)
DIRECTOR
Satyajit Ray
COUNTRY
India
YEAR
1964
DURATION
114′
GENRE
Drama, Romance
The Lonely Wife (Charulata)
The most elegant of all Ray’s films, Charulata is widely considered the crowning achievement of Ray’s creative period on the 1960s. It is also one of his best known and most appreciated films the world over, in the West in particular. The screenplay is adapted from Nastanirh / The Ruined Nest, a story by Rabindranath Tagore. The film is set in Calcutta, circa 1880. The beautiful Charulata idles her life away in an opulent Victorian mansion, secluded from the outside world. Her husband, Bhupati, an idealistic intellectual, is adoring and supportive. However, he is consumed by the publication of his new political newspaper and is unable to spend time with Charulata. When his younger cousin, Amal, arrives, Bhupati enlists his help to cultivate Chaulata’s latent creativity in writing. An increasingly intimate relationship develops between Charulata and Amal which in the beginning is based on complicity and writing, but eventually develops into love. Blind to all but his own ideals, Bhupati is left to weather the fate of his business and marriage. With Ray at the height of his creative powers, he crafts a nuanced work of art that reveals more to the audience each time it is experienced. Charulata is a paean to love, idealism, disillusionment and heartbreak.
DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY - Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker, widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century. Born in Calcutta into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature, Ray started his career as a commercial artist. He was drawn into independent filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing Vittorio De Sica's Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves (1948) during a visit to London. Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. He was also a fiction writer, publisher, illustrator, calligrapher, music composer, graphic designer and film critic. He authored several short stories and novels, primarily aimed at children and adolescents. Feluda, the sleuth, and Professor Shonku, the scientist in his science fiction stories, are popular fictional characters created by him. He was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford University. Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven international prizes, including the inaugural Best Human Document award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. This film, along with Aparajito (1956), and Apur Sansar (1959) form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. Ray received many major awards in his career, including 32 Indian National Film Awards, a Golden Lion, a Golden Bear, 2 Silver Bears, a number of additional awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies, and an Academy Honorary Award in 1992. The Government of India honored him with the Bharat Ratna, its highest civilian award, in 1992.
- DirectorSatyajit Ray
- ScreenplaySatyajit Ray
- CinematographySubrata Mitra
- Cast
- Editing Dulal Dutta
- Producer/s R.D. Bansal
- Production Company
- Distributor/s
- Project TitleThe Lonely Wife (Charulata)
- Project TypeDrama
- Completion Date January 1, 1964
- Country of originIndia
- Country of filmingIndia
- Language
- First-time Filmmaker No
- Student ProjectNo
Satyajit Ray
Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker, widely regarded as one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century. Born in Calcutta into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature, Ray started his career as a commercial artist. He was drawn into independent filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing Vittorio De Sica's Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves (1948) during a visit to London. Ray directed 36 films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. He was also a fiction writer, publisher, illustrator, calligrapher, music composer, graphic designer and film critic. He authored several short stories and novels, primarily aimed at children and adolescents. Feluda, the sleuth, and Professor Shonku, the scientist in his science fiction stories, are popular fictional characters created by him. He was awarded an honorary degree by Oxford University. Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven international prizes, including the inaugural Best Human Document award at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. This film, along with Aparajito (1956), and Apur Sansar (1959) form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. Ray received many major awards in his career, including 32 Indian National Film Awards, a Golden Lion, a Golden Bear, 2 Silver Bears, a number of additional awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies, and an Academy Honorary Award in 1992. The Government of India honored him with the Bharat Ratna, its highest civilian award, in 1992.
