Charulata, a shundor kabita

Charulata (1964)

Direction, Screenplay, Music by Satyajit Ray 

Official poster at Cannes

Let me start with accepting this movie as a Masterpiece. Since I am a huge fan of Satyajit Ray, I forced myself to overlook the makers of the movie, avoiding minimum glorification. Yet this movie just swept me off my feet. Charulata is a 1964 cinema in the world of a lonely woman married to a rich Indian man, who passionately runs a political newspaper. Mr. Ray visibly speaks through a style of approach, he effortlessly slides in the social elements into the story which makes us retrospect certain stereotypes. I kind of found this narrative sequence in most of his films, starting from Pather Panchali to The Stranger. These elements for me, define how Mr. Ray perceived society and his school of thought towards social consciousness. I'm incredibly inspired by this narration because it won't just acquaint me with the story but also help me understand the whole context that influences the characters and the makers. From my understanding, Charulata was quite surprising because it was beyond the progression of that century. The cinematography, narrative, characters, music, lighting, screenplay, artwork, subtlety are all beautiful poems, "Shundor kabita". I envy the 19th century, the progressive thinking with efforts put into the quality of the narrative. I call it a beautiful poem because of its smooth sailing rhythm that lures you inside the world of Charulata subconsciously. Nothing seems abrupt in this movie, it's charming to see how balanced the characters go through emotions and empathy. 

Charu noticing her husband stroll around

What makes Charaulata's screenplay most brilliant and impressive is, the 10-minute opening scene of the movie and the last 6 frozen frames. Of course, the entire movie is a feast for the eye, but these two dominate and stand out iconically. There is a strong inference on the "Show don't tell" theory. The movie hugely influences empathizing and understanding the characters without telling. Starting from the opening scene where Charulata strolls in her bungalow, shows us how leisure she is and introduces us to her hobbies. We start to learn about her interests in Bankim (A Bengali Author) and her beautiful embroidery. Slowly we get to experience her iconic binoculars which create a curious Charulata's perspective, I quote experience because we get to share her viewpoint and that's what makes it evocative. I believe some nuances like how they were placed on the top floor in the bungalow symbolizes a sense of upper privileged people and their dilemmas. We see Charulata lonely, her husband (Bhupati Datta) blindfolded in passion, an indifferent brother, and reckless young cousin-in-law (Amal). All these characters amplify the drama and slowly absorbs us into their world.

Amal and Charu sharing interests 

One of the elegant components of this movie is that we don't witness any judgemental characters, the characters seem to support each other and are right on their own part. It's the viewer's choice to understand or relate to a certain emotion and instinct. Though Bhupati says nothing is more important than Charulata, he also mentions The newspaper company as her rival. Where Amal and Charu, who share a gorgeous friendship with artistic interests, can't face Bhupati. See the drama? very complicated yet subtle. I want to spend more words, extolling Charu and Amal's relationship, because it flows as a clam river tastefully, with no pretentious force. We see parallel interests which is not a typical "love at first sight", they build up out of pure heartstrings and reverence. We see Charu looking for validity, looking for respect of Amal, competing with him. And Amal getting astonished witnessing Charu's intellect. It's a beautiful intimacy that they share but can't help to get fragile. 

 

Charu in tears after reading Amal's letter

Some of the conscious choices by Mr. Ray made for this movie are brave and flawless. The blocking of characters and their framing is very purposeful. Every camera move speaks through the lens. It creates a sense of the narration that pins us to the moment. The POVs, Dolly zooms, and significant distinctness of foreground and background storytelling adds a soul to the cinema. Not to forget the Sound and Foley. Well, if you finish watching the cinema, it's quite impossible to ignore. The usage of music and sound is very authoritative and deliberate. They contribute so much to the ambiance of the movie, to create an unconscious overlay. The foley was shrewdly used in important plots point amplifying realism.

As Bhupati and Charu get together in the foreground, Amal leaves in the background

The ending of the movie seems to question due, Bhupati gets cheated by Umapada, Charu's cousin brother and the manager of the newspaper company. Learning this Bhupati abandons his passion for the company and starts to spend time with his wife, Charu. He also mentions that he has none to trust except her. But Charu doesn't kill her feelings, rather she hides them within. Amal's guilt dominates his friendship with Charu and decides to forget. However, Bhupati eventually notices Charu sobbing for Amal. He storms out of the house and goes retrospecting his relationship with her. Being aware of this Charu puts everything behind and opens the door for Bhupati wanting him to accept her back. Charu asks him to "come in" with tears, but Bhupati stands still, heartbroken. As Charu opens her hand conveying to hold on to her, shows how desperately guilty she is. Bhupati approaches her palm slowly and as he gets near, Mr. Ray decides to freeze the frame and ends with an end title The Broken Nest (Nastanirh). There's emptiness in the froze, we don't see what happens or their happily ever after. Honestly, it has nothing to do with if they're happily ever after too. Because all that Mr. Ray was trying to show was a beautiful broken relationship, which will never be the same. It's how they going to accept each other. This moment blew my mind, it was a creative madness. I couldn't sit still, I was catching my breath understanding the level of thought process, the progression, it was timeless. This consciousness and control over the movie make inspirational learning. Charulatha is a beautiful poem painted by a master poet.

My small illustration of the movie