''Agantuk'' () is a 1991 Bengali-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written and directed by Satyajit Ray. Notable for being Ray's last film, it was based on one of his own short stories, ''Atithi''. A joint Indo-French production, it received financial backing from companies such as Gérard Depardieu's DD Productions and

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

.IMDb: Company credits for Agantuk
Retrieved 2013-05-08

Plot summary

Anila Bose, who lives in Calcutta, receives a letter from someone claiming to be her long lost uncle, Manomohan Mitra. He writes that he is visiting India after 35 years abroad and, as Anila is his only surviving relative, wants to meet her before he sets off again. Anila looks forward to it, but her husband, Sudhindra, is suspicious. The uncle arrives and stays. He says that he is an anthropologist who has traveled all over the world, and immediately wins the friendship of their son, Satyaki. Anila suddenly remembers her grandfather's will, and Sudhindra is quick to suspect that the man calling himself Manomohan has come only to claim his share of the inheritance. Anila also starts to doubt his identity, while their son truly believes that he is who he claims to be. The central conflict of the film rests upon the identity of the man and the family's struggle to determine it. Sudhindra subjects the visitor to various tests, such as looking at his passport. However, the visitor embarrasses Sudhindra and later his friend Rakshit by his ability to read minds. In a final attempt to establish the truth, Sudhindra invites a lawyer friend to gently question the guest. This is when the visitor reveals his deep knowledge, rich experiences and profound views of life, impressing Anila and Sudhindra. However, things turn ugly as the lawyer's frustration builds up until he orders the guest to "either come clean or just clear out". The next morning, the visitor is gone. Desperate to find him and win him back, the family finally learns that he is in fact Manmohan Mitra, and has visited the executor of the will. The couple apologises and persuades him to return. Back in Calcutta, after he leaves for Australia, the couple learn that Manmohan has given them his share of the inheritance.

Cast

Utpal Dutt Utpal Dutta () (29 March 1929 – 19 August 1993) was an Indian actor, director, and writer-playwright. He was primarily an actor in Bengali theatre, where he became a pioneering figure in Modern Indian theatre, when he founded the "Little Th ...

... Manomohan Mitra / The Agantuk *

Deepankar De Dipankar Dey ( bn, দীপঙ্কর দে) (born 5 July 1944) is an Indian actor in the Bengali film industry. He has worked in many movies as hero, villain and character artist. He starred in Ray's ''Jana Aranya'' (''The Middleman'', 1 ...

... Sudhindra Bose *

Mamata Shankar Mamata Shankar (born 7 January 1955) is an Indian actress and dancer. She is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has acted in films by directors including Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen, Rituparno Ghosh, Buddhadeb Dasgupta and Gautam Ghosh. I ...

... Anila Bose * Bikram Bhattacharya ... Satyaki Bose * *

Dhritiman Chatterjee Dhritiman Chatterjee is an Indian actor. He began his acting career in 1970 as the protagonist of Satyajit Ray's ''Pratidwandi'' (''The Adversary''). Most of his acting work has been in India's "parallel", or independent, cinema with filmmaker ...

... Prithwish Sen Gupta *

Rabi Ghosh Robi Ghosh ( bn, রবি ঘোষ) (24 November 1931 – 4 February 1997) was an Indian actor known for his work in Bengali cinema. He is known for his comic appeal, though his versatile acting talent brought him success in various kin ...

... Ranjan Rakshit * * Subrata Chatterjee ... Chhanda Rakshit * Promode Ganguly ... Tridib Mukherjee * Ajit Bandyopadhyay ... Sital Sarkar

Production

''Agantuk'' was to become Satyajit Ray's last film. He died on 23 April 1992, at the age of 70. The film was a joint Indian-French production with financial backing from Gérard Depardieu's DD Productions,

and a couple of other French companies. Depardieu is credited as executive producer.

Reception

The film was critically acclaimed upon its release. The film ranked 2nd on Cahiers du Cinéma's Top 10 Films of the Year List in 1992. Leah Garchik of

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The ...

wrote the film "is a fitting ending to Ray's 30-film career -- it was Film of the Year in India in 1992 -- a strong and underlined summing- up statement about capital-M Man and capital-C Civilization." Hal Hinson of

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...

wrote the film "shows all the virtues of a master artist in full maturity."

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

wrote about the film "A small, gentle, exquisitely realized comedy about, among other things, family loyalties and trust in a world in which traditions have been devalued."

Awards

At the 1992 Indian National Film Awards, ''Agantuk'' won the awards for Best Feature Film and Best Directing, and the Special Jury Award went to

for her portrayal of Anila. At the Ritwik Ghatak awards, it was named the Best Film, while Ray was named the Best Scenario Writer.

Sequel

A stand-alone sequel named '' Agantuker Pore'' was supposed to be in production, but has been shelved.

and

were to reprise their roles from this film. Actor

Abir Chatterjee Abir Chatterjee (born 18 November 1980) is an Indian actor who mainly works in Bengali cinema. He is the son of theater personalities Phalguni Chatterjee and Rumki Chatterjee. He started his career with Bengali television and made his debut i ...

was to play the role of the adult Satyaki.

Payel Sarkar Payel Sarkar (born 10 February 1984) is an Indian actress who has appeared in Bengali films and Hindi television. On 25 February 2021, she joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Political career Sarkar joined Bharatiya Janata Party in 2021 and ...

and Tridha Chowdhury were to be seen in important roles. It was supposed to be directed by Orko Sinha, who said the story would be completely different from the previous film.

References

External links

Satyajitray.org on Agantuk
* {{NationalFilmAwardBestFeatureFilm 1991 films Films directed by Satyajit Ray Bengali-language Indian films Films set in Kolkata Films whose director won the Best Director National Film Award Films scored by Satyajit Ray Best Feature Film National Film Award winners Films based on short fiction Films with screenplays by Satyajit Ray 1990s Bengali-language films National Film Development Corporation of India films