''Sadgati'' () is a

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

television film directed by Satyajit Ray, based on a short story of same name by

Munshi Premchand Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known by his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu social fiction. He was one of ...

. Ray called this drama of a poor

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming ...

"a deeply angry film ..not the anger of an exploding bomb but of a bow stretched taut and quivering."

Cast

* Om Puri as Dukhi * Smita Patil as Jhuria * Mohan Agashe as The Priest *

Gita Siddharth Gita Siddharth (died 14 December 2019) was an Indian actress and social worker. She acted in mainstream Bollywood as well as art house cinema, like '' Parichay'' (1972), ''Garm Hava'' (1973), and ''Gaman'' (1978). She was best known for her ro ...

as The wife * Richa Mishra as Dhania

Reception

The Film Sufi's reviewer rated the film 3.5/5 and commented, "The Brahmin and his wife are not evil people, but they are comfortably situated inside a system that perpetuates injustice – and they take advantage of it for their own selfish gains. And those who remain, such as Dukhi and Jhuria, can do nothing but suffer. Dukhi was a dedicated believer in the social system in which he lived, even though he was an outcast. This filming of Sadgati has just the right tone for the telling of this tale. Besides the cinematography of Soumendu Roy, there is the impeccable work of Ray’s usual film editor, Dulal Dutta. And, as usual, there is Ray’s moody, low-key music that maintains the right tone." Shaikh Ayaz of

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split be ...

noted, "Having the distinction of being Doordarshan’s first colour outing, Sadgati is 40 years old today but it’s message is still relevant".

References

External links

*
Satyajitray.org page
{{Premchand Films directed by Satyajit Ray 1981 films 1980s Hindi-language films Films based on short fiction Films about the caste system in India Films about poverty in India Adaptations of works by Premchand Films with screenplays by Satyajit Ray Doordarshan television films