Jalsaghar

''Jalsaghar'' ( ''Jalsāghar'', ) is a 1958 Indian Bengali drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray, based on a popular short story by Bengali writer Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay, and starring Chhabi Biswas. The fourth of Ray's feature films, it was filmed at Nimtita Raajbari in Nimtita, Murshidabad district.

Despite an initially poor critical reception in India, the film went on to win the Presidential Award for Best Film in New Delhi, and it played a significant role in establishing Ray's international reputation as a director. It has since gained near-universal critical acclaim, and has come to be regarded by the cinema community as one of the greatest films of all time.

Plot

In the early twentieth century, Biswambhar Roy is a Bengali zamindar (landlord) in decline who lives in a palace that is empty except for a servant and his steward. The music from the coming of age ceremony for the son of Biswambhar's nouveau-riche businessman neighbor, Mahim Ganguly, makes Biswambhar think back to when his only son, Khoka, went through the same ceremony. As he preferred to arrange lavish public concerts in his music room, instead of tending to his flood-damaged lands and keeping up with the changing times, Biswambhar's coffers were empty, so, to keep up appearances, he had to sell some of his (and his wife Mahamaya's) jewels to pay for the party, which included a performance by a thumri singer.

While Mahamaya and Khoka, who wanted to be just like his father, were away visiting Mahamaya's sick father, Mahim invited Biswambhar to a New Year's celebration at his new house, which has an electric generator. Not wanting to be outdone by a commoner, Biswambhar said he already had a celebration planned for that day at his palace. He sent word for Mahamaya and Khoka to return, sold some more jewels, and hastily found an available khyal singer. Mahamaya and Khoka were still not home when the concert began, so a nervous Biswambhar stepped out during the performance to check if there was any news, only to be told that their boat was caught in a cyclone and they were both killed. He closed his music room and withdrew from the world for the next four years, never leaving his palace.

Mahim visits a visibly-aged Biswambhar with an invitation to the inaugural concert in his new music room, which will feature a popular young kathak dancer. Biswambhar declines the invitation, but, when he hears the music that evening, he has his steward reopen his music room and announces he is having a concert featuring the same dancer that Mahim hired. As the preparations get underway, some life returns to Biswambhar and his palace.

After the performance, Biswambhar delights in asserting his dominance over Mahim by making the first offering to the dancer, even though the payment is almost all of his remaining money, and, once the guests have left, he drunkenly pontificates to his servant about his hereditary superiority to Mahim. When the candles in his chandelier begin to go out, he gets spooked, but the servant calms him by opening the curtains to show him that it is dawn. Biswambhar's white horse neighs, and he jumps on it and gallops away. He is drawn toward a beached boat, and, just before he runs into it, the horse rears up, throwing him to the ground. His servant and steward run over to help him, but he is dead, his noble blood spilled on the floodplain.

Cast

Production

''Jalsaghar'' was based on a popular short story written by Bengali writer Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay. After the box office failure of '' Aparajito'' (1956), Ray desperately needed a hit, and he decided to make a film that both was based on a popular piece of literature and would incorporate Indian music. It was his first film to extensively incorporate classical Indian music and dancing. Production on the film began in May 1957.

While in pre-production, Ray and his crew had difficulty finding a suitable location for Biswambhar Roy's palace. By chance, they met a man who recommended the palace of the Choudhurys in Nimtita, known as the ''Nimtita Rajbari'', and Ray decided to scout the location. To his surprise, the palace was not only perfect for the film, but he later learned that the main character of Bandopadhyay's short story was inspired by Upendra Narayan Choudhury, the uncle of the current owner.

According to Ray, "The Nimtita palace was perfect, except that the music room–it did have one, for Ganendra Narayan's uncle Upendra Narayan Choudhury had been a patron of music much like the nobleman in our story–was not impressive enough to serve as the setting for the sumptuous soirées that I had planned." Therefore, a more lavish music room was built at the Aurora Film Corporation studio In Maniktala, Kolkata. The studio has now been demolished.

Ray worked closely with composer Ustad Vilayat Khan on the film, although he was initially uncertain about the composer's musical choices, and had to convince Khan to compose more sombre pieces for the film.

Reception

Box office

In 1981, the film was a box office success in France, selling 173,758 tickets—the most for an Indian film until '' Salaam Bombay!'' in 1988.

Critical reception

Although the film received mostly poor reviews in India, it received the Presidential Award for Best Film in New Delhi.Wakeman, John. World Film Directors, Volume 2. The H. W. Wilson Company. 1988. 842–843. Ray said in 1958 that he did not think it would be successful in foreign markets, but its gradual release in Europe and the US in the early 1960s was met with critical and financial success, and it helped to establish Ray's international reputation. In 1963, Bosley Crowther praised the "delicacy of direction ... ndeloquence of Indian music and the aurora of ''mise en scène''" in the film. Stanley Kauffmann's review from the same year, however, criticized the film, calling it "a deeply felt, extremely tedious film...the Indian music is simply uncongenial and tiresome to our ears." Two years later, Derek Malcolm called ''Jalsaghar'' Ray's "most perfect film." When it was released in Paris in 1981, the film was a surprise hit and led many French critics to adopt a new appreciation for Ray, which had not been common in France up to that time.

John Russell Taylor called ''Jalsaghar'' "one of Ray's most masterly films, exquisitely photographed and directed with a complete, unquestioning mastery of mood ... For those willing to place themselves under its hypnotic spell it offers pleasures of unique delicacy." Pauline Kael gave the film a rave review, calling it a "great, flawed, maddening film -- hard to take but probably impossible to forget. It's often crude and it's poorly constructed, but it's a great experience. Worrying over its faults is like worrying over whether King Lear is well constructed; it really doesn't matter". Roger Ebert hailed the film as " ay'smost evocative film, and he fills it with observant details."

John Coleman of the ''New Statesman'' compared Ray's work in the film to that of Jean Renoir, and Marie Seton said the film "challenged the whole convention of songs and dances in India cinema. Audiences...conditioned to the introduction of songs and dances as entertainment interludes and dramatic and romantic stresses, had never before been confronted with...classical singing and dancing as integral focal points of realistic sequences."Wakeman. pp. 843. Edward Guthmann of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' described it as "A wonderful tale of pride and the fools it makes of men." German filmmaker Werner Herzog praised the film and Ray's use of music in it, saying: "it's of phenomenal beauty and Ray really knew how to use music and create a drama around music."

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 25 critics' reviews of the film are positive, with an average rating of 9.1/10.

Awards and accolades

At the 6th National Film Awards in 1959, the film won the All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Feature Film and an award for Best Feature Film in Bengali. At the 1st Moscow International Film Festival, it won the Best Music Award and was nominated for the Grand Pix for the Best Film in the festival.

''Jalsaghar'' has been included on many retrospective "best films" lists. On French magazine '' Cahiers du cinéma''s 2008 list of the "100 Best Films", it was ranked at #20. It was ranked at #27, #146, and #183 on the ''Sight and Sound'' "Greatest Films" lists compiled in 1992, 2002, and 2012, respectively. Film critic Derek Malcolm ranked the film at #56 on his list of the "Top 100 Movies" in 2001. The British Film Institute included it on their "360 Classics" list. The film was ranked at #7 (jointly with few other films) on '' Cinemaya''s 1998 list of the "Greatest Asian Films". In 2015, the film ranked at #18 (jointly with few other films) on the "Asian Cinema 100" list compiled for the 20th Busan International Film Festival. ''The Daily Star'' ranked the film at #3 on its 2021 list of the greatest short story adaptations.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack album of music from the film was released on CD in 1989 by Ocora–RadioFrance/Harmonia Mundi. The booklet accompanying the CD contains excerpts from an interview of Satyajit Ray conducted by Andrew Robinson in Calcutta in 1986.

Home video

In 1993, Merchant Ivory Productions restored the film and Sony Pictures Classics released it theatrically in New York with five other Ray films. It was released on VHS in 1995.

In July 2011, an HD digitally restored version of the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection.

Preservation

The Academy Film Archive preserved ''Jalsaghar'' in 1996.

References

Further reading

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External links

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The Criterion Collection

''The Music Room: Distant Music''
an essay by Philip Kemp at the Criterion Collection

{{Satyajit Ray

1958 films
Films directed by Satyajit Ray
Bengali-language Indian films
Films based on short fiction
Indian feudalism
Films set in West Bengal
Films shot in West Bengal
Films with screenplays by Satyajit Ray
Films scored by Vilayat Khan
Second Best Feature Film National Film Award winners
1950s Bengali-language films
Films about landlords
Films about courtesans in India
Indian epic films
Aurora Film Corporation films