Mahanagar

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08/09/2022 Every family needs income. So this is about life in a crowded household in 1950s Calcutta. Money is tight, so they are left with no other choice but for the mother (Madhabi Mukherjee) to go into town and find employment. She gets a job as a saleswoman, which should give them some breathing room, but some conservative outlooks on life may make things a bit complicated at home. Now I knew literally nothing about this. I had just finished watching two fairly generic action flicks, so I spun the wheel on the Letterboxd Top 250 Narrative Feature Films by putting it on shuffle. This was the first film that popped up, and it just so happened to be available for streaming on HBO Max. The leading Criterion logo at the start let me know what kind of film I was dealing with, and I have to say that this is a quiet and engrossing little film I stumbled upon. Now because I knew so little about this, I put myself in the mindset to prepare myself for something slow and stuffy given the year this was made. After all, modern attention spans continue to deteriorate as time passes, and it feels like every Snap or TikTok you watch makes it so you are more and more fidgety during a long movie. The print I watched is 135 minutes, but I never at any point felt bored by this. Money worries are something that most can relate to, but I was even able to connect with the struggle of ideals that this family went through. It seems almost ludicrous in this day and age; you wouldn't bat an eye about a woman pursuing a career today, but that is hardly the point because this is a different era and culture. It's a big deal to this family so it is, therefore, a big deal to the viewer, regardless of how antiquated this mindset may be. There is a stigma of emasculation that really only exists in the brains of these male characters, and it is a struggle that you want to see them overcome. I do not claim to have a background in Indian or Bengali films. However, I was still able to connect with this film in a big way. It seems highly progressive and feminist to me considering the year that this was released, and that was something I was able to appreciate. There is no sweeping dramatic action, and it is a touch on the slow side, but that was never something that bothered me at any point. I know that director Satyajit Ray has clout because of Letterboxd, and I want to watch more of his movies. I wouldn't mind watching this again, which is saying something when you consider the runtime. See more 10/07/2019 One word review- Masterpiece! See more 07/13/2016 8.7/10, my review: http://wp.me/p1eXom-2w5 See more 07/03/2016 A wonderful movie about a family navigating a changing social and economic society See more 12/01/2015 i esp loved the indian/western music fusion used in this See more 11/21/2015 What a beautiful and important film from India's master director Satyajit Ray. it follows the story of a housewife who decides to get a job as her family is heaving a hard time supporting themselves, and this causes strife within the family, and then the husband loses his job making her the sole breadwinner. The film is handled realistically in my opinion, it's stylish, well acted, and compelling. Very highly recommended! See more Read all reviews

Mahanagar

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