The Big City
– Life at home changes when a housewife from a middle-class, conservative family in Calcutta gets a jo..
Life at home changes when a housewife from a middle-class, conservative family in Calcutta gets a job as a salesperson.
27 Sep 1963
Bengali, English
Satyajit Ray
Narendranath Mitra (from a story by), Satyajit Ray (scenario), Satyajit Ray (screenplay)
Anil Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Jaya Bhaduri, Haren Chatterjee
Calcutta in the early 1960's. Bhambal supports his wife Arati, his parents, and two children. Money is tight, so Arati goes to work. She's successful and enjoys it, but this untraditional step throws the household into chaos: her in-laws initiate a "cold war" of silence and disapproval. When Bhambal loses his job, her working is essential; he loses self respect, and the gulf between them widens. Arati questions whether to keep her daughter in school. At work, her friendship with Edith, a Euro-Indian who smokes, swears, and uses lipstick, brings Arati close to impertinence with her genial boss. Her job is imperiled, she acts impulsively, and who will understand her actions?
1 win & 1 nomination.
Edward Harrison/Sony Pictures Classics