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{{short description|1973 film by Satyajit Ray}} | {{short description|1973 film by Satyajit Ray}} | ||
{{Use dmy dates|date=November | {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}} | ||
{{Use Indian English|date=November | {{Use Indian English|date=November 2022}} | ||
{{Infobox film | {{Infobox film | ||
| name = Ashani Sanket | | name = Ashani Sanket | ||
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==Reception== | ==Reception== | ||
[[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called the film "moving" and "elegiac". He remarks that the film "has the impact of an epic without seeming to mean to" and noted various connections with Ray's own ''[[Apu Trilogy]]'' (in its casting of Chatterjee and in it being an adaptation of another [[Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay]] novel). "It is, however, very different from those early films" he writes, "It is the work of a director who has learned the value of narrative economy to such an extent that | [[Vincent Canby]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' called the film "moving" and "elegiac". He remarks that the film "has the impact of an epic without seeming to mean to" and noted various connections with Ray's own ''[[Apu Trilogy]]'' (in its casting of Chatterjee and in it being an adaptation of another [[Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay]] novel). "It is, however, very different from those early films" he writes, "It is the work of a director who has learned the value of narrative economy to such an extent that 'Distant Thunder,' which is set against the backdrop of the 'manmade' famine that wiped out 5 million people in 1943, has the simplicity of a [[fable]]."<ref name=nyt/> [[Tom Milne]] of ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'' calls the film "[d]istant thunder, indeed; a superb film."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ashani_sanket_distant_thunder|title=Distant Thunder (Ashani Sanket) (1973)|via=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]}}</ref> Dennis Schwartz gave the film an A- and called it "[a] gentle humanist film that informs the world that over five million died of starvation and epidemics in Bengal."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://homepages.sover.net/~ozus/distantthunder.html|title=distantthunder|website=homepages.sover.net}}</ref> [[Jay Cocks]] writing for ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' echoes Canby's assessment of it as a "[[fable]]", writing: "Distant Thunder has the deliberate, unadorned reality of a folk tale, a fable of encroaching, enlarging catastrophe." He calls the film "superb and achingly simple ... Numbers as huge as ["5 million"] can be dangerous. A tragedy of such magnitude becomes an event abstracted by arithmetic. But Ray's artistry alters the scale. His concentrating on just a few victims of the famine causes such massive loss to become real, immediate. Ray makes numbers count."<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Jay |last=Cocks |author-link=Jay Cocks |date=November 24, 1975 |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913744,00.html |title=Cinema: Famine |work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]}}</ref> | ||
===Legacy=== | ===Legacy=== | ||
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; [[23rd Berlin International Film Festival|Berlin International Film Festival]] | ; [[23rd Berlin International Film Festival|Berlin International Film Festival]] | ||
* 1973: [[Golden Bear|Golden Bear for Best Film]]<ref name="berlinale">{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1973/03_preistr_ger_1973/03_Preistraeger_1973.html |title=Berlinale 1973: Prize Winners |access-date=2010-06-27 |work=berlinale.de}}</ref> | * 1973: [[Golden Bear|Golden Bear for Best Film]]<ref name="berlinale">{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1973/03_preistr_ger_1973/03_Preistraeger_1973.html |title=Berlinale 1973: Prize Winners |access-date=2010-06-27 |work=berlinale.de}}</ref> | ||
; [[National Film Awards]] | ; [[21st National Film Awards]] | ||
* [[ | * [[National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali]] - [[Ashani Sanket]] | ||
* [[National Film Award for Best Music Direction]] - Satyajit Ray | |||
* [[National Film Award for Best Cinematography]] - Soumendu Roy | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
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{{Golden Bear 1960-1979}} | {{Golden Bear 1960-1979}} | ||
{{Bengal famine of 1943}} | {{Bengal famine of 1943}} | ||
{{Famine in India}} | |||
[[Category:Films directed by Satyajit Ray]] | [[Category:Films directed by Satyajit Ray]] | ||
[[Category:1973 films]] | [[Category:1973 films]] | ||
[[Category:1973 drama films]] | [[Category:1973 drama films]] | ||
[[Category:Bengali-language films]] | [[Category:Bengali-language Indian films]] | ||
[[Category:Films set in 1943]] | [[Category:Films set in 1943]] | ||
[[Category:Films set in Bengal]] | [[Category:Films set in Bengal]] | ||
[[Category:Golden Bear winners]] | [[Category:Golden Bear winners]] | ||
[[Category:Indian World War II films]] | [[Category:Indian World War II films]] | ||
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[[Category:Best Bengali Feature Film National Film Award winners]] | [[Category:Best Bengali Feature Film National Film Award winners]] | ||
[[Category:1970s Bengali-language films]] | [[Category:1970s Bengali-language films]] | ||
[[Category:Films based on works by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay]] | |||
Latest revision as of 22:29, 22 June 2022
| Ashani Sanket | |
|---|---|
| Error creating thumbnail: File missing A poster for Ashani Sanket | |
| Directed by | Satyajit Ray |
| Screenplay by | Satyajit Ray |
| Based on | Ashani Sanket by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay |
| Starring | Soumitra Chatterjee Bobita Sandhya Roy Monu Mukherjee |
| Music by | Satyajit Ray |
| Cinematography | Soumendu Roy |
| Edited by | Dulal Dutta |
Production company | Balaka Movies |
| Distributed by | Nanda Bhattacharya |
Release date |
|
Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Bengali |
Distant Thunder (Bengali: অশনি সংকেত; translit. Ashani Sanket) is a 1973 Bengali film by the Indian director Satyajit Ray, based on the novel by the same name by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay.[1] Unlike most of Ray's earlier films, Distant Thunder was filmed in colour. It stars Soumitra Chatterjee, who headlined numerous Ray films, and the Bangladeshi actress Bobita in her only prominent international role. Today the film features in The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made.[2] It marked the debut of the theatre star Mrityunjay Sil.[2]
Overview[edit | edit source]
The film is set in a village in the Indian province of Bengal during World War II, and examines the effect of the Great Famine of 1943 on the villages of Bengal through the eyes of a young Brahmin doctor-teacher, Gangacharan, and his wife, Angana. Ray shows the human scale of a cataclysmic event that killed more than 3 million people. The film unfolds at a leisurely pace that reflects the rhythms of village life, but gradually shows the breakdown of traditional village norms under the pressure of hunger and starvation.[3][4]
Cast[edit | edit source]
- Soumitra Chatterjee as Gangacharan Chakravarti
- Bobita as Angana/Gangacharan's wife
- Chitra Banerjee as Moti
- Govinda Chakravarti - Dinabandhu
- Anil Ganguly as Nibaran
- Noni Ganguly as Scarface' Jadu
- Debatosh Ghosh as Adhar
- Ramesh Mukherjee as Biswas
- Sheli Pal as Mokshada
- Suchita Ray Chaudhury as Khenti
- Sandhya Roy as Chutki
- Mrityunjay Sil as Ajay (Cameo)[2]
Reception[edit | edit source]
Vincent Canby of The New York Times called the film "moving" and "elegiac". He remarks that the film "has the impact of an epic without seeming to mean to" and noted various connections with Ray's own Apu Trilogy (in its casting of Chatterjee and in it being an adaptation of another Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay novel). "It is, however, very different from those early films" he writes, "It is the work of a director who has learned the value of narrative economy to such an extent that 'Distant Thunder,' which is set against the backdrop of the 'manmade' famine that wiped out 5 million people in 1943, has the simplicity of a fable."[4] Tom Milne of Time Out calls the film "[d]istant thunder, indeed; a superb film."[5] Dennis Schwartz gave the film an A- and called it "[a] gentle humanist film that informs the world that over five million died of starvation and epidemics in Bengal."[6] Jay Cocks writing for Time echoes Canby's assessment of it as a "fable", writing: "Distant Thunder has the deliberate, unadorned reality of a folk tale, a fable of encroaching, enlarging catastrophe." He calls the film "superb and achingly simple ... Numbers as huge as ["5 million"] can be dangerous. A tragedy of such magnitude becomes an event abstracted by arithmetic. But Ray's artistry alters the scale. His concentrating on just a few victims of the famine causes such massive loss to become real, immediate. Ray makes numbers count."[7]
Legacy[edit | edit source]
In 2012, filmmaker Amit Dutta included the film in his personal top ten (for "The Sight & Sound Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time" poll).[8]
Awards[edit | edit source]
- National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali - Ashani Sanket
- National Film Award for Best Music Direction - Satyajit Ray
- National Film Award for Best Cinematography - Soumendu Roy
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Ashani Archived 28 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine Satyajit Ray Film and Study Centre, University of California, Santa Cruz.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made by the film critics of The New York Times, The New York Times, 2002.
- ↑ Movie Review - Ashani Sanket By Vincent Canby, The New York Times, 12 October 1973.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Overview The New York Times.
- ↑ "Distant Thunder (Ashani Sanket) (1973)" – via Rotten Tomatoes.
- ↑ "distantthunder". homepages.sover.net.
- ↑ Cocks, Jay (24 November 1975). "Cinema: Famine". Time.
- ↑ "Amit Dutta - BFI". www.bfi.org.uk.
- ↑ "Berlinale 1973: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 27 June 2010.
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