The Hero

The complete experience can be summarized as "another master piece from a true master film director Satyajit Ray". It always remains a unique experience to watch in someone's past and especially into the hidden past. The movie tackles the very issue in the most effective of the ways. To carve you characters in the story is the most important part and great directors always take their time to do so and here Ray did it in style. He gives a very appropriate introduction to each. But what needs to be praised is… in doing so story did not come to halt… it keeps on moving and things become more clear with every passing movement.

The acting is very good. I know only actor in the movie before watching it… and that is of Shermila Tagore (because of her Hindi films). But really admires the acting of the main role played by Uttam Kumar. He is very natural, fluent and expressions complement his words in every scene. Especially the acting is priceless to watch in the scene in which he is telling Aditi about his insult by the one of his senior. A must watch for all those who appreciate good… excellent cinema.

8/10

I was around 14 years old when I first saw this masterpiece of Satayajit Ray. One very common thing between Ray and Kurosawa I noticed was introspection of perception.

A train journey allows a superstar to introspect his life and career which leaves him in shattered pieces. Uttam Kumar as Arindam was simply unbelievable and so was Shartmila Tagore as the reporter who was acting as a mirror (much needed) for Arindam to reflect.

This movie will give everyone a glimpse of the price paid to succeed. Success here is the Devil and greed here is the devil's advocate.... the price..........."SOUL"

A must watch if you are a movie lover....My Vote - 9/10

'Awesome....' There should be simply one word, which makes it clear. But can't resist myself from being elaborate!!! People say one have lots of shades in his/her character, fewer said - 'If one's a public figure, then you are the most neglected character in the society'. Readers may feel confused. Don't be. Just feel the misery & anger of one who's popular and common people want to know everything about him. There is no so called private thing he can have. This burnt him so much and the aftermath is: he tends to hide his all things from everyone. This process got his entire effort and the work for which he is famous tends to loose focus. In the way to keep secrets, often the person himself forgot those very own & inner things.

Here, train journey implies the must have life long journey as a human being. Often these persons open up their very inner most feelings-thoughts-memories to someone. But only when he/she is assured of something: 'Again the secrecy of these things'.

In Nayak, Sharmila plays that kind of character who can keep secrets like a secret, but only with healthy warmth personal touch. This movie was framed in late 60's, but the thought process behind it, eternal. There are endless thing to describe this movie. You have to watch it, because it's journey of a lifetime for everyone. It was nominated for many international awards, as Ray & Uttam Kumar both gave their best possible effort here. 9 out of 10.

Though Uttamkumar is not the favorite of the class audience as opposed to Saumitra Chatterjee, the favorite of Satyajit Ray himself, this movie is one of the two occassions where Uttam and Satyajit came together and the outcome is a masterpiece. To me, this is the best creation of Ray. Satyajit rightly chose one and only Uttam as the 'Nayak'.Undoubtedly, Uttam,whose movies are intimately woven to every bengali's life even after 24 years of his death, is the alltime silver screen idol of all generations of Bengali film lovers. Though Uttam didn't get the much blessings of the classy directors compared to his arch rival Soumitra, this is one of the few occassions where Uttam got the chance to prove his acting skill and explioted to the fullest extent.

The story starts when there are two news regarding Arindam, played by uttam, published in the news papers - one is the fighting in a night club and the other that he has been nominated for a prestigeus award. In a train journey to delhi, he reveals himself to a lady reporter played by Sharmila. It was a self digging in a form of informal interview. The movie shows the public life and the personal life of a celebrity and all within the time span of a train journey and the flashbacks.

Finally, whoever likes good movie and haven't seen it already, its should be a must-see one.

I have never seen an Indian movie quite like Nayak. Ray has forayed into parallel story telling, like Kurasawa's Rashomon and into dream logic like Bunuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. I would personally rate it above Bergman's The Magician which also dealt with a similar theme of an actor's reality and people's acceptance of him as a super human and their reluctance of considering him as a human being. Between the two of them, Nayak is more easy to understand whereas The Magician puts its characters in various shades of good and evil throughout its running time.

No such dramatics here and this movie is as good as it gets. I would rate it as one of his best movies amongst Pather Panchali and Charulata. The dream sequences were very well produced and were relevant to the storyline on a sub-conscious level.

The subtitling on the Angel DVD wasn't very well done and the dialogues sometimes whizz by without us being able to read them in time. For people who are familiar with Indian languages, it may not be such a big deal since several of the Bengali words can be understood by them; however for non-Indian speakers this may come across as irritating.

On a personal note, I am sometimes glad that not many people know about Ray because then I am able of recommending him to people who are in the know of the movie industry.