The Adversary

They call this as the first one of the famous "Calcutta Youth Choir/Series". Movie is great and, again based on a super-topical short story of Sunil Gangopadhyay and slithers into the life of a young man and his pursuit of a career which is actually not what he is looking for but leads him to what he was longing for a while - and its death in parallel. Poetic enough?! It should be because the writer has been a bard of the voice of youth in bengal for at least 3-4 decades. Outside critics recognised this as an unapologetically communist themed, and yes it is. I do not personally like this, but I really recommend a little homework before judging this piece, or maybe, the entire series. Not related to its review, but Mrinal Sen, too, has a "Calcutta Series". And speaking about Mrinal Sen, this movie even shows a dream sequence featuring the young, prince-like Debraj Roy as Che Guevara.

Pratidwandi - a film that aptly captures the ennui and angst of the educated middle class Bengali youth during the tumultuous Naxal-ridden period of 60's Calcutta. Fraught with a desire to DO something, Siddharto is however jobless and dreams about actually doing something of significance. But his middle-class upbringing stops him at every step. Caught in a web of his own upbringing, his need to get a day job to pay the bills, and his own morality, he is unwilling to step out of his comfort zone and take a risk. This leads his friend to taunt him that he is a "thinker" and not a "doer" - when he refuses to indulge in drinking or casual sex. But, Siddharto, in his actions and thoughts, will perhaps strike you as almost dilettante-ish, perhaps even cavalier in his thoughts about a "revolution" and in his dreams about a "better world" without ever leaving Calcutta. How this attitude slowly reaches a boiling point and tips over, when he lashes out at the so-called "babu" class, is striking in the climactic final moments of the film. A masterpiece by Satyajit Ray, this film is a parable of sorts and can be related to even today.

There are as many Rays as there are movies made by him. Having seen a good number, I find the present one different from any of the others. This is not the gentle poet of Pather Panchali nor the romantic chronicler of India's past of Charulata. This is the first of the so called Calcutta Trilogy. The film depicts the agony of youth stranded at the dawn of adulthood, in the specific context of Calcutta in the late sixties.

This was the age of hippies and budding Naxalism, of Woodstock and the Vietnam war.The film reflects the bitterness and anger of an intelligent, sensitive youth man engaged in the herculian task of finding a job.

Siddharth has recently interrupted his medical studies after losing his father. His sister is earning, but that is more because of her youth and femininity, and although nothing specific is imputed, her activities are perceived to be dishonorable. The younger brother is drifting towards shady political activity. Siddhartha's own encounters with women are sensitively portrayed. One charge that can never be made against Ray is lack of realism or anything less than utter honesty. He tells it exactly like it was.

Ray seems to have indulged in some cinematic innovation. There are a number of eery dream sequences which reminded one of the opening sequence in Wild Strawberries. At some points the surrealism definitely seems artificial and overdone as when a whole crowds of job seekers waiting to be interviewed turns into skeletons in his imagination. Like Siddharth, Ray is in love with Calcutta, city of revolt and history and squalor.

He has an unusual ability to condense everything into a short statement of a minute or so. These inspired climactic moments of dense compression punctuate Ray's work. In the present movie this comes towards the end when the seething dammed emotions of the young man explode in a demonstration of rage, as the long wait of the job seekers waiting to be interviewed is prolonged by another hour.

Not his best but his worst is ahead of other's best.

Pratidwandi is one of my favourite films of Satyajit Ray. In-fact, I'll place it above Apu trilogy and Charulata. This is political drama at its best. Set in the age of hippies, communism and newly born Naxalism, when Woodstock and the Vietnam war were fresh, the film reflects the bitterness and anger of an intelligent, sensitive young man engaged in the Herculean task of finding a job. This is one film that rightly depicts the Calcutta of the late sixties.

It was a difficult period for India and West Bengal. Corruption was rampant. Unemployment raged the youth of India. I absolutely loved the flashbacks and the way X-ray digressions have been employed by Ray. The ending scene was particularly marvellous, where the protagonist Siddharth, chooses ideology over helplessness. No wonder the inspiring communist of Hazaron Khwashein Aisi is also named Siddharth.

The film is stylistically experimental for Ray, featuring techniques inspired by the French New Wave, such as jump-cuts, edgy framing, dream sequences, and sexual metaphors. Some of the experimental techniques which the film pioneered include photo-negative flashbacks and X-ray digressions. There are a number of dream sequences which reminded me of Bergman's Wild Strawberries.

This is the first of Ray's Calcutta Trilogy. Although 'Jana Aranya' also packs quite a punch, and like it, Pratidwandi also has central character that of a young man. But in this one, Dhritiman Chatterjee at various times comes nearer to the concept of 'Angry young man'. In Jana Aranya, the young protagonist compromise very early, whereas in this film, the young protagonist resists and resists.. until... The Direction in both Pratidwandi and Jana Aranya is straight. Ray tells the story without much getting into experimentation. One stark scene where he dabbles into some symbolism, depicts the potential job seekers as human skeletons from the eyes of the protagonist, his being an ex-medical student. The scene itself tells a lot about the state of mind of the hero and the plight of the youngsters. The whole sequence seen from third persons (audience) view point too show not only a very unique directorial description but it also shocks the audience to their core. The scene also departs from the classical Ray mold of being 'all humane' who desists from showing any violence. The scene may not have any violence but it shows the many shades of a mind facing much in itself from outside pressures and beginning to wander to the extremes. Pratidwandi is a tour-de-force by Satyajit Ray.