#150 Not-a-movie-review: Aranyer Din Ratri, directed by Satyajit Ray

Hi, I am back from hell.

Dearest,

Hi! Hope you remember me.

I, however, have forgotten how to write. 

I have a lot to write about, and that just makes things more difficult. 

I tried writing about my father, but I still don't have the right words. And he deserves all the right words. So I will give it the time it needs for the words to come to me and through me onto this letter to you. 

As I slowly get used to sending out The Nook every Sunday again - let me start with something easy - a movie appreciation, perhaps? 

I have been watching a helluva lot of movies lately - one that has stayed more than others is Aranyer Din Ratri, a Ray masterpiece.

Give me a story about friends on a vacation, trying to escape their real life for a while - forgetting that their real life follows them wherever they go - and I am sold. And you tell me it is by Ray? Can I step into the movie, please? 

A group of somewhat spoiled 4 men go on a holiday in the forests of Palamu (then Bihar, now in Jharkhand) - a few days away from civilization - metaphorically shown by Shekhar’s (Rabi Ghosh) burning of the newspaper. 

Though they look at the forest and the life it offers as a respite - you can smell the disdain they have for those who live there. They force their way into a forest rest house with no prior permission, bribing the chowkidaar whose job, of course, is now hanging by a thread. But why should they care - as Asim (Soumitra Chatterjee - what a hottie by the way) puts it, “we liked the place, we decided to stay.”

The men laze about during the day and at night find themselves at a local “bar” drinking away their problems. What problems, you ask? The same ones you and I have - torn between a love for literature & the arts and the need to hold on to a job that pays the bills; awareness of one’s own ego but the lack of wisdom or discipline to transcend it; being dumped for not being good enough, etc.

I guess that’s what makes Ray movies relevant even today and will continue to do so - his grasp of human emotions (the same is true for Shakespeare).

Source

But the character I want to talk about, who has left an indelible mark on my psyche is Aparna played by Sharmila Tagore. Ufff what a character! 

The four dudes meet Aparna and her sister-in-law in the forest. The women have come from Calcutta to spend a few days with their dad.

Asim is instantly drawn toward Aparna’s quiet magnetism. She is everything he isn’t - he doesn’t realise that, but as a viewer you will see it clearly. Again, I feel that’s Ray masterfully showing how we can easily understand what’s wrong with someone else but may take years to see our own follies for we don’t observe ourselves as keenly and objectively as we may observe others.

To me, Aparna isn’t a person at all - she is a metaphor for the transcendental center that’s within each one of us, the observer that having observed reflects exactly what it has seen. And as this center cannot be comprehended with the mind, Soumitra, the metaphor for intelligence and ego tries excruciatingly hard to “figure her out” but in vain. The tease between the two is so refreshing, because after a brief point, it goes beyond romance, and becomes this quest to go inward. 

My favorite scene is when Asim confesses to Aparna that from the moment they met, he was drawn to her and thought of her like any other girl he meets at parties. But he soon realized there was something deeper. When he asks her to return the question, she responds with, "My first thought on meeting you was, 'wouldn't it be great to break this man's confidence.'" Simple. Profound. And something only Ray can do.

There are numerous scenes I loved, but I don’t want to spoil it for you for I really want you to watch this. So go find it on YouTube or somewhere better and watch it!

I will see you next week. Yes, I will.

Until then!

Love, Riya
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