Detailed, methodical, textured study of an aspiring member of the bourgeoisie. The protagonist, Shyamal, is a go-getting export manager at a British-owned fan manufacturer based in Calcutta. He has a new flat with all mod cons, a devoted wife and the chance of promotion to the board of directors. His intelligent sister-in-law comes to stay, and he shows his lifestyle off to her: horse racing, golf, clubs and soirées. A hitch comes up with an export order, and our man gets involved in some shady dealings involving stoking industrial unrest and a bomb at the factory, which badly injures a lowly night watchman, and it is apparent by the end of the film that, to gain the world, Shyamal has lost his soul.
The film is reminiscent of the grittier end of British social realist drama, and therefore a pleasurable contrast to the usual banalities of Bollywood. It shows Ray to be an incisive critic of the embourgeoisiement of Indian society. There is a poignant scene in which Shyamal's country bumpkin parents visit his flat and are ushered into a side-room as a drinks party plays out - they are an embarrassment in the shiny new India - but it is really the soul-rotting dehumanisation Shyamal is willing to be embroiled in which should embarrass. The sister-in-law is an intriguing symbolic figure, standing as she does for Shyamal's conscience and soul. Her ghostly disappearance, leaving him sat alone with the knowledge of his sin, is an eloquent and haunting final image.
The film is reminiscent of the grittier end of British social realist drama, and therefore a pleasurable contrast to the usual banalities of Bollywood. It shows Ray to be an incisive critic of the embourgeoisiement of Indian society. There is a poignant scene in which Shyamal's country bumpkin parents visit his flat and are ushered into a side-room as a drinks party plays out - they are an embarrassment in the shiny new India - but it is really the soul-rotting dehumanisation Shyamal is willing to be embroiled in which should embarrass. The sister-in-law is an intriguing symbolic figure, standing as she does for Shyamal's conscience and soul. Her ghostly disappearance, leaving him sat alone with the knowledge of his sin, is an eloquent and haunting final image.