THE MOVING PICTURE BOY ARCHIVE

AGANTUK

Title: Agantuk
Literal English translation: The Guest
Title in Anglophone world: The Stranger
Year of release: 1991
Director: Satyajit Ray
Screenwriter: Satyajit Ray
Country of Production: India
Genre: Drama
Length: 1 hour, 59 minutes
Language: Bengali (Banglish)
Availability: A digital file is available, as well as a DVD release from Criterion Collection as part of their Eclipse Series 40: Late Ray. Until we get a blu-ray, the Eclipse DVD is the definitive release.
Principal boy actor: Bikram Bhattacharya (see photos below) plays Satyaki Bose. This was his only screen role.

Synopsis
A well-to-do couple with a single child are slightly worried when the wife gets a letter purporting to be from her long lost uncle, Manomohan Mitra, announcing that he is coming to stay for a few days. Although they fear an imposter, they nevertheless decide to tentatively allow him into their home, commencing an emotional and intellectual journey for the family. Their boy Satyaki, however, is immediately captivated by this visitor (as are the local boys with whom Mitra interacts in the park), who tells such wonderful stories about his travels, and, in contrast to his parents, Satyaki accepts the man as his great uncle without reserve.

The story was based on Satyajit Ray's own 1970 short story Atithi (which, like the title of the film, is also translatable as 'Guest').

Mitra is clearly very much a mouthpiece for the views of Ray, with his rejection of religion as divisive, his lack of belief in a benevolent deity combined with a vivid sense of the universe as mysterious and wonderful, and his scepticism of the notion that technological civilisation has made man any better morally. This was Satyajit Ray's last film, and, according to Satyajit Ray's wife Bijoya, when he completed the final shot of the film he said "Well, that's it. I'm done. I've said all I wanted to say"; and a few months later, he died. This lovely movie is indeed a fitting end to the career of one of the greatest filmmakers of all time.

Screenshots