Event

The Big City

The Big City, the great Satyajit Rays first portrayal of contemporary life in his native Kolkata, follows the personal triumphs and frustrations of Arati (Madhabi Mukherjee), who decides, despite the initial protests of her bank-clerk husband, to take a job to help support their family. With remarkable sensitivity and attention to the details of everyday working-class life, Ray builds a powerful human drama that is at once a hopeful morality tale and a commentary on the identity of the modern Indian woman.

"Based on a short story by Narendranath Mitra, Rays 1963 film The Big City is a perfect jumping-off point. On the one hand, it tells a relatable story about fear and courage, with a loveable protagonist; on the other, it feels unique and fresh, offering a female point-of-view on issues such as money, labour and justice in 1960s Calcutta." - BFI

"Ray perches the film on the front lines of history, and he captures with visual incisiveness and dramatic precision the vast political implications of intimate changes. Part of that power is derived from the city itself, where rounds of unexpected encounters and overlapping relationships give minor impacts major echoes." - Richard Brody, The New Yorker

"Ray, as always, locates and follows the pulse of working-class life with a wholly respectful and unsentimental eye for details and a canny ear for family talk The way the filmmaker is able to fluidly expand from an intimate matter of family finances to matters of workplace politics, social value, and misguided nationalism is never less than fascinatingly detailed." - Slant