Author: Anil Chatterjee
Soumitra Chatterjee/
Director/Composer/Na: Satyajit Ray
Publisher: RE/TV Centre
Year: 2005
Language: Bengali
Pages: NA
ISBN/UPC (if available): NA
Description
This anthology film was released in India as "Three Daughters". It was a feature composed of three episodes: The Postmaster - 56 min., Monihara - 61 min., and Samapti - 56 min. Monihara (The Lost Jewels) was left out from the international release probably due to concerns about length and subtitles not being ready for Monihara. The female characters that are central to the stories link the three episodes. Ray adapted three short stories by Rabindranath Tagore as a tribute to the author to mark his birth centenary in 1961. He also made a documentary "Rabindranath Tagore" as part of the celebrations.
Postmaster:
Nandalal, a young man from the city, takes on the job of a postmaster in a remote village. Ratan an orphan teenager takes on housekeeping for Nandalal. The little sympathy that Nanda shows the girl brings out all the love & tenderness that she is capable of. The loneliness of the village life and the severe attack of malaria compels Nanda to give up the job. It’s only at the moment of departure that he realises the depth of feeling that bound him to the helpless girl.
Samapti:
Young Amulya, just out of college, rejects the girl of his mother’s choice & decides to marry tomboy Mrinmoyee with whom he falls in love at first site. Mrinmoyee expresses her regrets about the marriage to Amulya for having lost her freedom. She runs away from her bridal chamber later on to be brought back as a prisoner to receive the treatment, which is normally meted out to such unconventional brides. Amulya leaves for Calcutta an in his absense, Mrinmoyee undergoes a profound mental change she realizes her love for her husband & goes back to him.
Manihara:
Phanibhusan Saha comes to the village of Manikpukur to the property that he has inherited upon the death of his wealthy uncle. He hopes that the new surrounding will do his wife good, for she has been inclined to brood over her inability to bear children. But Manimalika begins to develop new & alarming tendencies, one of them being inordinate fascination for jewellery. Anticipating that her jewels would be used to pay off business debts Manimalika runs away with her jewels & dies in a boat wreck. Phanibhusan comes back from the city with a new necklace for his wife & Manimalika’s lure for jewels persists even after death & returns from her watery grave to claim it.
Cast:
Anil Chatterjee, Chandana Banerjee, Nripati Chatterjee, Soumitra Chatterjee, Aparna Das Gupta, Sita Mukherjree, Santosh Dutta,
Kali Banerjee, Kanika Majumdar, Kumar Roy
Directed, Scenario, Music & Produced by:
Satyajit Ray
Photography: Soumendu Roy
Art direction: Bansi Chandragupta
Sound: Dulal Dutta
Awards:
1. President’s Silver Medal (for Samapti)
New Delhi, 1961
2. Golden Boomerang, Melbourne (Samapti &
the Postmaster), 1962
3. Selznick Golden Laurel, Berlin, 1963