| Charulata | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Satyajit Ray |
| Screenplay by | Satyajit Ray |
| Based on | Nastanirh by Rabindranath Tagore |
| Produced by | R. D. Bansal |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Subrata Mitra |
| Music by | Satyajit Ray |
Production company | R. D. Bansal & Co. |
| Distributed by | Edward Harrison (US) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 117 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Bengali |
Charulata (Bengali: চারুলতা, romanized: Cārulatā, lit. 'The Lonely Wife') is a 1964 Indian drama film written and directed by Satyajit Ray. Based upon the novel Nastanirh by Rabindranath Tagore, it stars Soumitra Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee and Sailen Mukherjee. The film is considered one of the finest works of Ray and is often featured in the lists of the greatest films ever made.
Both the first and the last scenes are critically acclaimed. The first scene, with almost no dialogue, shows Charu's loneliness and how she looks at the outside world through binoculars. In the last scene when Charu and her husband are about to come closer and hold hands, the screen freezes. This has been described as a beautiful use of freeze frames in cinema.[1]
- ^ Ray, Satyajit (2015). Prabandha Sangraha. Kolkata: Ananda Publishers. pp. 43–48. ISBN 978-93-5040-553-6.