Days
and Nights in the Forest
-Brian
Mendonça
For urban dwellers, to be in the forest is to be
unsettled. The forest has its own rhythms, its sounds, its streams and its
silences.
Days and Nights in the Forest / Aranyer Din Yatri (1969) directed by Satyajit Ray is a film which takes people on a trip - from Kolkata to the Palamu forest, in Daltonganj, Jharkhand. (331 kms. on NH 19) It is based on an autobiographical novel by Bengali poet and novelist Sunil Gangopadhyay and is set in the 1960’s.
Days and Nights in the Forest / Aranyer Din Yatri (1969) directed by Satyajit Ray is a film which takes people on a trip - from Kolkata to the Palamu forest, in Daltonganj, Jharkhand. (331 kms. on NH 19) It is based on an autobiographical novel by Bengali poet and novelist Sunil Gangopadhyay and is set in the 1960’s.
The iconic ambassador car becomes the vehicle for ruminations
of the travellers. The dialogue during the journey gives the viewer a glimpse
of the backstory of the friends.
Ashim is the driver. He is the leader of the
group. Shekhar is the comedian. He bears the brunt of all the jokes. But he
also takes care of them and carries the injured Hari (Robi) away from the
forest after he is attacked. At one point the book he is reading is thrown out
of the car with a flourish. The bespectacled Sanjoy is the thinker. He doesn’t
say much. At the crucial moment when he is faced by Jaya who needs him, he
doesn’t act.
In the forest the men come upon a bungalow which
is visited by an old gentleman who is accompanied by his daughter Aparna (affectionately
called Rini) and her sister-in-law Jaya. Curiously, whenever the bungalow is
shown, the scene is rendered ominous by the sound of a rattlesnake nearby. One
learns later that the son of the house has committed suicide, leaving his wife
a widow. However Jaya doesn’t seem to care for her son.
In their bouts of drinking Ashim repeats ‘What a
life!’ in dejection. He is fed up like Aparna with the fake culture and parties
of Kolkata.
As the men travel in the car in the opening scene
there is a flashback of Hari when he remembers the last time he saw his lover.
The argument they are having comes to a head and she slaps him. The scene cuts
to the car again and Hari flinches in sleep as he shakes his head violently as
though being slapped again. This disappointment in love makes Hari seek the
friendship of the Santhal tribal girl Duli. After making love to her he asks
her to come to Kolkata with him.
The memory game they play requires them to say the
name of any personality and then repeat all the names in sequence. Tagore, Marx,
Shakespeare, Kennedy, and Cleopatra are mentioned.
Despite professing their
feelings for each other, none of the couples make any commitment to each other.
Matters seem unresolved in the last scene when the caretaker is seen closing
the gate of the driveway of the forest guest house and the ambassador lumbers
away.
----------------
Viewed at the Wednesday open-air film screening Sunaparanta, Goa Centre for the Arts,
Altinho, Panjim at 6.30 p.m. Open to all. Rs. 59 per show. sgcfa.org.
Pix of open-air screening of Aranyer Din Ratri at Sunaparanta, Goa on 22 January, 2020. Article published in Gomantak Times, Weekender, Panjim, Goa on Sunday, 2 February, 2020.
Comments