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Aranyer Din Ratri (”Days and Nights in the Forest”), is an Indian Bengali film released in 1970 and directed by Satyajit Ray. It is based upon the Bengali novel of the same name by Sunil Gangopadhyay. It was one of the earliest films to employ the literary technique of the carnivalesque. The film was nominated for the Golden Bear for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival.

The plot of the movie goes back to a similar outing the writer Sunil Gangopadhyay took in the early days of his poetic career. The four friends are all educated and comes from different layers of society, but the urge to escape from the daily grinding of city forces them to go out into the land of tribes. They had read about the legends in writing about this land, the tribal women who are open and simple and beautiful.

The movie, with its wry humour and deft psychoanalysis, reinforces Ray’s ability to say so much in so few words. Sharmila Tagore’s subtle and endearing portrayal of a sophisticated, enigmatic Calcutta girl and Chatterjee’s love interest is also exceptional. The black-and-white cinematography aided by a fluid narrative and an ending left to the viewer’s interpretation, add to the underrated greatness of the movie.

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Video Source: DVD
Host: Youtube
Chapters: 12

part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
part 6
part 7
part 8
part 9
part 10
part 11
part 12