Satyajit Ray weaves three women's lives into poetry so beautiful you'll forget it's nearly three hours.
Three stories with three central female characters linking the stories together. The first one concerns an orphan girl who grows attached to the postmaster she is caring for after he teaches her to read and write. The second one is a supernatural tale about a woman obsessed with the jewels her husband buys for her. The final one follows a young man who falls for an unconventional girl from his new village instead of his arranged bride, the daughter of a respectable family.
Direction
Ray's humanism makes every character feel fully alive.
Cinematography
Subrata Mitra's light is practically its own character.
Writing
Tagore's stories adapted with devastating emotional precision.
Director
Satyajit Ray
Anil Chatterjee
Nandal (segment "The Postmaster")
Kali Bannerjee
Phanibhushan Saha (segment "The Lost Jewels")
Kanika Majumdar
Monimalika (segment "The Lost Jewels")
Soumitra Chatterjee
Amulya (segment "The Conclusion")
Aparna Sen
Mrinmoyee "Pagli" (segment "The Conclusion")
Sita Mukherjee
Jogmaya (segment "The Conclusion")
Gita Dey
Nistarini (segment "The Conclusion")
Santosh Dutta
Khori (segment "The Conclusion")
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ray originally wanted to adapt 'Kabuliwala' but couldn't secure rights, so he pivoted to these three Tagore stories instead.
The 'Postmaster' segment became so iconic in Bengal that 'Ratan' is now shorthand for innocent rural girlhood—despite the story's tragedy.
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