The Music Room

Satyajit Ray

 
The Music Room (Criterion Blu-Ray)

Blu-Ray

1 Disc

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Criterion Store price:$31.96

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  • India
  • 1958
  • 99 minutes
  • Black and White
  • 1.33:1
  • Bengali
  •  
  • Spine #573

SYNOPSIS: With The Music Room (Jalsaghar), Satyajit Ray brilliantly evokes the crumbling opulence of the world of a fallen aristocrat (the beloved actor Chhabi Biswas) desperately clinging to a fading way of life. His greatest joy is the music room in which he has hosted lavish concerts over the years—now a shadow of its former vivid self. An incandescent depiction of the clash between tradition and modernity, and a showcase for some of India’s most popular musicians of the day, The Music Room is a defining work by the great Bengali filmmaker.

Cast & CreditsOpen

Cast

Biswambhar RoyChhabi Biswas
Mahamaya, his wifePadma Devi
Bireswar, his sonPinaki Sen Gupta
Mahim GanguliGangapada Bose
Taraprasanna, the stewardTulsi Lahiri
Ananta, the servantKali Sarkar
DurgabaiBegum Akhtar
Ujir KhanSalamat Ali Khan
KrishnabaiRoshan Kumari

Credits

DirectorSatyajit Ray
ScreenplaySatyajit Ray
ProducerSatyajit Ray
Based on the short story Jalsaghar byTarasankar Banerjee
CinematographySubrata Mitra
EditingDulal Dutta
Art directorBansi Chandragupta
SoundDurgadas Mitra
Music directorUlstad Vilayat Khan
Music and dance performed onscreen byBegum Akhtar, Roshan Kumari, Waheed Khan, Bismillah Khan and and company
Music performed offscreen byDaksinamohan Thakur, Asish Kumar, Robin Majumdar and Imrat Hussain Khan
Production managerAnil Choudhury

Disc Features

  • New high-definition digital restoration (with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition)
  • Satyajit Ray (1984), a feature documentary by Shyam Benegal that chronicles Ray’s career through interviews with the filmmaker, family photographs, and extensive clips from his films
  • New interviews with Satyajit Ray biographer Andrew Robinson and filmmaker Mira Nair
  • Excerpt from a 1981 French roundtable discussion with Ray, film critic Michel Ciment, and director Claude Sautet
  • New and improved English subtitle translation
  • PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by critic Philip Kemp, a 1963 essay by Ray on the film’s location, and a 1986 interview with the director about the film’s music

From the CurrentView the Current »

Film Essays

The Music Room: Distant Music

By Philip KempJuly 19, 2011

In May 1956, an Indian film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. It wasn’t well attended. The Indian delegation had done little to promote it, arranging only a single midnight screening Read more »


Videos


Press Notes

Press Notes: Best of 2011

January 13, 2012

It’s the time of year when the list makers do their heavy lifting, looking back over the preceding twelve months and deciding what was best and brightest. We’re happy to report that some of our Read more »

Press Notes: The Music Room

July 27, 2011

The brilliant Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray has joined the Criterion Collection with his evocative and deeply moving 1958 drama The Music Room. It’s a film that viewers may not know as well Read more »

Other Editions

The Music Room (Criterion DVD)

DVD

2 Discs

SRP: $29.95

Criterion Store price:$23.96

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