‘A woman’s place is with her cooking pots’ is the firmly articulated belief of Subrata Mazumdar, a young bank clerk struggling to support his extended family on a meagre salary. He is therefore horrified when his wife Arati (a ravishing, spirited performance from Madhabi Mukherjee) offers to help by going out to work as a ‘salesgirl’.
Satyajit Ray’s wonderfully enjoyable portrait of mid-50s Calcutta, a society still adjusting to Independence, displays warmth, wit and genuine insight into its large, multi-generational cast of characters, including Arati’s conservative father-in-law, her teenage sister-in-law and her benevolently despotic boss. This new restoration of The Big City is now available in BluRay format. It enables the film’s epic scale and intimate detail—from the portrayal of bustling urban life to the exquisite play of emotions on Arati’s face—to emerge in greater beauty and clarity than hitherto. The film’s emphasis on conflicting social values—and most particularly on the role of women—feels as fresh and relevant as ever.
