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Adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s play of the same name, spoken in Bengali dialogue with English subtitles. In this version of Ibsen’s play, Satyajit Ray has transposed the action to contemporary India. When Dr. Ashok Gupta, chief medical officer at the hospital in the West Bengal town of Chandipur, discovers that the local ‘holy waters’ are dangerously polluted, his efforts to solve the problem are blocked by powerful local interests determined that nothing shall interfere with the lucrative flow of pilgrims and tourists. Gupta is, however, eventually supported by a coalition of progressive local interests, and the scene is set for a powerful conflict between science and superstition, idealism and self-interest. A fine example of ‘late’ Ray, and a fascinating fusion of Ray and Ibsen. Satyajit Ray was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 1992. Stars Soumitra Chatterjee, Dhritiman Chatterjee, Deepankar De, Ruma Cuhathakurta and Mamta Shankta.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
303645
Language
Bengali
Subject categories
Feature films → Feature films - India
Literature → Norwegian literature - Film and video adaptations
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)