The Stranger = Agantuk

Agantuk (The Stranger)” was Satyajit Ray’s last film, and one in which he broke his tradition of filming in black and white to shoot in colour for the first time. Anila, a middle class woman living comfortably in Calcutta with her husband and young son, receives a letter from a person claiming to be her long lost uncle, and who wishes to re-establish contact with his family after travelling the world for the past 35 years. Anila’s husband, Sudhindra, suspects that the uncle may be a con-man and a thief, out to infiltrate their household in order to claim an old inheritance, and Anila is torn between this suspicion and her sense of family hospitality and obligation. A week long trial visit is agreed upon so that the true identity of Manmohan can be verified and the stranger moves into their house. He quickly befriends their young son with gifts and stories, then sets about the more difficult task of establishing his credibility to the family and their invited friends who set out to test him. As he explains his wanderlust and his lifelong interest in studying - what makes a particular culture “civilised” during his travels, those in his company begin to fall under his spell. The irony of his accounts of being welcomed into “primitive” societies, while his own family, living in a comfortable urban setting, hold him at arms length is not lost. Through the process the family is drawn to re-examining its values in this light. Cast includes Deepankar De, Mamata Shankar, Bikram Bannerjee and Utpal Dutt. In Bengali with English subtitles.