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Thursday, November 1, 2018

NAYAK: THE HERO (1966)

Lesser known, but top-tier Satyajit Ray film about a big film star (played by India film deity Uttam Kumar) going thru a crisis of conscience & confidence as he takes an overnight train to accept a prestigious film award, just as his latest pic (a certain flop) is coming out. Interviewed by film-phobic journalist Sharmila Tagore along the way, he finds her tart rudeness preferable to the usual deferential treatment and opens up about his hopes, fears and past friendships far more than he would in a typical celebrity chat. The film, something of a quiet technical wonder considering its budget, is also unexpectedly Fellini-esque in its striking dream sequences, quick-cut flashbacks and Kumar’s decidedly Marcello Mastroianni sunglasses, straight out of 8½. (Kumar all but taking on the Mastroianni persona at times . . . and fully up to the challenge.) But Ray hardly stops there, fashioning an entire upper middle-class Indian society in motion as the train heads to Delhi. Family matters, business deals & social standing; a microcosm of the times. BTW: the title refers to the nearly heroic roles Kumar plays in all his films. Here, he’s taken down a notch or two, not to reveal feet of clay, but to expose a more complicated reality. Indispensable. 

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The APU Trilogy permanently pegged Ray as a Neo-Realist, but his range was much larger.

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