Charulata

her eyes in indian cinema right now? Our cinema has become more regressive than ever. Ray so perfectly understood the heart and mind of women in general. Especially the ones who are repressed, sad and chained by their own desires and talent. A woman who has so much love, literacy, power to give to the world but is restricted to inside four walls making her see the outside world with a pair of binoculars instead of her own eyes. It's an extraordinarily sensitive tale of forbidden love and broken hearts which might never be fixed. Charulatha's constant ache and longing for love and a partner who could feel her make special, understand her talents and thoughts, sit with her and share valuable time was so perfectly projected by ray with so subtlety and grace. It brilliantly captures the feelings of under current lying under the calm surface which is just a facade for society's sanity. It is such a liberal and progressive film made in such an era, it talks about political and colonial discourse, class, feminist values, their desires and perspective, music, poetry and, most of all, love. I just love how ray uses simplicity in his cinematic style to convey the deepest of human emotions. There were no theatrics or over drama, just the purity of life and its experience. This film is a masterpiece also for its craft of filmmaking, from the opening to closing scene, to brilliant use of camera work everything is so inventive, metaphorical refreshing, evocative. The opening shot with no dialogues shows her physical and emotional state while she peeps into the outside world with binoculars and the ending scene with a freeze frame, which depicts an unresolved and broken relationship. I feel the beautifully shot images move like an emotion in this film adding an extra layer and feel to it.