" Imagine a moonlight sky where you have all the riches of the world but no one besides you to share the moment. The moment of sheer romance is lost into an instant disarray of loneliness. Does success always come with a price and if yes, are we all ready for it? Ray's quest into screenplay took the form of a film post Kanchanjunga where he wrote the script for Nayak, a story about an ace film star,a matinée scorer and his maiden cross country journey in a train towards Delhi to receive the National award. This train journey is a bit different for Arindam (Uttam Kumar) who faces the first rare chance of a flop in his career and worse a page three report related to a women faced brawl involving him. The film uses flashback as Arindam gives interview to a fellow amateur reporter Aditi (Sharmila Tagore) and before Arindam realizes he is lost in a journey of sympathy, confession and guilt. Ray was a prominent critic for the 70's and maybe he wanted to show what commercial films has given and what it has taken away. Ray uses the early days of Arindam to narrate his relationships to theatre world especially with his mentor Shankarda. Arindam being the backbone of Shankarda's acting theatre was lured into commercial film offer which caused his theatre business to fail and hence a sudden death for Shankarda. Arindam flashes back even further as he enjoys the company of Aditi into his first commercial film as he recollects his role where he was bullied by a senior actor Mukunda Lahiri who seemed old fashioned for Arindam and often Mukunda's rebuke frustrated and ultimately pulled Arindam to an avenge for Muknda Lahiri much later in his life. Arindam also narrates about his college friend Brijesh who took up active politics and once tried to use the star status of Arindam to motivate the striking workers at a factory which Arindam refused as today he is successful and college adventures donot suit him. Arindam today cannot sleep, his success can not buy him a rest. His riches is of no use as he gets more frustrated playing the same glamour role and often thinks what would happen if his next three film flops. He starts to share a jovial relation with Aditi as the journey progresses but his own gulit and a sense of justice makes him contemplate suicide. But Aditi influences him here and again as the train halts at Delhi Arindam is lost as the super star among his fans where there is no room for guilt nor justice. Its sheer stardom and maybe Arindam has to carry it for the rest of his life. Few aspects of the film which stands apart are 1. Devi Chaudhurani – Arindam first film was Devi Chaudhurani and Ray loved this character. Ray did have aspirations of filming Devi Chaudhurani which never worked as rumors reports Suchitra sen turned him down at the peak of her successful career. 2. Sub plots – Ray uses lots of secondary characters with sheer perfections to tell the story of his pasts. Shankarda,Mukunda and his lost friend Brijesh 3. Parallel plot – The plot of a businessman using his wife to make a deal is in back drop which Ray uses to show that even society is unfair not only commercial films 4. Journey – Ray loved to portray travel and he repeats this in Nayak. Other journey related films are Abhijaan, Sonar Kella and Aranya din ratri. Ray spills the beans in his later film via the characters in Aguntuk and refers this to the famous German word " Wonderlust". Ray was a Sindbad in his own rights. 5. Aditi – Ray beautifully portrays the character of a critic for Arindam who gives up her interview notes , in a way to save Arindam for further trauma 6. Dream sequence – Film experts regards this as best dream sequence where Shankarda never saves a dying Arindam in between a sea bed of bank notes 7. Films donot change society – The film ends where all character return back to status quo. The journey donot change them. Arindam returns to the glamour world, Aditi tears off her interview and gives up the spook of Arindam Finally, during my research for Nayak I found a wonderful line with which I would end my review – "Not to have seen the cinema of Satyajit Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon." Akira Kurosawa
Review of The Hero
