SATYAJIT RAY'S NAYAK (1966)

This is one of my favourite movies that I have seen so far...

Satyajit Ray was a modern film-maker. Pick up any film of his and you will realise how far ahead of his times he was. Nayak (The Hero) is one of my favourite Bengali movies. Made in 1966, it was Ray's second entirely original screenplay (after Kanchenjungha).

'Brojo achho, Brojo?', 'Nepathye ke?' -Satyajit Ray's dialogues, his camera movement and placement-nobody can match him. The way in which he picturised the whole movie just within a few compartments of a train is really wonderful and highly appreciable.

This is the first flim where two legends Satyajit Ray and Uttam Kumar worked togather. I believe that nobody, no actor till date is comparable to Uttam Kumar. Mithun Chakroborty and Prasenjit are also good but Uttam Kumar was a great actor and a legend. And in Nayak he was superb. The way Satyajit Ray used his eyes  and his voice in the movie is just amazing.

Nayak (The Hero)

Credits
Producer: RDB & Co (R.D. Bansal / RDB Productions)
Story: Satyajit Ray
Screenplay: Satyajit Ray
Music: Satyajit Ray
Direction: Satyajit Ray
Cinematography: Subrata Mitra
Editing: Dulal Dutta
Art Direction: Bansi Chandragupta
Sound: Nripen Paul, Atul Chatterjee, Sujit Sarkar
Duration: 120 mins
Date of release in India: 6th May, 1966. B&W

Cast
Uttam Kumar (Arindam Mukherjee), Sharmila Tagore (Aditi Sen Gupta), Bireswar Sen (Mukunda Lahiri), Somen Bose (Shankar), Nirmal Ghosh (Jyoti), Premangsu Bose (Biresh), Sumita Sanyal (Promila), Ranjit Sen (Mr. Bose), Bharati Devi (Manorama, his wife), Lali Chowdhury (Bulbul, his daughter), Kamu Mukherjee (Pritish Sarkar), Susmita Mukherjee (Sefalika, his wife), Hiralal (Kamal Mitra), Jogesh Chatterjee (Aghore, elderly journalist), Satya Banerjee (Swamiji), Gopal Dey (Conductor).

Awards
Winner: Best Screenplay and Story, New Delhi, 1967
Winner: Bodil Award for Best Non-European Film, 1967
Winner: Special Jury Award, Berlin International Film Festival, 1966
Winner: Critics' Prize (UNICRIT Award), Berlin International Film Festival, 1966
Winner: B.F.J.A Best Actor(Uttam Kumar) award for Nayak(1966)
Nominated: Golden Bear for Best Film, Berlin International Film Festival, 1966