SYNOPSIS

A wealthy family from Calcutta is on the last day of their vacation in Darjeeling, a hill station at the foot of Mount Kanchenjungha, the second highest peak of the Himalayas. Until now, they have been unable to catch a glimpse of the peak Kanchenjungha.The family members are dominated by the father, Indranath (Chhabi Biswas), an industrialist. He wants his daughter to marry a man of his choice and hopes that the man will propose if they are left together alone for some time.

Several long walks and long conversations form the main body of the film. The real-time drama unfolds the daughter's feelings about her father's idea, and the negative reactions to this by her mother and others.

Kanchenjungha was Ray's first original screenplay and for the first time, he was shooting in color. The film shows about 100 minutes (in real time) in the life of a group of rich Bengalis on vacation. Unlike the usual Ray films, it has a fragmented narrative with no central characters, and no straight narrative in the classical sense.

It is a very structured and composed film that uses color and nature to heighten the drama.

The characters and the Nature are interrelated in mood. As the characters do not change the clothes during the film (it being depiction of a real time event that happens in 100 odd minutes), the colors of clothes too add a dimension to the characters.

About Kanchenjungha, Ray told in an interview to Cineaste magazine, "It was a very personal film. It was a good ten to fifteen years ahead of its time... Kanchenjungha told the story of several groups of characters and it went back and forth. ... It's a very musical form, but it wasn't liked. The reaction was stupid. Even the reviews were not interesting. But, looking back now, I find that it is a very interesting film."

TECHNICAL DATA

Director: Satyajit Ray
Producer: NCA Productions
Cast: Chhabi Biswas, Karuna Bannerjee, Anil Chatterjee
Music: Satyajit Ray
Script: Satyajit Ray
Runtime: 102 min., Color, Bengali. Spanish Subtitled.