Pratidwandi

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Pratidwandi(the Adversary)

Directed by	Satyajit Ray
Produced by	Priya Films (Nepal Dutta, Asim Dutta)
Written by	Satyajit Ray
Starring	Dhritiman Chatterjee, Krishna Bose, Indira Devi, Kalyan Chowdhury, Joysree Roy, Debraj Roy, Sefali
Release date(s)	1972
Running time	110 min.
Language	Bangla
IMDb profile

Pratidwandi or Pratidandi is a 1972 film directed by Satyajit Ray.

Pratidwandi is a film based on the novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay. Set in the period of the "naxalite" movement in Bengal,Pratidwandi is the narrative dealing with the educated middle-class protagonist Siddhartha caught within the turmoils of a societal unrest. Corruption and unemployment is rampant, as is the uncertainty of Siddhartha who just cannot align himself either with his revolutionary activist brother....or his sister , an out-and-out aspiring career-girl. This is a film which is exteremely un-Satyajit Ray like in form. Clearly inspired by the French New-Wave techniques, this is a film far removed from the seamlessness and lucidity of the Apu Trilogy, and relies on jump-cuts, edgy frames, concurrent dream-sequences, sexual metaphors.....all to bring out the anxiety and the restlessness deeply rooted in the contemporary society. Siddharthas relation with women is equally symbolic.....the sister who is an integral part of Siddharthas dreams of the tranquil childhood holidays, and for whom Siddhartha is always willing to stand up, almost ceases to be a sister as the film evolves....Siddharthas point-of-view shots rest on the curvaceous bodyscapes where she is more of a commodity now...the nurse working as a part-time prostitute, whom Siddhartha detests, yet who comes back in his dreams....or the young woman, a chance encounter with whom brings back memories of the lost childhood. after a nerve-jangling interview-sequence, where Siddhartha rebels against the unfeeling bureaucracy, he decides to leave his beloved city for good...the city with which he cannot identify any more, and leaves for the rural land of Balurghat to take up office as a medical representative. The ending remains the most ambiguous ever in a Ray movie. The recurrent motif of the call of a strange bird from a childhood memory which haunted the viewer all through comes back in Balurghat as Siddhartha writes his letter to his beloved....along with the chants of a funeral procession.....the rebirth of the lost childhood tranquilty ??? one is kept guessing....