Ashani Sanket

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Ashani Sanket
Directed by Satyajit Ray
Written by Satyajit Ray
Starring Soumitra Chatterjee, Bobita
Release date(s) Flag of India 1973
Flag of the United States 26 October 1975
Language Bengali
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IMDb profile

Distant Thunder (1973; Bangla: অশনি সংকেত, Ashani Sanket) is a 1973 Bengali language film by the renowned Indian director Satyajit Ray.

The film is set in the rural Indian province of Bengal during the Second World War, and examines the effect of the Great Famine of 1943 on the villages of Bengal through the eyes of a young Brahmin doctor-teacher and his wife. Ray shows the human scale of a cataclysmic event that killed more than 3 million people. The film unfolds at a leisurely pace that reflects the rhythms of village life, but gradually shows the breakdown of traditional village norms under the pressure of hunger and starvation.

Unlike most of Ray's earlier films, Distant Thunder was filmed in colour. It stars Soumitra Chatterjee, who headlined numerous Ray films, and the Bangladeshi actress Bobita in her only prominent international role.

Ashani Sanket won the Golden Bear for Best Film at the 1973 Berlin Film Festival.

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Awards
Preceded by
The Canterbury Tales
Golden Bear winner
1973
Succeeded by
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz