To watch this movie, one has to know the Kolkata of the late 60s and 70s. There was a great gap between the rich and the not so rich. Ray tries to show this Kolkata of the rich via the eyes of Tutul, who is a guest at her sister's house. She has met her sister and brother-in-law after ages and hence is able to make out the change they have gone through with prosperity. She is initially mesmerized by Kolkata and her Brother-in-Law, who seems to be an ideal man.So much so, she has second thoughts about her boyfriend back in Patna, who is intelligent, intellectual, idealistic yet one with uncertain future.
Shyamalendu is very pleased with his success and it is clear that he has worked hard to reach here. He leads a lifestyle that is required to be accepted in his circle and is in fact quite popular too. His wife Dolan, is very happy to lead this sort of a life and wishes for his success at work. Till now, they have managed without compromising with their morals at large. In everybody's eyes, they are a successful couple and when Tutul visits them, she feels the same.
The next promotion that waits for Shyamalendu has become an obsession of sorts. He has an arch rival who is also aspiring for the same post. As it happens with climbing the success ladder, the higher one gets, the more one has to lose - prestige-wise and other wise. An unforeseen crisis at work tests Shyamalendu's ideals and morality. He has to make some choices that decides his standing in the eyes of Tutul and himself. For the world he is still a hero, but he fails in Tutul's and his own eyes.
This movie is a very different Ray movie. The story line and treatment of it can be understood by people who are familiar with them occurring in Indian context. It's a good thing that I understand Bengali, the translations are not very proper and sometimes totally lose the context. I liked the movie very much in spite of that.
