Jana Aranya

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Movie
Original title জন-অরণ্য
(Jana Aranya)
Country of production India
original language Bengali
Publishing year 1976
length 135 minutes
Rod
Director Satyajit Ray
script Satyajit Ray
production Subir Guha for Indus Film
music Satyajit Ray
camera Soumendu Ray
cut Dulal Dutta
occupation
chronology

←  Predecessor
Seemabaddha

Jana Aranya ( Bengali জন-অরণ্য jana araṇya ) is an Indian feature film directed by Satyajit Ray from 1976.

action

The film is set in Kolkata . Somnath lives with his father, brother and sister-in-law. At the university exam he is the only one who writes his work honestly. Somnath, who is one of the best, passes the test, but not "with honors" as everyone expected. Responsible for this is the proofreader of the work, who with his old glasses could not read Somnath's microscopic writing properly. Somnath's friend marries another man under pressure from her family because Somnath is unable to do so without a job.

His job search with his friend Sukumar is difficult and unsuccessful despite countless applications. While Sukumar gives up looking for a suitable job after a while and sells newspapers, Somnath has to register with the unemployment authority regularly. After an interview in which he was asked how much the moon weighs and he only got the answer that he (the interviewer) was asking the questions when he objected to what that had to do with the job, Somnath is shortly before giving up. By chance he runs into an acquaintance of the family, the businessman Bishu, who immediately offers him to do business as a middleman and thus end his unemployment. In a slightly ironic way, he explains to Somnath that all he has to do is overcome his Brahmin arrogance. Somnath's father sees this job as degrading and detrimental to the family's reputation, but he cannot force his desperate son to remain unemployed. Somnath does not want to enter into a hastily made advantageous marriage proposal.

The next day, Somnath from Bishu rents a desk in an office and is introduced to the first tricks of the supply and demand business. As recommended, it can be registered under three different company names. He loses his first lucrative business, the brokerage of stationery and envelopes for a company, because as a naive newbie he betrayed his sales customers to the paper dealer. After a short time, Somnath was earning a good profit in his position as a middleman, while his friend Sukumar is now working as a taxi driver.

Somnath gets to know the somewhat withdrawn PR consultant Mr. Mitter in the office. Somnath receives generous remuneration from Mr. Shaha, the owner of the neighboring office and property developer, only for the proof of an old abandoned villa from the British colonial era that Shaha can demolish in order to build a new one for profit.

When his business partner takes time to close a deal with a larger business in bleach for Mr. Goenka's textile mill, Somnath contacts Mr. Mitter. He learns from him that knowing the personal weaknesses and private matters of his clients are his business advantages. Mitter advises him to use bribery and finds Goenka's weakness for women. Somnath has scruples about getting someone like a pimp a wife, but "circumstances compel him".

Mitter and Somnath are looking for a prostitute for the reluctant client, but the drunken man unexpectedly comes home with the first wife. Her second attempt is a widow whose two daughters are engaged in prostitution, but one is abroad and the other is busy with a client. In a simple brothel, they are finally offered Juthika. This turns out to be the sister Kauna of his friend Sukumar, who secretly has her income as a prostitute. Ashamed, Somnath offers her to pay her without having to take care of the customer and forego his business. She refuses because she is professional.

Somnath's business eventually came about; unhappy he enters his parents' house through the back door.

background

Jana Aranya is Ray's third film , after Pratidwandi (1970) and Seemabaddha (1971), that deals with the gloomy prospects of Kolkata's educated youth on the job market. It is based on the story of the same name by Mani Shankar Mukherjee .

Ray thought this was his only dark film. In an interview with Cineaste magazine , he said: The film is about the corruption of a young man; from the idealistic individual to the corrupt businessman who in the end even offers his best friend's sister to a client for a business advantage.

Awards

Satyajit Ray won a National Film Award for Best Director in 1976 for this film .

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