The Music Room
(Jalsaghar)

“Ray has invariably preferred the intimate story to the grand epic, and is the poet par excellence of the human-scale…” (Salman Rushdie). The filmmaker depicts a decaying aristocracy through Biswanbhar Roy, a large landowner and aristocrat, who spends most of his life indulging his passion for concerts given in the music room of his palace. This passion and his lack of interest in managing his domain have ruined him, while his nouveau riche neighbour Mahim Ganguli prospers and seeks to rival him by creating his own music room… The biggest tragedy of Biswanbhar Roy is that he knows how to recognise grace and disparages riches – the only means of keeping the illusion of his nobility alive in a changing world. One of Satyajit Ray’s finest films and a masterpiece of world cinema. MFM