Kanchenjungha
1962 · India · 97 min
- Director
- Satyajit Ray
- Screenplay
- Satyajit Ray
- Producer
- Satyajit Ray
- Music
- Satyajit Ray
- Cinematography
- Subrata Mitra
- Editing
- Dulal Dutta
Cast
What it is about
A wealthy family from Calcutta spends the final days of its holiday in Darjeeling, a hill station at the foot of Kanchenjunga. The domineering father, an industrialist, hopes his daughter will marry a suitor of his choosing and believes that leaving the two alone together for a while will bring them closer. Long walks and conversations along the hillside set the pace of a film that unfolds in nearly real time.
How it was made
It was Ray's first original screenplay and his first film in colour. He dispensed with a central protagonist and chose a linear timeline, broken up by cuts between shifting groups of characters who meet and drift apart along the slope. The weather acts as a thread running through the film, with clouds, mist and sunshine accompanying the emotional development. Ray saw it as an independent progression of nature, one that the story mirrors.
Reception and legacy
Its initial reception was cold, and Ray himself lamented the response of critics, whom he felt were uninteresting. Over time it has been reassessed as a distinctive work in his filmography, one that the director believed was ahead of its time. In 2022 Abar Kanchanjungha was made as an explicit homage to the film.
Stills
Trivia
First original screenplay
Kanchenjungha was the first original screenplay written by Ray, who had previously worked mostly from existing literary material.
Modern homage
In 2022 Abar Kanchanjungha was released, a film that pays tribute to Ray and to this work.
More films by Satyajit Ray
Pather Panchali
Aparajito
Distant Thunder
The World of Apu
The Lonely Wife
JalsagharOriginal Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.