The Mouth of Calcutta: The Indian New Wave in Satyajit Ray’s PRATIDWANDI – Bishnupriya Ghosh (Santa Barbara)

PRATIDWANDI (The Rival) is a sharp-eyed portrait of Ray’s beloved home city of Calcutta in the midst of political and social upheaval. The film is also Ray’s examination of the new Indian cinema and Third Cinema. The exploration of political subjectivity, masculinity and social decline goes hand in hand with aesthetic experiments in dealing with the style and techniques of the international new waves.

Bishnupriya Ghosh teaches global media at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Film: PRATIDWANDI (The Rival), India 1970, 110 min.