Analyse/read Satyajit Ray's films "Devi" and "Mahanagara" in context of him being a social

historian through these films. You can also site examples from his other films if you want.

Devi(1960) and Mahanagar(1963) and many of Ray’s other films revolve around a female
protagonists playing various roles of observers, instigators and also victims to various social
norms and changes. All these social elements are portrayed through its effects on one single
microcosm of a family.

Devi is a tale set in rural India in a rich zamindar household. It is a period drama set in 1860 at
Chandipur, Bengal. Doyamoyee, the protagonist is the wife of the uneducated Zamindar’s
younger western educated son. She’s the household favourite of all, from the father in law to the
nephew to the house pet. The son has to leave to complete his education at the Calcutta
University. The father in law then has a vision in which Doyamoyee appears as an incarnation of
the goddess Kali. Waking up and believing his vision to be true he acts immediately and installs
his own daughter in law as a goddess idol in the family idol and the ordeal ensues. The husband
returns to find out his wife has been taken from him for reasons beyond the grasp of his western
educated rationalist mind. The people of the village gather from time to time daily to worship
her. The nephew distances himself from his beloved aunt. All this while Doyamoyee has no day
in it, neither does she put up any kind of protest like any other traditionally brought up girl of her
times. Meanwhile as the son tries to reason with his father about his wife’s divinity, through a
stroke of sheer coincidence or fate, an apparent miracle takes place as a boy is healed at her feet.
This cements the father’s resolve and now people come from afar to pray to her. All this breaks
when the goddess fails to save the life of her own nephew as he dies in her arms. This drives
Doyamoyee, the boy’s mother and the father in law, all of them to desperation and madness. The
film ends at this incomplete note, leaving everything in the film to interpretation.

The film shows various social forces of the times, the uneducated and religious, almost
fundamentalist old Zamindar, his educated younger son with the rationalist sensibilities of
western progressive education, the half-educated traditionally brought up daughter in law, bound
by her duties as a daughter in law, also the doctor representing lesser known ancient knowledge
of Ayurveda. All these forces come to loggerheads with each other. Although in the film
religious fundamentalism holds dominance over all events that take place, in the end this
religious fanaticism leads to an ultimate tragedy.

Mahanagar is another masterpiece from Ray. With this film Ray for the 1st time in his career
ventured to explore a cityscape instead of a rural background. Here the family’s daughter in law,
Arati goes out of the homestead and starts working as a salesgirl as her husband, Subrata finds it
difficult to support the family of 6 on his meager income. This transformation from a demure
housewife to a bold working woman and the effect it has on the people around her in her life is
the centre point of the story. Set in Calcutta during the 1950’s at a time when the population was
fast expanding and good paying jobs were scarce. India was still a nascent country, with
reminders of the British raj lingering here and there in the metropolis. It was also a time when
Anglo-Indians were present in the country in much larger numbers than they are today. The
influence of an Anglo Indian colleague on Arati is quite clear throughout the film. This was a
film which for the 1st time put a woman on the same stature as the man, and perhaps a little ahead
of the man sometimes. The film cleverly sets the tone of the times by using radio news reports in
the background, discussions of people over in the restaurants and also the closing down of the
bank where Subrata worked. The transformations in Arati are physically manifested using props
such as the lipstick, the goggles and also her 1st month’s salary, with which she brings home gifts
for everyone in the family. The conflict between generations on the issue of having a working
and earning a daughter in law is depicted by the father in laws rejection of state of affairs at his
home and refusing to take money from his daughter in law. His principles are so rigid that he
would rather go door to door seek out his old students and beg for alms rather than take money
from his daughter in law.

Thus, through the medium of these films and many more like the Apu trilogy, Jalsaghar, and
even Shatranj ke Khiladi etc., Satyajit Ray puts forth his point of view of various times in history
where there was a cultural or economic upheaval in the society. Ofcourse these scripts were
adapted from short stories. But it was Ray’s choice to adapt these stories and show them the way
he did. Thus Satyajit Ray can be said to be a social historian.