Abhijan (The Expedition)








Director - Satyajit Ray

Genre - Drama


Unexposed to Indian movies which are not of the 'song and dance' variety, we were stunningly overwhelmed with this film. Born of warrior caste, a taxi driver grows increasingly disappointed with the way his life turned out. A chance encounter offers a way out, but at what cost? This is a sincere masterpiece teeming with unadulterated realism. Satyajit Ray was an astonishing director who utilized the language of cinema to the fullest in creating a film which mirrors the stark, sometimes brutally unforgiving world we live in.

5 STARS!

All about Abhijan

Comments

Shubhajit said…
Hey it was a pleasant surprise to find the review of Abhijaan - one of the many great movies made by Ray. I've also written a review for this movie which i'll post soon. You might choose to agree or disagree, but there's a subtle hint of homage in Scorcese's Taxi Driver. Scorcese by the way was a Ray aficionado.
We never knew Scorcese was a Ray aficionado. He does have an extensive knowledge of movies though and we do not find it unusual at all that he found the mastery of Ray's work to his taste.

We found out that to date only 15 of Ray's films have been restored and survived out of the 30 plus movies he made. The rest were destroyed in a fire it seems. What a shame.
Shubhajit said…
Didn't know about the fire accident...where did that occur? In India all of his movies are available. In fact I've watched nearly all his movie.
We saw a Ray documentary and a mysterious fire was said to have happened at a London film lab in 1993, destroying many of his films. Maybe they managed to find copies of the destroyed films over the years. That would be great because we're looking forward to his other films.
pranabk said…
Good to find this review here. The more I watch Satyajit Ray's films, the more I am impressed. And the thing that interests me most is that his films are totally rooted in the local Bengali culture (there are a few exceptions probably, like, The Chess Player and Sadgati) and yet they manage to remain universal. Ray was, and remains, without parallel. Hope to see more reviews about Ray's films.
Thanks for the comment Pranabk. We're looking forward to seeing more Ray films too :)