Teen Kanya
| Teen Kanya | |
|---|---|
A poster for Teen Kanya
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| Directed by | Satyajit Ray |
| Written by | Satyajit Ray (screenplay) Rabindranath Tagore (stories) |
| Starring |
Soumitra Chatterjee [Amulya] Aparna Sen [Samapti] |
| Distributed by | Sony Pictures |
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Release date
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5 May 1961 |
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Running time
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173 min. |
| Country | India |
| Language | Bengali |
Teen Kanya is a 1961 Indian Bengali anthology film directed by Satyajit Ray, and based upon short stories by Rabindranath Tagore. The title means "Three Girls", and the film's original Indian release contained three stories. However, the international release of the film contained only two stories, missing out the second ("Monihara: The Lost Jewels"). This version was released on VHS in 1997 under the title Two Daughters. However, there are now DVD versions available that contain all three films. The Academy Film Archive preserved the international version of Teen Kanya in 1996.
The Postmaster Nandalal (Anil Chatterjee), a young man arrives from Calcutta as the postmaster of a small village Ratan (Chandana Banerjee), a pre-adolescent orphan girl, is his housekeeper/maid. Though only a child herself, she cooks, cleans and cares for Nandalal.
Nandalal, a city bred young man, is like a fish out of water in the village. He is bored. On an impulse and probably to kill time, he begins teaching her to read and write. She responds eagerly. A tender bond develops. Ratan is devoted and waits on him. For Nandalal, however, she is just a pastime.
When Nandalal contracts malaria, Ratan nurses him back to health. But he has had enough of the rural life and resigns. Ratan is heartbroken. He prepares to leave without realizing how attached to him Ratan has become.
Ratan is hurt when Nandalal offer her some money as a tip for her services. We see her passing by Nandalal carrying a pail of water. She has been crying but too proud to accept the tip. A few moments later we hear her voice. She is informing the new postmaster that she has brought water for him.
Nandalal is overwhelmed by emotions as he stares at the money in his hand. Putting the money back in pocket, he walks away.
Near an abandoned mansion, the village schoolteacher (Gobinda Chakravarti) recounts a story to a hooded man.
It seems that the house was inhabited by a man Phanibhusan (Kali Banerjee) and his wife Manimalika (Kanika Majumdar).
The wife is obsessed with jewels and ornaments. She accumulates jewels by nagging her husband. Though they have been married for a long time, she is very cold to him. The husband keeps buying jewels for her in hope of gaining her love.
She has a phobia that one day he may ask the jewels back. A fire destroys his business. To confirm her fear, she offers to sell her jewels. But when he shows some interest in the idea she retreats in panic.
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Wikipedia