Teen Kanya - Two Daughters

Film Review by Michael Lawson | 24 Sep 2009
Film title: Teen Kanya - Two Daughters
Director: Satyajit Ray
Starring: Anil Chatterjee, Soumitra Chatterjee, Aparna Das Gupta
Release date: 21 Sep
Certificate: PG

Based on stories by Nobel Prize-winning writer Rabindranath Tagore, Teen Kanya literally translates as Three Daughters, but so far, most international versions of the film have only contained two of the three films Satyajit Ray made to commemorate Tagore’s centenary in 1961. The Postmaster follows Nandalal (Anil Chatterjee), who attempts to alleviate his boredom by teaching an illiterate girl in a malaria-afflicted village, unaware of the profound effect he is having on her. This touchingly simple story is followed by Sampati, in which an educated young man (Soumitra Chatterjee) attempts to escape an arranged marriage by choosing his own bride (Gupta), not realising his chosen companion’s own desire for independence. Ray’s evocative approximations of solitude and the suffocation of tradition are extraordinary: one devastating sequence portrays a woman’s depressive state in a manner that has never been bettered. A tribute to his independent spirit and mastery of poetic realism, Two Daughters is a minimal work that makes a maximum impact.