A couple months ago I had never even heard of Satyajit Ray or his highly regarded Apu Trilogy. Thanks to this little project I've been able to expose myself to a bunch of new and unfamiliar stuff (to me at least). Still, I wasn't willing to take a flier on a $80 set by a third party seller on Amazon, so I pretty much gave up on these films. As it turns out, Ray had another acclaimed film called Jalsaghar (The Music Room) and I was able to find the Criterion Collection Blu-ray for a pretty reasonable $20. I'm glad I took a chance on it because this movie is great!
The film is about Biswambhar Roy, a landlord of increasingly diminishing power. His lands are in decline, slowly being eaten away by the eroding river. He is becoming obsolete as he no longer collects money or has any work to do. He just sits there stubbornly, perhaps desperately, clinging on to his old way of life as the world changes around him. His one passion in life is music or, more specifically, holding lavish concerts in his beloved music room. These concerts are costly and he has been slowly bleeding his finances dry. It won't be long before he has nothing left, but he is too vain to stop behaving the way he does.
When one thinks of Indian films, they invariably imagine the extravagant song and dance routines and sweeping melodrama of Bollywood. The Music Room indeed has a lot of music (and one dance) but it never breaks from the reality of the story. Listening to the performances with Roy in the music room is an integral part of the story. The music room is used three times in the film and each concert has a different feel and meaning. The first performance is for a sacred initiation for his son Khoka which Roy reasons he must go all out. It is here where we realize just how precarious the family's finances are as he must mortgage his wife's jewels to pay for the concert.
If you could break down each act of the film by theme, I suppose the first would be decadence, the second would be pride. A moneylender's son, Mahim, invites Roy over to his house to attend a concert of his own. It is clear that Roy does not hold Mahim in high regard; he has a peasant's background and comes from new money, hard working and ambitious. Roy represents the old aristocracy and takes great pride in the blood that flows through his vains. He casually dismisses Mahim's invitation, claiming he is holding a concert of his own that very same day. In the background, you can see Roy's servant's concerned look at his master's frivolous attitude. While the first performance is celebratory in mood, this second one seems sad, almost foreboding. Roy looks down at his drink and sees a floating insect in it and is immediately struck by a sense of doom. I don't want to ruin the film, but something really bad happens.
That leads to the third act which can be described as grief. The film advances a couple of years and Roy looks like he has aged quite a bit. He looks disheveled, the palace has fallen to pieces, and all but two servants have been let go. The feeling is somewhat reminiscent of the end of Citizen Kane and other similarly themed films of men of power who really have nothing; all they have are their empty mansions. Roy has not used the music room in years; he has lost all interest in music and just sits alone all day smoking hookah, not even sure what month it is. Yet again it is a visit by Mahim that inspires him to hold another concert. He is determined to go down in a blaze of glory. He will reclaim his former status even if it may only be for one day. The last performance features a mesmerizing dance sequence and we can see at least for this moment, finding pleasure in life again.
The film reads as a Shakespearean tragedy mixed with The Great Gatsby but told from the side of the old money. In this way it can be viewed as a commentary on the decadence of bourgeois life; while Roy is the protagonist of the film he is also clearly on the wrong side of change. There is a telling shot where he overlooks his land and in the distance he can see his elephant grazing in the field, a moment of tranquil beauty. Then inexplicably a jeep drives straight through the composition blowing dust everywhere. Times are changing indeed. (I only point this scene out since it is mentioned in a special feature of the disc. I'm kind of bummed I didn't think of it myself.)
I really liked the film. It's filled with great imagery and symbolism. The music is fantastic and fascinating to watch. Roy is such an intriguing yet flawed figure. It is harsh to say, but he is somewhat deserving of the tragedy that befalls him, yet at the same time you hope desperately for him to recover from it. It's just a really great film. I'm now very interested in checking out his Apu Trilogy; hopefully Criterion is able to get a hold of it.
Grade: A
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