Agantuk is a
Bengali film directed by
Satyajit Ray and it was produced by
National Film Development Corporation of India (NFDC).
Music in the film has been provided by the director himself. ‘Agantuk’ is based on a short story, ‘Atithi’, written by the director himself earlier. The lead roles were played by
Utpal Dutta,
Mamata Shankar and
Deepankar De.
Plot of Agantuk
The central character in Agantuk is Manomohan Mitra (Utpal Dutt). Anila Bose (Mamata Shankar) receives a letter from a man who claims to be her uncle. The man has been thought to be dead by the family and both Anila and her husband, Sudhindra Bose (Deepankar De). So, they are uncomfortable with the news of his arrival. They are doubtful whether at all he is the same person he claims to be. This uncle had disappeared 35 years ago and he is a complete stranger to Anila and her husband. In the letter he has expressed his desire to spend some time with them.
As the man arrives, it is revealed that he is well travelled and well informed. He has travelled throughout the world and visited Europe and USA as well. He has stayed with the Native Americans and wrote a book on them, 'An Indian Among Indians'. His interest in the
tribal culture has also led him to South America and then to the Aborigines in Australia.
The family, however, especially Sudhindra Bose, is highly suspicious of the man. He suspects that the so-called uncle is an impostor who has arrived to take away the family property. To find out the truth a number of people are called to test the uncle. But, there is one person in the family, who accepts Manomohan Mitra whole heartedly and he is Anila's little son. Ray shows the innocence of the child in his unquestioned acceptance of an unfamiliar person. The adult mind is adulterated as a result it is always suspicious.
Slowly Anila accepts the man as her uncle. She grows fond of him but Sudhindra is not yet ready. Getting inkling about the distrust, one day Manomohan Mitra leaves the house without informing anyone. The family is left behind embarrassed. It is then that they repent their actions. They set out to search for uncle and finally find him in a
Santhal village that is near
Shantiniketan. The husband and wife are repentant. They apologize to Manomohan and take him back to Calcutta. Getting back to
Kolkata, just before he leaves for his Australia trip, Manmohan gives the family his entire share of the inheritance.
Cast of Agantuk
The cast of ‘Agantul’ is enlisted below:
Utpal Dutt as Manomohan Mitra / Agantuk
Deepankar De as Sudhindra Bose
Mamata Shankar as Anila Bose
Bikram Bhattacharya as Satyaki Bose
Dhritiman Chatterjee as Prithwish Sen Gupta
Rabi Ghosh as Ranjan Rakshit
Subrata Chatterjee as Chhanda Rakshi
t
Promode Ganguly as Tridib Mukherjee
Ajit Bandyopadhyay as Sital Sarkar
Recognitions to Agantuk
‘Agantuk’ won the following awards:
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 1992
National Film Award for Best Direction in 1992
National Film Award- Special Jury Award to Mamata Shankar in 1992
Ritwik Ghatak Award to Satyajit Ray for Best Scenario Writer
Ritwik Ghatak Award for Best Film
