Nayak - The Hero
by Satyajit Ray
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Uttam KumarSharmila TagoreBireswar SenSomen BoseNirmal GhoshPremangshu BoseSumita SanyalRanjit SenBharati DeviLali ChowdhuryKamu MukherjeeSusmita MukherjeeSubrata SensharmaJamuna SinhaDirector: Satyajit Ray
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Dolby, NTSC
Running Time: 120 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-06-01
Studio: New York Film Annex
DVD Reviews of Nayak - The Hero
DVD Review: Slow moving, lengthy, and somewhat confusing
Summary: 3 Stars
Nayak (The Hero) was made in 1966. It was not one of my favorite Ray films. It comprises a matinee idol and common people interacting with an idol on a train journey. Apart from the setting on a train, the past is told through backflash and dreams interspersed.
Arindam, (Uttam Kumar), a handsome, well-known movie star is taking the train to Delhi from Calcutta to collect a prize. On the train, he encounters a journalist who decides to interview him. He then reveals some of his past, his guilt by leaving the theatre for movie film, his refusal to help a friend politically, his drinking, confessing to an affair, etc.
The people on the train have a role as we see how they interact to the movie star. There are a few subplots within the characters of the train, but none seem to prove much to the core of the moral story. The film is very lengthy and at times confusing in its storytelling.
According to Andrew Robinson in "The Inner Eye", Ray wanted to investigate the psychology of a star, his adulators and detractors and to do a train journey.
Nayak had won the Critics Prize in Berlin in 1966. And in 1974, it was released in the U.S. with only decent reviews. ...Rizzo
DVD Review: The long-awaited release of a key Ray film
Summary: 4 Stars
NAYAK remains one of the more stylistically more daring entries in the cinematic career of Satyajit Ray. It isn't quite the knockout that some of his other films are, but it remains one of his more obscure works (unfortunately) to Western film aficionados, and there are more than enough intriguing experiments going on here to make it worth seeing.
At a basic level, NAYAK presents a character study, of matinee idol Arindam Mukherjee (Bengali star Uttam Kumar) as he travels by train from Calcutta to Delhi. The casting choice of Kumar was a brilliant move on the part of Ray, who was interested in creating a film that would focus less upon a star's star-power, and more on a star's inner world, and Kumar's performance is a must-see, with great psychological implications revealed through drama, but also through the slightest of gestures or expressions.
Kumar is paired here with Sharmila Tagore. Tagore - along with Soumitra Chatterjee - appeared in many of Ray's films, and this is one of her finest performances; among other qualities, her character offers an image of a very 60s sort of coolness that would rival that of Jean Seberg in Godard's BREATHLESS. This noted, her character here - an initially reluctant journalist who approaches Mukherjee in a dining car for an interview - is predominantly striking for intellectual reasons: confident, independent and riveting.
The interview and conversation between the two rapidly shifts away from typical star-interviewed-by-journalist territory into something more psychologically intrepid, with hopes and fears and any number of personal anxieties delved into. Ray's decision to build a narrative out of the unguarded moments of two individuals who would normally (for personal and professional reasons) be considerably less open is ambitious - a certain amount of 'demystification of celebrity' goes on, and I would guess that it had to make for difficult filming: how to cinematically visualize a story built upon inner moments? Ray elects for a nonlinear approach, with an abundance of flashbacks, and a spectacular, Fellini-esque dream sequence (centered around Mukherjee's greatest fears). This approach is a bit disjointed, and the film has a certain difficulty in sustaining it's rhythm, but it works visually, affording Ray the opportunity to delve into a variety new-wave influences, which lends the film a brisk stylishness.
Recently released on DVD in the US, one would hope that this portends further releases - Ray's most famous films have gone out of print in the US, and a handful of key films - KANCHENJUNGHA, the sublime DAYS AND NIGHTS IN THE FOREST, and the magical ADVENTURES OF GOOPY AND BAGHA have never made an appearance on DVD in the US. As another of his key works, it's great to see NAYAK finally getting a long-overdue release.
-David Alston
Description of Nayak - The Hero
A famous film actor travels by train to New Delhi for an award ceremony. On the train he meets a young journalist who edits a serious women's magazine. Filled with contempt for the likes of him, she secretly plans to interview him for an "expose" into the meaningless existance of a self centered actor. As she interrogates him he begins to re-examine his life. Through a series of flashbacks and dreams the film explores the psychology of the star and his admirers. Winner, Best Screenplay and Story New Delhi, 1967 Winner, Critics' Prize (Unicrit award) Berlin, 1966 Winner, Special Jury Award Berlin, 1966Asian Cinema DVDs
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Bestsellers in Asian Cinema DVDs
ThirstUni; Release date: 2009-11-17; DVD
Best price: $16.24
Price in other shops:
Castle in the SkyDisney; Release date: 2003-04-15; DVD
Best price: $21.64
Price in other shops:
The Man with No Name Trilogy (A Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)EASTWOOD,CLINT; Release date: 1999-10-05; DVD
Best price: $14.49
Price in other shops:
Kiki's Delivery ServiceDisney; Release date: 2003-04-15; DVD
Best price: $21.81
Price in other shops:
![Kagemusha: The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray] Image](/images/Kagemusha-The-Criterion-Collection-Blu-ray-B002AFX52S-X.jpg)
Kagemusha: The Criterion Collection [Blu-ray]IMAGE ENT.; Release date: 2009-08-18; DVD
Best price: $17.99
Price in other shops:
Princess MononokeDisney; Release date: 2000-12-19; DVD
Best price: $10.66
Price in other shops:
Seven Samurai - 3 Disc Remastered Edition (Criterion Collection Spine # 2)Image Entertainment; Release date: 2006-09-05; DVD
Best price: $21.99
Price in other shops:
Spirited AwayBUENA VISTA HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2003-04-15; DVD
Best price: $18.49
Price in other shops:
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Widescreen)UNI DIST CORP. (MCA); Release date: 2008-12-16; DVD
Best price: $4.95
Price in other shops:
Kung Fu Panda (Widescreen Edition)PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2008-11-08; DVD
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
La RondeIMAGE ENT.; Release date: 2008-09-16; DVD
Best price: $23.97
Price in other shops:
The Fountain (Widescreen Edition)WARNER HOME VIDEO; Release date: 2007-05-15; DVD
Best price: $5.96
Price in other shops:
8 1/ 2 - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2001-12-04; DVD
Best price: $16.89
Price in other shops:
![The Music Room ( Jalsaghar ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - France ] Image](/images/The-Music-Room-Jalsaghar-NON-USA-FORMAT-PAL-Reg-2-Import-France-B000APEWE0-X.jpg)
The Music Room ( Jalsaghar ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - France ]DVD
Best price: $29.99
![THE APU TRILOGY 3-Disc set [Pather Panchali-Aparajito-The World of Apu] Image](/images/THE-APU-TRILOGY-3-Disc-set-Pather-Panchali-Aparajito-The-World-of-Apu-B0018Z2IJ2-X.jpg)
THE APU TRILOGY 3-Disc set [Pather Panchali-Aparajito-The World of Apu]DVD
Best price: $52.22
The River - Criterion CollectionImage Entertainment; Release date: 2005-03-01; DVD
Best price: $18.51
Price in other shops:
Ghare BaireRelease date: 2007-02-28; DVD
Best price: $10.88
Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye: The Biography of a Master Film-Makerby Andrew Robinson
I. B. Tauris; Published: 2004-02-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.10
Price in other shops:
CharulataDVD
Best price: $17.45
The Chess PlayersKino Video; Release date: 2006-04-18; DVD
Best price: $18.65
Price in other shops: