Satyajit Ray

Untitled Document

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Kapurush O Mahapurush (The Coward and The Holy Man), 1965

The cover of the booklet showing three protagonists from the two films.

	Production: R.D. Bansal & Co.
	Screenplay, Music and Direction: Satyajit Ray
	Based on two stories, Janoiko Kapurusher Kahini by Premendra Mitra and Birinchi Baba by Parashuram (Rajsekhar Bose)
	Photography: Soumendu Roy
	Art Director: Bansi Chandragupta
	Editing: Dulal Dutta
	Sound: Nripen Paul, Atul Chatterjee, Sujit Sarkar
	Date of release in India: 7th May, 1965. B&W

Kapurush (The Coward)

	Cast: Soumitra Chatterjee (Amitava Roy), Madhabi Mukherjee (Karuna Gupta), Haradhan Banerjee (Bimal Gupta).

	Duration: 74 mins

The Story

Amitabh, a scriptwriter of commercial films, drives in the country, scouting for locations. When his vehicle breaks down, he is taken in by a tea planter whose wife is Karuna, a woman whom he had formerly loved but whom he was unable or unwilling to take care of. In those days he was a poor student, uncomfortable with his involvement with this woman from a well-off family; just as she had made up her mind to accept his situation and bravely confront her family's disapproval, he left her. Now that he has become successful on his own, Amitabh would love for Karuna to leave her husband and live with him. He arranges a rendezvous at the train station.

Cowardice still is the key trait : the man is still in doubt to approach his former fiancee.

Mahapurush (The Holy Man)

The holy man concocts incredible stories about
himself

	Cast: Charuprakash Ghosh (Birinchi Baba), Rabi Ghosh (His assistant), Prasad Mukherjee (Gurupada Mitter), Gitali Roy (Buchki), Satindra Bhattacharya (Satya), Somen Bose (Nibaran), Santosh Dutta (Professor Nani), Renuka Roy (Nani's wife)

	Duration: 65 mins

The Story

The holy man says that his accomplice was a scorpion in previous birth.

Birinchi manages to pass himself off as a sadhu (sage, holy man) and takes advantage of the credulity of a father and his daughter Buchki. This does not suit her fiance Satya, who fears that her religious conversion will pull her away from him. He will do anything to recover his beloved and expose the sadhu or holy man.

Contributed by DKB and AKD

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