The Holy Man

Satyajit Ray's short feature of 1965 is about a wandering holy man who takes hold of a family. A widowed lawyer and his youngest daughter become his followers, while the daughter's boyfriend Satya and the ever-sceptical Nibaran try to break the spell. Ray takes clear aim at religious exploitation without becoming strident. The holy man's tricks are simple and the audience sees through them at once; the comedy comes from those around him preferring not to. Charuprakash Ghosh's performance holds that balance. The film was released together with Kapurush as a two-part programme. It is among Ray's lesser-known works and is short. Light as it looks, it carries a hard comment on the tendency to surrender to authority. Who it's for: those curious about Ray's comic vein and about Bengali cinema. Who it's not for: viewers expecting large-scale drama from Ray; this is a small work in a light register.