Satyajit Ray - Ganashatru (1989) aka. An Enemy of the People

"Ganashatru" is certainly one of the best movies of Satyajit Ray, though not one of his most popular ones. The story is set up in a small town of India and is brutally realistic. The film depicts the superstitions and ignorance one might find in an Indian town (or for that matter in any Indian City). The main characters are brilliantly portrayed by Soumitra Chatterjee, Dipankar Dey, Subhendu Chatterjee and Dhritiman. The reason this movie has not had any popularity is mainly because of the blind religious superstitions that lives amongst most of us and has blinded us in seeing the truth.

A must watch, if one believes that film makers have a duty towards educating the society.
IMDB 6.5/10 - (166 votes) | Satyajit Ray.org




Dr. Ashoke Gupta (Soumitra Chatterjee) is the head of a town hospital. Gupta's younger brother, Nisith (Dhritiman Chatterjee), is the head of the committees running the hospital and a temple. Both were built by a local Industrialist. The temple is also a big tourist attraction.
Dr. Gupta is convinced that the holy water of the temple is contaminated due to faulty pipe-laying. It is causing an epidemic in the town. He warns his brother Nisith.




Nisith, the Industrialist and other town officials reject the idea that holy water might be the cause of the epidemic. They refuse to close the temple to carry out the repairs.
Dr. Gupta wants to write an article in the newspaper to warn people, but giving-in to the pressure from the powerful people, the editor refuses to publish it.



Left with no alternative, Dr. Gupta organizes a public meeting that is also sabotaged. And Dr. Gupta is proclaimed an enemy of the people.