Satyajit Ray - Kapurush aka The Coward (1965)

The coward of the film’s title is Amitabha Roy, a screenwriter on his way to Hashimara to stay with his brother while he soaks up the local colour of the region for a film he is currently writing. When his car breaks down miles from anywhere and he is unable to get a replacement part for the car, Roy has no option but to take up the offer of hospitality from Bimal Gupta, a tea-planter that he meets at the garage. Arriving at Gupta’s home however, he finds that he recognises the man’s wife Karuna, a woman he gave up while a college student in Calcutta, unwilling to oppose the plans that her uncle had for the young woman. Still single and seeing her married to a man he feels is beneath her, living in a remote region far from civilised society, Roy recognises the error he made in the past as an act of cowardice. But is it too late now to make amends?







Small, short, gripping film about a man who meets by accident the woman he loved but allowed circumstance to dissuade him from marrying. She now has a boorish older husband, and refuses to engage with him in the old way. The best moments are the shots of the woman's turned, scarfed head - she is unavailable now - "it will not be revealed" - and her headscarf becomes an eloquent example of all the veils the coward has to face, one he has not had the gumption to walk into love's temple. The performances are excellent, with frequent close-ups delineating the suffering of the protagonist and, in the flashbacks, the woman. The revelation of the husband's acquiescence to social conservatism, the caste system and subsistence on alcohol as a way of getting through life is slyly shocking. Many meanings of the word coward are explored, and each of the three characters might be said to show some cowardice. (IMDB comment)









El cobarde
El cobarde del título de la película es Amitabha Roy, un guionista en camino a Hashimara a casa de su hermano, mientras que estudia el color local de la región para el guión de una película que está escribiendo. Cuando su auto se rompe en un pueblito aislado y el mecánico del pueblo no puede conseguir un repuesto, Roy no tiene más remedio que aceptar la oferta de hospitalidad de Bimal Gupta, un cultivador de té que conoce en el taller mecánico. Al llegar a casa de Gupta sin embargo, descubre que reconoce a la esposa del hombre, Karuna, una mujer que le trae amargos recuerdos de su época de estudiante universitario en Calcuta, recuerdos de su propia cobardía...







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