''Teen Kanya'' (
English
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Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
: Three Girls) is a 1961
India
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n
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
anthology film directed by
Satyajit Ray, and based upon short stories by
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
. The title means "Three Girls", and the film's original Indian release contained three stories. However, the international release of the film contained only two stories, missing the second ("Monihara: The Lost Jewels"). This version was released on VHS in 1997 under the title ''Two Daughters''. However, there are now DVD versions available that contain all three films. The
Academy Film Archive
The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...
preserved the international version of ''Teen Kanya'' in 1996.
Cast
''The Postmaster''
* Chandana Banerjee as Ratan
*
Nripati Chattopadhyay as Bishey
*
Anil Chatterjee
Anil Chatterjee (Chattopadhyay) bn, অনিল চ্যাটার্জী (চট্টোপাধ্যায়) (25 October 1929 – 17 March 1996) was an Indian actor in the Bengali cinema during the early fifties through the mid-ni ...
as Nandal
*
Khagen Pathak as Khagen
*
Gopal Roy as Bilash
''Monihara'' (''The Lost Jewel'')
*
Kali Banerjee
Kali Banerjee (20 November 1920 – 5 July 1993) was an Indian actor, who worked in the 1950s–1970s in Bengali cinema. He is best known for his work with film directors like Satyajit Ray in ''Parash Pathar'' (1958) and Ritwik Ghatak in ''Na ...
as Phanibhushan
*
Kanika Majumdar as Manimalika
*
Kumar Roy as Madhusudhan
*
Gobinda Chakravarti as Schoolmaster and narrator
''Samapti'' (''The Conclusion'')
*
Soumitra Chatterjee as Amulya
*
Aparna Sen
Aparna Sen (, ''Ôporna Shen'') is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actress who is known for her work in Bengali cinema. She has received several accolades as an actress and filmmaker, including nine National Film Awards, five F ...
as Mrinmoyee
*
Sita Mukherjee as Jogmaya
*
Gita Dey
Gita Dey (5 August 1931 – 17 January 2011) was an Indian actress in Bengali cinema, theatre and Bengali folk theater. She became a stage artist at the age of 6 years. She came to the film industry in 1943. Her first film release was '' Ahut ...
as Nistarini
*
Santosh Dutta
Santosh Dutta ( Bengali: সন্তোষ দত্ত; 2 December 1925 – 5 March 1988) was a Bengali actor, best known for playing the character of Jatayu in Satyajit Ray's Feluda movie series ''Sonar Kella'' and '' Joi Baba Felunath''.
...
as Kishori
*
Mihir Chakravarti as Rakhal
*
Devi Neogy as Haripada
Plot
''The Postmaster''
The Postmaster Nandalal (Anil Chatterjee), a young man, arrives from Calcutta as the postmaster of a small village. Ratan (Chandana Banerjee), a pre-adolescent orphan girl, is his housekeeper/maid. Though only a child herself, she cooks, cleans and cares for Nandalal.
Nandalal, a city bred young man, is like a fish out of water in the village. He is bored. On an impulse and probably to kill time, he begins teaching her to read and write. She responds eagerly. A tender bond develops. Ratan is devoted and waits on him. For Nandalal, however, she is just a pastime.
When Nandalal contracts malaria, Ratan nurses him back to health. But he has had enough of the rural life and resigns. Ratan is heartbroken. He prepares to leave without realizing how attached to him Ratan has become.
Ratan is hurt when Nandalal offers her some money as a tip for her services. We see her passing by Nandalal carrying a pail of water. She has been crying, but is too proud to accept the tip. A few moments later we hear her voice. She is informing the new postmaster that she has brought water for him.
Nandalal is overwhelmed by emotions as he stares at the money in his hand. Putting the money back in pocket, he walks away.
''Monihara'' (''The Lost Jewels'')
Near an abandoned mansion, the village schoolteacher (Gobinda Chakravarti) recounts a story to a hooded man.
It seems that the house was inhabited by a man Phanibhusan (Kali Banerjee) and his wife Manimalika (Kanika Majumdar).
The wife is obsessed with jewels and ornaments. She accumulates jewels by nagging her husband. Though they have been married for a long time, she is very cold to him. The husband keeps buying jewels for her in hope of gaining her love.
She has a phobia that one day he may ask for the jewels back. A fire destroys his business. To confirm her fear, she offers to sell her jewels. But when he shows some interest in the idea, she retreats in panic.
When the husband is away to raise money, she calls her cousin to escort her to her parents' house. The cousin, though, has other plans for the jewels. We see the wife for the last time as they leave the house with all the jewels.
The husband is puzzled at the missing wife and jewels. He is haunted by what seems to be her ghost. After a series of such incidents, he finds himself facing the ghost of his wife, a black silhouetted figure. The black figure claims to be his wife. Afraid, he reaches for a jewel box that he had brought for her on his last trip. The black figure, still wearing gold bangles, charges to grab the jewel box with a horrible laugh.
After listening to the tale, the hooded man says that he has enjoyed the story, but it has many errors. He reveals that he is the husband in the story and disappears.
The
Academy Film Archive
The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...
preserved ''Monihara'' in 1998.
''Samapti'' (''The Conclusion'')
Amulya (Soumitra Chatterjee) is returning to his village after passing his exams in Calcutta to spend some time with his widowed mother. After getting down from the boat, as he struggles in the muddy path, he senses that someone is following him. Soon he finds out it is a tomboyish teenager Mrinmoyee (Aparna). She bursts into giggles at his plight and runs away.
The mother has arranged for him to marry the daughter of a respectable family. Much against his wishes, he goes to visit the girl in a nearby village, carrying an umbrella and wearing shining shoes. The girl is very conventional and he is forced to admire her needlework, singing, and her other skills.
Suddenly, Mrinmoyee, known as Paglee ("Madcap"), charges in following her pet squirrel. Then he finds his shoes gone. As he sets out to walk back to his village, he finds one of his missing shoes in the mud path. Amulya captures the culprit, Mrinmoyee. It is now her turn to fall in the slushy mud. Amulya is amused and probably also in love.
Against his mother's wishes, he marries Mrinmoyee. On their first night together, she escapes by climbing down a tree and spends the night on her favorite swing on the riverbank. It is a scandal. She is locked in her room and in a childish tantrum, throws things at Amulya. He returns to Calcutta and she is sent back to her mother's house. Once he is gone, she realises how much she really loves him.
His mother makes Amulya come back on the false pretext of her illness. Amulya goes in search of Mrinmoyee in the rain. Unable to find her, he returns, only to find her in his room. He asks her how she managed to sneak in. She replies, "By climbing the tree, but I'll not do it again". She is no longer a childish madcap, but a grown woman in love.
Awards
;
National Film Awards
*
1961
Events January
* January 3
** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015).
** Aero Flight 311 (K ...
:
National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali
The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of severa ...
;
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...
*
13th Berlin International Film Festival
The 13th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 21 June to 2 July 1963. The Golden Bear was awarded ''ex aequo'' to the Italian film ''Il diavolo'' directed by Gian Luigi Polidoro and Japanese film '' Bushidô zankoku monogatari ...
: Selznick Golden Laurel for Best Film
;
Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards
*
25th Annual BFJA Awards: Best Director & Best Indian Film of the year.
; 2019
Cult Critic Movie Awards Cult Critic Movie Awards is an IMDb Award listing live screening award event that takes place in Kolkata and features art-house cult films from across the world. The Cult Critic Films Magazine started this award event in 2017 in Kolkata.
The JEAN L ...
References
External links
satyajitray.org*
''San Francisco Chronicle'' review
{{Rabindranath Tagore
1961 films
Indian anthology films
Films directed by Satyajit Ray
Films based on short fiction
Bengali-language Indian films
Films based on works by Rabindranath Tagore
Memorials to Rabindranath Tagore
Films about women in India
Films with screenplays by Satyajit Ray
Best Bengali Feature Film National Film Award winners
1960s Bengali-language films
it:Tre sorelle (film)