Distant thunder Ashani sanket [WorldCat Entities]

"Ashani sanket"
"Asani sanket"
"Oshoni shongket"
"Asani Sanket"

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"The film is set in a village in the Indian province of Bengal during World War II, and examines the effect of the Great Famine of 1943 on the villages of Bengal through the eyes of a young Brahmin doctor-teacher, Gangacharan, and his wife, Anaga. Ray shows the human scale of a cataclysmic event that killed more than 3 million people. The film unfolds at a leisurely pace that reflects the rhythms of village life, but gradually shows the breakdown of traditional village norms under the pressure of hunger and starvation."
"An award-winning dramatization of World War II famine in India. As the government requisitions the civilian food supply for its armies, the common man starves. To eat he is reduced to an animal - a doctor must humble himself, a peasant turn to prostitution."
"Set in India in 1942 before the Bengal famine, a Brahmin (Soumitra Chatterjee) and his beautiful wife (Babita) find their village, despite a successful harvest, overrun by famine as all available grain is diverted to British troops for World War II. Village social order collapses as the situation grows increasingly desperate and the man is forced to abandon his priestly identity and his bourgeois aspirations."
"This film has been aptly described by Pauline Kael as 'a lyric chronicle of a way of life just before its extinction'. It is set in a Bengali village in the early 1940s where a newly arrived Brahmin, the only educated man for miles around, is acclaimed by the villagers as a 'jewel in our crown'. But World War II forces the price of rice to soar and the traditions of the village community are eroded. The Brahmin is no longer treated as a jewel. At first he can afford to be condescending but the changed circumstances confront him with his own ignorance and inadequacy."
"The tranquility of life in a Bengal village is shattered by the reverberations of World War II. As the war induced rice shortage becomes increasingly acute, the scramble to survive humiliates some and enobles others."
"Dramatization of the World War II famine in India."
"The focal characters of Ray's film, set in a Bengali village in 1943, are Ganga, a young and somewhat pompous Brahmin, and his wife Ananga. Having just settled in the village, Ganga is comically self-conscious of his roles as priest, teacher, doctor, and wise man conferred upon him by caste. When Ananga asks him if he really can ward off a cholera outbreak through spells for which neighboring hamlets will pay handsomely, he replies that in addition to spells, he will also pass on the practical information from his hygiene encylopedia. Village tranquility is ruptured, however, as the reverberations of World War II intrude. As the war-induced rice shortage becomes acute, life-long trusts are betrayed and civil order disintegrates. The scramble to survive humiliates some of Ray's characters but enobles others, including Ganga who undergoes a radical and moving political conversion. The village becomes a microcosm for the wider sufferings of India, giving weight to the statistic given at the end that over 5 million people died at the time. (Does not circulate)."