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Serious Tribute to Satyajit Ray- Birth Centenary
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Parash Pathar (Bengali: পরশ পাথর Porosh Pathor; English: The Philosopher's Stone
is a 1958 Bengali language Indian fantasy comedy film. It was Satyajit Ray's first film outside of The Apu Trilogy. It was also his first comedy and first magical realist film.
Adapted from a short story of the same name by Parasuram (Rajsekhar Basu), the film offered an early glimpse of Ray's sense of humour, centered on a middle-class clerk who accidentally discovers a stone that can turn other objects into gold.
Satyajit Ray himself described the film as a "combination of comedy, fantasy, satire, farce and a touch of Pathos .
The film was entered into the 1958 Cannes Film Festival,[2] where it was nominated for the Palme d'Or (Best Film)
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Story
On a rainy afternoon, an elderly bank clerk – Paresh Dutta – finds a mysterious “Parash Pathar” as he his returning from work after learning that his office is closing down. “Parash Pathar” or the Philosopher’s stone can transform any piece of metal into gold.
At home he demonstrates the stone’s magical power to his wife by changing a few household items into gold. Soon, Dutta’s are among the richest and most respected citizen of Calcutta. From a modest dwelling, the childless couple move to an opulent mansion. Paresh now has a personal secretary – Priyatosh Henry Biswas, a young man preoccupied with his girlfriend. The source of Paresh’s sudden wealth is a mystery and Paresh is very careful to keep it a secret. He is now much sought after in social and political gatherings.
Paresh is invited to a cocktail party at the house of a businessman and gets drunk. The guests are treated to a magic show by the inebriated Paresh – turning metal into gold. The cunning host covets the secret, however, Paresh manages evade him. Frustrated, the businessman goes to the police with allegation of gold smuggling.
The panic stricken Paresh gives the stone to his personal secretary – Priyatosh and attempts to escape. Paresh’s car breaks down and is arrested on a charge of smuggling gold. Paresh has only one way to prove his innocence – demonstrate the power of stone in the court. But Priyatosh has swallowed the stone. Police wants to operate Priyatosh and remove the stone. The x-rays reveal that the stone is slowly being digested in the young man’s stomach. Once the stone is digested, all gold reverts to iron. The crisis is over. Paresh and his wife seem relieved.
On a rainy afternoon, an elderly bank clerk – Paresh Dutta – finds a mysterious “Parash Pathar” as he his returning from work after learning that his office is closing down. “Parash Pathar” or the Philosopher’s stone can transform any piece of metal into gold.
At home he demonstrates the stone’s magical power to his wife by changing a few household items into gold. Soon, Dutta’s are among the richest and most respected citizen of Calcutta. From a modest dwelling, the childless couple move to an opulent mansion. Paresh now has a personal secretary – Priyatosh Henry Biswas, a young man preoccupied with his girlfriend. The source of Paresh’s sudden wealth is a mystery and Paresh is very careful to keep it a secret. He is now much sought after in social and political gatherings.
Paresh is invited to a cocktail party at the house of a businessman and gets drunk. The guests are treated to a magic show by the inebriated Paresh – turning metal into gold. The cunning host covets the secret, however, Paresh manages evade him. Frustrated, the businessman goes to the police with allegation of gold smuggling.
The panic stricken Paresh gives the stone to his personal secretary – Priyatosh and attempts to escape. Paresh’s car breaks down and is arrested on a charge of smuggling gold. Paresh has only one way to prove his innocence – demonstrate the power of stone in the court. But Priyatosh has swallowed the stone. Police wants to operate Priyatosh and remove the stone. The x-rays reveal that the stone is slowly being digested in the young man’s stomach. Once the stone is digested, all gold reverts to iron. The crisis is over. Paresh and his wife seem relieved.
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Caste
- Tulsi Chakrabarti – Paresh Chandra Dutta
- Ranibala Devi – Giribala Dutt (Paresh's wife)
- Kali Banerjee – Priyotosh Henry Biswas (Paresh's personal secretary)
- Jahar Roy – Brajahari, The servant
- Gangapada Basu – Businessman Kachalu
- Haridhan Mukherjee– Police Inspector Chatterjee
- Bireswar Sen – Police Officer
- Moni Srimani – Doctor Nandi
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Trivia
Ray made this quick film making use of a break in shooting of Jalasaghar (The Music Room) as its lead actor, Chhabi Biswas, was making a trip to Berlin to receive an award.
The credits for Parash Pathar are presented not in Bengali (the language used for credits in almost all of Satyajit Ray's films), not even in English, but in French. (This is probably because Ray's films had begun to be quite popular in France.) For this reason, some DVDs of the film include the title "Parash Pathar (la pierre philosophale)," i.e. the title in Bengali and French, respectively.
This is the first Satyajit Ray film to be released with Chhabi Biswas as an actor. In this film, he is merely one of the several guests at the cocktail party. However, in Ray's next film (Jalsaghar), he has the lead role.
Ray made this quick film making use of a break in shooting of Jalasaghar (The Music Room) as its lead actor, Chhabi Biswas, was making a trip to Berlin to receive an award.
The credits for Parash Pathar are presented not in Bengali (the language used for credits in almost all of Satyajit Ray's films), not even in English, but in French. (This is probably because Ray's films had begun to be quite popular in France.) For this reason, some DVDs of the film include the title "Parash Pathar (la pierre philosophale)," i.e. the title in Bengali and French, respectively.
This is the first Satyajit Ray film to be released with Chhabi Biswas as an actor. In this film, he is merely one of the several guests at the cocktail party. However, in Ray's next film (Jalsaghar), he has the lead role.
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Parash Pathar was Ray’s third film. In 1958, after making two ‘serious’ films, namely Pather Panchali (1955) and Aparajito (1956), both of which were critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful, Ray wanted to make something light hearted, something with which he could connect with the average cinegoer in Bengal. There were two choices which appealed to his sensibilities – either make a film with song and dance, or turn to humour. With this end in mind, Ray set out to make Jalsaghar (1958), which was to have elaborate song and dance sequences in it. Work began with veteran actor Chhabi Biswas in the lead. But just about then, Biswas got an invitation from Berlin, where his iconic film – Tapan Sinha’s Kabuliwala (1957) – was being screened. Biswas had never travelled outside the country, and he expressed his desire to attend the event. He also spoke to Ray about spending some time in the continent after the screening. A gentleman by all measures and standards, Ray could not say ‘no’ to him. But not one to sit idle and fritter away valuable time, Ray began working on another film – one which he had adapted from a comic short story written by veteran Bengali author Rajshekhar Bose, also known by his pen-name Parashuram. That film was Parash Pathar.
An underpaid middle-aged Bengali bank clerk named Paresh Dutta is caught in the rain while returning from office one evening, and he takes shelter in a park, where he stumbles upon a small shiny pebble. He picks it up and brings it home without giving much thought to it — but it soon turns out that the pebble is nothing but the mythical Philosopher’s Stone, which can magically turn any base metal that comes into contact with it into pure gold. Paresh Dutta’s fortune takes a sudden and drastic turn for the better and he becomes a rich and powerful man. But he soon realises that not only is keeping wealth far more difficult than earning it, but also that all the gold in the world can’t buy some of the most basic things in life.
Essentially a comedy at heart, the film is perhaps the only one in Ray’s filmography which is rather Chaplinesque in nature — in that it presents its humour always with an underlying layer of pathos. There is a distinct comic element present throughout the film – Paresh Dutta’s nervous visit to a bullion merchant, for example, to check if the first lot of gold he has accidentally created is, indeed, what he thinks it is. Or his awkward attempts to socialize with upper class people. Or the hilarious manner in which a young man tries to introduce him at a social function organized to honour him. But such scenes are almost always followed by an unmistakable element of pathos. For instance, in the film’s opening scene, a narrator rues at the hopelessness of the middle-class office-going clerks of pre-independence Bengal, whose lucks turn according to the whims and fancies of their British bosses. In another brilliant scene towards the middle of the film, Paresh Dutta’s wife Giribala laments that although she now has everything that she could wish for, she misses her old neighbours from the dingy by-lane where she used to live. Just like the humour is never in your face, the tragedy too is invariably subtle. Small things, like the fact that the Duttas never let go of their old and faithful servant, or that they were always generous in their donations, endear them to the audience.
In another side-scrolling scene juxtaposing common pedestrians against the lavish Governor’s House in Kolkata, Dutta is seen hastily walking back home after a charity football match, knowing very well that his tattered umbrella would not protect him from the impending thunderstorm. The contrast is perfect here, and yet, characteristically subtle. It is an everyday sight, Ray just makes us sit up and take notice with his clever camerawork. In yet another scene, the poor clerk decides to throw the magical stone away, fearing the wrath of God, but changes his mind when he accidentally finds himself in the middle of an industrial dumpyard, with mounds after mounds of metal scrap spreading as far as his eyes could see — the possibilities now slowly beginning to emerge in his head. The sheer volume of metal around him makes the audience giddy, because for the first time, we realize the true potential of the stone.
With Parash Pathar, Ray successfully connects with the fears and insecurities of the common man. These scenes are sure signs that Ray’s genius was anything but a one or two-film wonder. Consider this, for instance. The film’s lead role is played by a gentleman named Tulsi Chakarabarti — a veteran Bengali character actor — of whom Ray had once said that no comic scene in Bengali cinema is complete without him. And yet, Ray uses the same man to depict the tragedy in the delusion of contentment that wealth has to offer. Only a filmmaker of Ray’s calibre can achieve something like that.
An underpaid middle-aged Bengali bank clerk named Paresh Dutta is caught in the rain while returning from office one evening, and he takes shelter in a park, where he stumbles upon a small shiny pebble. He picks it up and brings it home without giving much thought to it — but it soon turns out that the pebble is nothing but the mythical Philosopher’s Stone, which can magically turn any base metal that comes into contact with it into pure gold. Paresh Dutta’s fortune takes a sudden and drastic turn for the better and he becomes a rich and powerful man. But he soon realises that not only is keeping wealth far more difficult than earning it, but also that all the gold in the world can’t buy some of the most basic things in life.
Essentially a comedy at heart, the film is perhaps the only one in Ray’s filmography which is rather Chaplinesque in nature — in that it presents its humour always with an underlying layer of pathos. There is a distinct comic element present throughout the film – Paresh Dutta’s nervous visit to a bullion merchant, for example, to check if the first lot of gold he has accidentally created is, indeed, what he thinks it is. Or his awkward attempts to socialize with upper class people. Or the hilarious manner in which a young man tries to introduce him at a social function organized to honour him. But such scenes are almost always followed by an unmistakable element of pathos. For instance, in the film’s opening scene, a narrator rues at the hopelessness of the middle-class office-going clerks of pre-independence Bengal, whose lucks turn according to the whims and fancies of their British bosses. In another brilliant scene towards the middle of the film, Paresh Dutta’s wife Giribala laments that although she now has everything that she could wish for, she misses her old neighbours from the dingy by-lane where she used to live. Just like the humour is never in your face, the tragedy too is invariably subtle. Small things, like the fact that the Duttas never let go of their old and faithful servant, or that they were always generous in their donations, endear them to the audience.
Despite the financial constraints under which Ray had had to work early on in his career, the film was technically brilliant. For one, it had some clever uses of light, especially in a beautifully shot scene at a cocktail party to which Paresh Dutta is invited, and in which, despite all his wealth, he struggles to find social acceptance. Towards the later part of the scene, the use of shadows and silhouettes is what can best be described as the cinematic equivalent of Ray’s dexterity with and fascination for ink-work – something he had learnt during his education in fine arts at Shantiniketan.
In another side-scrolling scene juxtaposing common pedestrians against the lavish Governor’s House in Kolkata, Dutta is seen hastily walking back home after a charity football match, knowing very well that his tattered umbrella would not protect him from the impending thunderstorm. The contrast is perfect here, and yet, characteristically subtle. It is an everyday sight, Ray just makes us sit up and take notice with his clever camerawork. In yet another scene, the poor clerk decides to throw the magical stone away, fearing the wrath of God, but changes his mind when he accidentally finds himself in the middle of an industrial dumpyard, with mounds after mounds of metal scrap spreading as far as his eyes could see — the possibilities now slowly beginning to emerge in his head. The sheer volume of metal around him makes the audience giddy, because for the first time, we realize the true potential of the stone.
With Parash Pathar, Ray successfully connects with the fears and insecurities of the common man. These scenes are sure signs that Ray’s genius was anything but a one or two-film wonder. Consider this, for instance. The film’s lead role is played by a gentleman named Tulsi Chakarabarti — a veteran Bengali character actor — of whom Ray had once said that no comic scene in Bengali cinema is complete without him. And yet, Ray uses the same man to depict the tragedy in the delusion of contentment that wealth has to offer. Only a filmmaker of Ray’s calibre can achieve something like that.
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Nominating Ray for Life Time Achievement Oscar, 1991
Elia Kazan, Film Director
“I want to add my voice to those of Scorsese and Merchant in asking the Academy grant Satyajit Ray an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award. I have admired his films for many years and for me he is the filmic voice of India, speaking for the people of all classes of the country…He is the most sensitive and eloquent artist and it can truly be said in his case that when we honor him we are honoring ourselves.”
(Nominating Ray for Life Time Achievement Oscar, 1991)
George Lucas, Film Producer/Screenwriter, 1991
“Satyajit Ray is an extraordinary filmmaker with a long and illustrious career who has had a profound influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world. By honoring Satyajit Ray, the Academy will help bring his work to the attention of a larger public, particularly to young filmmakers, on whom his work will certainly have a positive effect.”
(Nominating Ray for Life Time Achievement Oscar, 1991)
James Ivory, Film Director, 1991
“Satyajit Ray is among the world’s greatest directors, living or dead…Isn’t it curious that the newest, the most modern of the arts, has found one of its deepest, most fluent expressions in the work of an artist like Ray, who must make his seem less films–many have been masterpieces–in a chaotic and volatile corner of one of the world’s oldest cultures, amidst the most stringent shortages of today’s advanced movie-making material and equipment?…It would be fitting to honour this great man, who has influenced so many other film makers in all parts of the world, and to salute him with a Lifetime Award in the spring of 1992.”
(Nominating Ray for Life Time Achievement Oscar, 1991)
John Schlesinger, Film Director/Producer/Writer, 1991
“…his extraordinary body of work has not only greatly influenced so many filmmakers, but has profoundly affected their humanitarian attitude. The seeming “simplicity” of his films is the mark of a truly great master and I would be overjoyed if he were to be honored by the Academy.”
(Nominating Ray for Life Time Achievement Oscar, 1991)
Martin Scorsese, Film Director
” Ray’s magic, the simple poetry of his images and their emotional impact, will always stay with me.”
“We would like to bring to your attention, and to the attention of the distinguished board of directors of the Academy, a master filmmaker, Satyajit Ray… Though somewhat unwell, during the past few years he has completed two additional films, centered around his deeply humanitarian vision. His work is in the company of that of living contemporaries like Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa and Federico Fellini.”
(Nominating Ray for Life Time Achievement Oscar, 1991)
Elia Kazan, Film Director
“I want to add my voice to those of Scorsese and Merchant in asking the Academy grant Satyajit Ray an Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award. I have admired his films for many years and for me he is the filmic voice of India, speaking for the people of all classes of the country…He is the most sensitive and eloquent artist and it can truly be said in his case that when we honor him we are honoring ourselves.”
(Nominating Ray for Life Time Achievement Oscar, 1991)
George Lucas, Film Producer/Screenwriter, 1991
“Satyajit Ray is an extraordinary filmmaker with a long and illustrious career who has had a profound influence on filmmakers and audiences throughout the world. By honoring Satyajit Ray, the Academy will help bring his work to the attention of a larger public, particularly to young filmmakers, on whom his work will certainly have a positive effect.”
(Nominating Ray for Life Time Achievement Oscar, 1991)
James Ivory, Film Director, 1991
“Satyajit Ray is among the world’s greatest directors, living or dead…Isn’t it curious that the newest, the most modern of the arts, has found one of its deepest, most fluent expressions in the work of an artist like Ray, who must make his seem less films–many have been masterpieces–in a chaotic and volatile corner of one of the world’s oldest cultures, amidst the most stringent shortages of today’s advanced movie-making material and equipment?…It would be fitting to honour this great man, who has influenced so many other film makers in all parts of the world, and to salute him with a Lifetime Award in the spring of 1992.”
(Nominating Ray for Life Time Achievement Oscar, 1991)
John Schlesinger, Film Director/Producer/Writer, 1991
“…his extraordinary body of work has not only greatly influenced so many filmmakers, but has profoundly affected their humanitarian attitude. The seeming “simplicity” of his films is the mark of a truly great master and I would be overjoyed if he were to be honored by the Academy.”
(Nominating Ray for Life Time Achievement Oscar, 1991)
Martin Scorsese, Film Director
” Ray’s magic, the simple poetry of his images and their emotional impact, will always stay with me.”
“We would like to bring to your attention, and to the attention of the distinguished board of directors of the Academy, a master filmmaker, Satyajit Ray… Though somewhat unwell, during the past few years he has completed two additional films, centered around his deeply humanitarian vision. His work is in the company of that of living contemporaries like Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa and Federico Fellini.”
(Nominating Ray for Life Time Achievement Oscar, 1991)