The document provides a detailed summary and analysis of the 1985 film "Ghare Baire" directed by Satyajit Roy, based on the 1915 novel of the same name by Rabindranath Tagore. It discusses the background of Tagore's criticism of nationalism in the novel. The film tells the story of Nikhilesh, a liberal landowner, his wife Bimala, and their friend Sandip, a charismatic nationalist leader who attracts Bimala's affection. Through exploring the changing dynamics between the three characters, the film examines issues of women's emancipation in pre-modern India and tensions within the nationalist movement. Overall, the reviewer praises the film for its nuanced adaptation

1. Movie Review by Dipta Chakma
Introduction:
Movie Name: Ghare Baire (The Home and the World)
Release Date: 4th January 1985 directed by Satya Jit Roy
Background Information:
Bengal got separated in 1905 and the original Bengali version of the story, ‘Ghare Baire’ was
published in 1915 and the movie released in 1985.Actually this book was written by
Rabindranath Tagore and the movie was directed by Satyajit Roy. It got translated by Tagore’s
nephew in 1919. This book got a lot of recognition in the West not only because of the
translation but also because The subject is controversial wherein Tagore lashes out at the
ideologies of nationalism that were prevalent then..
Tagore was one who felt that nationalism was turning into a terrorist movement by
impressionable youths. This thought especially grew in his mind after Khudiram Bose killed two
innocent British civilians. In fact, after this Tagore stopped participating in the nationalist
movement. And his sentiments took the shape of this book seven years later.
Summary of the story:
There is nothing static, earthbound or lifeless about it.It has the complexity and tragic
dimensions of Tagore's own time, and ours"-Anita Desai Set against the backdrop of the Partition
of Bengal by the British in 1905, Home and the World (Ghare Baire) is the story of a young
liberal-minded zamindar Nikhilesh, his educated and sensitive wife Bimala, and Nikhilesh's
friend Sandip, a charismatic nationalist leader whom Bimala finds herself attracted to. A
perceptive exposition of the difficulties surrounding women's emancipation in pre-modern India,
and a telling portrayal of the chasms inherent in the nationalist movement, Home and the World
has generated endless debate and discussion..
Analysing the whole movie:
The very first thing we learn in Satyajit Ray's "The Home and the World" is that Bimala, his
heroine, has exchanged the home of her parents for the home of her husband, in the inner
apartments of his Bengal palace. She lives in purdah, the Hindu custom of cloistering women.
Nikhil, the maharaja who is her husband, is the only man she has ever seen. She saw him first on
their wedding day. She is content with her life and has no desire to walk down the long corridor,
bathed in sunlight falling through stained glass, that leads to the outer apartments and then to the
world.But her husband has other ideas. The year is 1908, and he is a modern Indian who has
been educated in England. His wife loves him, but he reasons that her love is meaningless if she
cannot compare him with other men. At his wish, she begins to take lessons from an English
governess, and after ten years, she takes the momentous walk down that corridor to the outside.

2. Nikhil wants her to meet his best friend, Sandip, a charismatic nationalist leader who is staying
as a guest in the palace. Sandip is leading a boycott against traders who sell imported goods; he
is opposed to the British policy of dividing Bengal and setting Hindu against Moslem. He also is
something of a fraud who borrows money from Nikhil and soon begins to borrow the affections
of his wife.
Bimala is swept away by Sandip. His passion and his politics are a contrast to her quiet, passive
husband. His compliments overwhelm her. They do not exactly have an affair, not by Western
standards -- their first kiss comes after years of mounting romantic tension -- but it is clear to
everyone, even Nikhil, that the two of them are in love.Nikhil does nothing. He is an intelligent,
reasonable man who sees everything in the light of such quiet reason that action seems almost
beyond him. For example, although he is content to have Sandip, the revolutionary, live in his
palace, he opposes most of Sandip's policies. He knows that the traders in foreign goods are
mostly Moslems, very poor, and that the boycott will only serve to drive a wedge between the
two communities. Yet he stands by while Sandip makes speeches and leads parades. The real
story of the movie takes place, meanwhile, within Bimala's heart and mind. Over a period of
years, she grows out of the restraints of purdah, but her formative years were all spent in
seclusion, and only gradually does she find the confidence to act according to her beliefs. She is
totally taken in by the charming Sandip. She even takes money from her husband's safe to feed
Sandip's taste for first-class travel. And all the time her husband stands by, his detachment
becoming one of the fascinations of the movie.
"The Home and the World" is based on a novel of the same name by the Hindu
writer Rabindranath Tagore, a Nobel Prize winner. Satyajit Ray, the greatest Indian director, was
a young man when he first wrote a screenplay based on the novel, but it has taken him thirty-five
years to film it. It is a contemplative movie -- quiet, slow, a series of conversations punctuated by
sudden bursts of activity.
The suspense in the movie and the drama all form around the changing character of Bimala, the
wife. We see her move from total seclusion to the ability to act recklessly and with courage. The
character is played by Swatilekha Chatterjee, a gravely beautiful, full-figured woman, whose
eyes are able to suggest great passions inside a cautious exterior.
The radical leader is played by Soumitra Chatterjee, a veteran of Ray's films all the way back to
the "The Apu Trilogy", and the husband is played by Victor Banerjee, who was so different -- so
excitable and brash -- as Dr. Aziz in David Lean's "A Passage to India." Together, they form a
small group of ideas and emotions, growing and shifting, mirroring in their secluded chambers
the violent changes in India.
My opinion:
'The Home and the World,'' adapted from the novel by the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore,
manages to be something that might be called a sweeping chamber-epic.
''The Home and the World'' is a very stately film, partially, I suspect, because it's based on a
classic novel, which was first published in 1919 and is a work that must carry with it an
inhibiting sense of obligation for any film maker, especially one of Mr. Ray's intelligence.
However, the film's manner very consciously reflects the initial reticence of Bimala as well as
the clenched emotions of Nikhil, who must blame himself if his wife falls in love with another
man.

3. ''The Home and the World'' defies easy categorization. In close-up, it's a love story, but it's one
so fully defined that, as in a long-shot, it also succeeds in dramatizing the events seen on the far
horizon - including the political differences between Gandhi, who led the nationalist movement,
and Tagore, who, like Nikhil, stood for civilized compromise. It's significant that the only
representative of the British raj in the film is the sweet, somewhat silly and self-important
character of the English nanny (Jennifer Kapoor).
Conclusion:
But all in all, Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Ghaire Baire’ or ‘The Home and the World’ is a novel
which will definitely touch our heart, open our eyes to the reality of the Swadeshi Movement,
expose the ugly truth about the fanatic nationalism which is still dominant today, and will leave
us deeply connected with the realistic characters of the poetic story.