36 Chowringhee lane was screened here on Sunday at Abhirang Auditorium, Bharat Bhavan, under West Bengal Mahotsav 2014. Directed by one of the noted directors of Bollywood, Aparna Sen, the movie features Jennifer Kendal, Debashree Roy, Dhritiman Chatterjee and Geoffrey Kendal. The movie was released in the year 1981 having a running time of 122 minutes.
The movie left the audiences stunned when played on the big screen again. The movie is set in the post-independence India. The story is all about human relationship and the changes situations adds to these relationships.
After the marriage of her niece, Rosemary, Anglo-Indian school-teacher Violet Stoneham lives a lonely life in her single room flat located at 36 Chowringhee lane in Calcutta, with only a tom cat for company. She is thrilled when a former student, Nandita Roy, looks her up and also brings her boyfriend, Samaresh Moitra, to her flat.
Samaresh is an author and likes the solitude of Violet’s flat, and would like to write his new novel there, to which Violet readily agrees to. He likes her antique record-player and she gives it to him as a gift. She hopes she has become part of a family again.
It is Christmas time and Violet would like to bake a cake and visit Nandita and Samaresh to surprise them. But is a surprise that awaits her when she reaches her destination. She sees that she was deceived by them and accepting the truth about both she leaves from there and walk back to her lonely life.
Aparna Sen is a brilliant female director. She picks up the situations from real life and molds them in her way. The audiences enjoyed the show with lot of ecstasy and fervour.