The Holy Man (Mahapurush)
Satyajit Ray / IN, 1965 / 67 min.
Ray makes fun of spiritual charlatans in this light-hearted social satire. A self-declared holy man tells lie after lie in his speeches, but does so with so much flair and imagination that no one would think he is fibbing.
After his wife’s death, Gurupada and his daughter fall under the spell of Birinchi Baba, a self-declared holy man who pretends to be ageless. He manipulates them with all manner of fantastic yarns. For instance, he alleges he witnessed the founding of the city of Varanasi over 2,000 years ago, argued with Jezus Christ about riches, was a friend of Plato and taught the theory of relativity to a young man called Einstein. As his group of followers grows, it is up to the sceptic Nibaran to reveal this fraud.
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Details
Director
Satyajit Ray
Production year
1965
Country
IN
Original title
Mahapurush
Length
67 min.
Language
Bengali, Bangla
Subtitles
ENG
Format
DCP
Part of
Satyajit Ray
His name has been embedded within the canon for decades now; nevertheless, his films haven’t been screened in the Netherlands for a long time. Eye is screening a cross-section (thirteen digital restorations) of Satyajit Ray’s oeuvre, as well as a nationwide release of Ray’s famous feature debut, Pather Panchali (1955).
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