Nayak: Another Gem of Satyajit Ray

After watching the recent Bengali movie 'Autograph', I got curious to watch Satyajit Ray's ' Nayak', from which Autograph has been inspired.
The level of discrimination expands widely once we enter into the realm of Satyajit Ray’s films and other movies (read Autograph) seem banal and artificial. Nayak is another of Satyajit Ray’s brilliant movies.

Nayak seems to be a great psychological drama and to be precise a Freudian drama peeling the personality of the protagonist with implicit psychoanalysis (seen in the interview) and the sequence of dreams. In all departments the movie seems to be near perfect. The acting is brilliant , especially Uttam Kumar who  seemed so spontaneous and natural. After watching the likes of Uttam Kumar and Soumitra Chatterji, most of the new actors seem to be artificial and unnatural.

The movie may have been sort of inspired by Fellini’s masterpiece ‘8 ½’ where the protagonist was a director whereas here it is the actor. In the Zizekian sense every great filmmaker is a good psychologist which Satyajit Ray confirms in this film. The gradual development of the human ego and the dilemma surrounding it, has been brought out masterly.  The interview that the actor gives shows the psychological unburdening of the actor, which in a sense is a sort of a psychoanalysis with a wise interviewer asking deep penetrating questions. The dream sequences are sort of his 'unfulfilled desires' and sort of signs showing the dilemma confronting most of his some major decisions. The actors unsuccessful affair with a married woman is also shown by a dream sequence, where she entices him but he can’t catch her and ends up having a brawl with her husband. It is sort of a case study of the different behaviour patterns that a person indulges in. Satyajit Ray like other great filmmakers is very particular regarding details.  This can be especially seen in the different dream sequences and the behaviour peculiarities of every character in the movie.
The density that we find in every sequence or shot, which lays bare the particular human emotion, making the audience also feels the uncertainty at a certain level characterizes the greatness of Satyajit Ray's film making. One of things that fascinates me in the movies of Satyajit Ray is the secular evolution of the characters. How the uncertain events of life leads to the evolution of a personality, from the dilution of the character to its wavering idealism is brilliantly portrayed by Satyajit Ray in his films.