New Delhi: Satyajit Ray's 1963 classic 'Mahanagar', a sensitive portrayal of a housewife who challenges her traditionalist family by getting a job, has been digitally restored and is set to re-release after 50 years.
The film, starring Madhabi Mukherjee in the lead, charts the emerging class of women who became bread earners to support life in a big city despite facing resistance from the traditional structure.
The Kolkata-set movie is being re-released in eight cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai on April 18 through PVR's Director's Rare.
'Mahanagar' has been restored by Kamal Bansal of RDB, whose father R.D. Bansal was Ray's longtime producer.
Ray won the Silver Bear at the 14th Berlin International Film Festival for 'Mahanagar' in 1964. The film also marked the debut of Jaya Bahaduri (Bachchan).
Varsha, R.D. Bansal's granddaughter, said they have restored all the six Ray films that were produced by them. "We first thought about restoring the films in 2011.
There was a Ray festival in Locarno at that time and there was a huge audience but the prints were not in a good condition, there were scratches and the colour had changed. The negatives kept on the analogue print were in a bad shape," Varsha told PTI.