Abhijan

About the film

Abhijan (Bengali pronunciation: [ɔbʱiˈjan]; transl. The Expedition) is a 1962 Indian Bengali-language neo-noir road drama film written, scored and directed by Satyajit Ray. Produced by Bholanath Roy under the banner of Abhijatrik, the film is based on the 1946 eponymous novel by Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay. It stars Soumitra Chatterjee as Narsingh, a proud and hot-tempered Rajput taxi driver who loses his license after rash driving and gets entangled in a shady smuggling ring while reinventing his life on a drift to a rural town. The film also features Waheeda Rehman, Ruma Guha Thakurta, Gyanesh Mukherjee, Rabi Ghosh and Charuprakash Ghosh in other pivotal roles.

The film marks the fourth collaboration between Ray and Chatterjee, and also Rehman's debut in Bengali cinema. It was predominantly shot across Birbhum, especially in the Mama Bhagne hills, as a thematic motif where the rocks are seen as symbols of human being carrying its sin accumulated over time. Soumendu Roy and Dulal Dutta handled its cinematography and editing respectively.

Plot

Narsingh, a taxi driver, is a proud and hot-tempered Rajput with a passion for his car, a vintage 1930 Chrysler and his Rajput heritage. Being a descendant of a royal Rajput family, his self-esteem is reflected through his inability to accept insult and defeat, as a result of which he even takes part in a small race with his car. He does not want to be the one who falls behind and develops a strong hatred for women and mankind in general. As a result of reckless driving, while overtaking the car which carried the district inspector, his licence is taken from him. He is utterly destroyed by it, since the cab was his life after his wife had left him for good. Deeply affected by the insult and a feeling of rootlessness, he decides to go back to the land of rajput where his true rajput lineage will be respected. While on an aimless journey, Narsingh is picked up by Seth Sukhanram who is a local Marwari businessman with a record of smuggling and human trafficking.

Sukhanram offers him a handsome fee to transport some goods which actually is opium. The realisation of the immoral trade puts Narsingh in a compromising position, but he decides to join hands with Sukhanram anyway. After all no one he saw was truly following the path of law and morality, not even his ideal and beloved Neeli.

Neeli runs away with the crippled lover of hers and Narsingh's deep distrust of women deepens. As a result, even after knowing that Gulabi is a victim of Sukhanram's trafficking he forces her to sleep with him without any emotional involvement. At this point he is almost on the verge of becoming the one he used to hate, the lawless ones who also fail to face the world.

Preservation

The Academy Film Archive preserved Abhijan in 2001.

Analysis and legacy

The film gives the famous Ray flavour in its composition, flow and dialogues, and use of symbols. Its protagonist has been called a "prototype" for the character of the cynical cab driver in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976). Scorsese himself has credited Satyajit Ray as an inspiration for his own work.

Awards

1962: All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Feature Film

Key details