ucsclogo
Satyajit Ray Film and Study Collection, UCSC
RayFASC:
News and Events
About Us
Restoration
Lethbridge Collection
Our Collection
Donations
Contact Us
Frequently Asked Questions
Satyajit Ray:
Biography
Filmography
Graphics
Books on Ray
Books by Ray
Articles
Awards
Critics
Links


ICCR Logo

Jana Aranya (The Middle Man)

 

Year 1975
Producer Indus Films (Subir Guha)
Distributor Indus Films (Subir Guha)
Screenplay Satyajit Ray
Based on The novel Jana Aranya by Mani Shankar Mukherjee
Photography Soumendu Roy
Editor Dulal Dutta
Art Director Ashoke Bose
Music Satyajit Ray
Sound J. D. Irani, Anil Talukdar, Adinath Nag, Sujit Ghosh
Length 131 min.
Print Black & White

Cast:

Somnath Banerjee Pradip Mukherjee
Somnath's father Satya Banerjee
Bhombol Dipankar Dey
Kamala Lily Chakravarty
Somnath's girl friend Aparna Sen
Sukumar Gautam Chakravarty
Kauna/Juthika Sudesna Das
Bisu Utpal Dutta
Mr. Mitter Rabi Ghosh
Ashok Bimal Chatterjee
Mrs. Ganguli Arati Banerjee
Mrs. Biswas Padma Devi
Goenka Soven Lahiri
Hiralal Santosh Dutta
Jagabandhu, MLA/MP Bimal Deb
Pimp Ajeya Mukherjee
Mr. Baksi Kalyan Sen
Fakirchand Alokendu Dey

Somnath, a student, ends up absurdly failing his exams when the grader, without his glasses, is unable to decipher his miniscule writing. He gives up his studies, looks for a job, and decides to launch himself on a career in business. He becomes an independent salesman, paid on commission, to the great despair of his father, a descendant of a noble caste who considers engaging in commerce to be supremely disgraceful to the family reputation. As part of his business dealings, Somnath discovers the expedient value of corrupt practices. After lengthy hesitation, he agrees to provide a prostitute who is none other than the sister of his best friend from school in order to obtain a contract. He says nothing about all this to his father, who may to some extent only be pretending to be ignorant of what is being concealed from him.