Picture of the film PRATIDWANDI (THE ADVERSARY) by Satyajit RAY © Priya Films
A Cannes Classics tribute to the incredible Satyajit Ray with Pratidwandi (The Adversary)
Cannes Classics could think of no greater director to showcase India at its finest. Buoyed by a filmography that is as high-profile as it is varied, Satyajit Ray is one of the figureheads of Indian cinema's golden age. Today, the Festival invites you to delve into his film Pratidwandi (The Adversary) in a screening of its restored version.
Pratidwandi (The Adversary, 1970) whisks us away to the streets of Kolkata, where medical student Siddhartha is forced to put his studies on hold following the death of his father. Set against a backdrop of a bustling, violent city in the throes of upheaval, he sits interview after interview, moving from one disappointment to the next.
The film serves as the starting point of Satyajit Ray's Calcutta trilogy, in which a light is shone on the socio-economic turbulence of West Bengal's capital and the landmark shifts occurring in both the city and its locals' personal lives. The protagonist of Pratidwandi (The Adversary) is seeking his path, and is a ball of contradictions. Sometimes on edge, other times nonchalant, Siddhartha is full of big dreams that come crashing down when faced with bitter reality.
The film incorporates documentary archive material, and switches back and forth between sweeping wide shots and up-close-and-personal perspective, shifting from the comic to the tragic as it unfolds. The result is a rich, complex work, a tangle of styles and emotions that lend Pratidwandi (The Adversary) all its power and muscle.
Presented by the NFDC – National Film Archive of India. Restoration overseen by the National Film Heritage Mission, managed by the Government of India – Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. 4K restoration on ARRISCAN XT based on the original 35mm negative and 35mm audio negative, provided by the producer Purnima Dutta. A few sections of the negative were damaged and were scanned from a 35mm working copy. Restoration carried out by Prime Focus Technologies, Mumbai, colour-grading overseen by the filmmaker Sudeep Chatterjee.
