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Bengali-Language Movies

Films whose main language is Bengali, most of them from West Bengal in India.

Pather Panchali (1955)
Satyajit Ray · 77 critic votes
Free on Tubi TV, Plex, Plex Channel · Streaming on Kanopy, Criterion Channel, HBO Max Amazon Channel
Impoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work. Alone, his wife, Sarbojaya, looks after her rebellious daughter, Durga, and her young son, Apu, as well as Harihar's elderly aunt Indir. The children enjoy the small pleasures of their difficult life, while their parents suffer the daily indignities heaped upon them.
Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960)
Ritwik Ghatak · 19 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel, Hoichoi
A selfless young woman, the daughter of a middle-class refugee family from East Pakistan, sacrifices her own happiness for her unappreciative family.
Charulata (1964)
Satyajit Ray · 18 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
In 1870s India, Charulata is an isolated, artistically inclined woman who sees little of her busy journalist husband, Bhupati. Realizing that his wife is alienated and unhappy, he convinces his cousin, Amal, to spend time with Charulata and nourish her creative impulses. Amal is a fledgling poet himself, and he and Charulata bond over their shared love of art.
Subarnarekha (1965)
Ritwik Ghatak · 9 critic votes
After an old college friend offers him a job at an iron foundry, the upright and honest Ishwar leaves a shanty town on the outskirts of Calcutta where he lives with a group of refugees from East Bengal. With plans to forge a solid living for himself, sister Sita and Abhiram, an orphaned boy he offers a home to, Ishwar is accused of selling out and deserting his people.
Jalsaghar (1958)
Satyajit Ray · 7 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel, HBO Max Amazon Channel, HBO Max
An aging, decadent landlord’s passion for music becomes the undoing of his legacy as he sacrifices his wealth in order to compete with the opulent music room of his younger, richer neighbour.
Apur Sansar (1959)
Satyajit Ray · 7 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel, HBO Max Amazon Channel
Apu, now a jobless ex-student dreaming vaguely of a future as a writer, is invited to join an old college friend on a trip up-country to a village wedding.
Aparajito (1956)
Satyajit Ray · 6 critic votes
Free on Tubi TV, Plex, Cineverse · Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Fandor, Kanopy
Apu and his family have moved away from the country to live in the bustling holy city of Benares. As he progresses from wide-eyed child to intellectually curious teenager, eventually studying in Kolkata, we witness his academic and moral education, as well as the growing complexity of his relationship with his mother.
Mahanagar (1963)
Satyajit Ray · 4 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel, HBO Max Amazon Channel
Arati takes a job as a door-to-door saleswoman in Calcutta's wealthy neighbourhoods, in defiance of her traditionally-minded husband, Subrata, and his live-in parents. Emulating her Anglo-Indian friend Edith, who speaks equal to the men she encounters on the job, Arati quickly becomes her firm's top salesperson. When Subrata loses his job, the power dynamic begins to shift.
Kanchanjangha (1962)
Satyajit Ray · 2 critic votes
Played out in real time, several complex family dramas intersect in the landscape of the Himalayan foothills, allowing the Bengali auteur to examine the class and generational differences of postcolonial India while celebrating the hopes of a society in transition.
Days and Nights in the Forest (1970)
Satyajit Ray · 2 critic votes
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Four friends from Calcutta who have very different personalities make a holiday excursion into the country, to a tiny village in the state of Bihar where they set themselves up in a bungalow. A series of minor events, all connected to their respective reactions to their new environment, reveals their characters more deeply.
Interview (1971)
Mrinal Sen · 2 critic votes
Streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Hoichoi, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
A young Indian man has been assured by an uncle that all he needs to land a lucrative job is to show up to the interview in a Western style suit, but the morning of the interview is fraught with unexpected difficulties.
Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (1974)
Ritwik Ghatak · 2 critic votes
Four men, each peculiar in his own way, embark on a quest to reason with the estranged wife of the protagonist. This is considered to be Ghatak's autobiographical film.
Ajantrik (1958)
Ritwik Ghatak · 1 critic vote
Bimal is a taxi-driver in a small provincial town. He lives alone, his taxi (an old 1920 Chevrolet jalopy which he named Jagaddal) is his only companion and, although very battered, it is the apple of Bimal's eye.
Devi (1960)
Satyajit Ray · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
A devout upper-class Hindu has a vision in a dream that his daughter-in-law is the human incarnation of the Goddess Kali and begins worshipping her.
Nayak (1966)
Satyajit Ray · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
Arindam, a matinee idol, is going by train to collect an acting award. On the train, he is confronted by Aditi, a journalist who somewhat unwillingly starts to take his interview. Arindam, won over by Aditi's naivete, starts to disclose his past, his fears and his secrets.
Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (1973)
Ritwik Ghatak · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Criterion Channel
An in-depth look at the lives and struggles of a fishing community living by the River Titas in Bangladesh after the Partition of India in 1947.
Time Addiction (1989)
Amitabh Chakraborty · 1 critic vote
A man retreats into isolation as he becomes pathologically obsessed with the passage of time and the looming reality of death. Confined within a house and maintaining minimal contact with the outside world, he attempts to manipulate his perception of reality. By focusing intensely on the physical sensation of each passing second, he seeks a state of psychological stasis to escape his own mortality.
Eleven Miles (1992)
Ruchir Joshi · 1 critic vote
Tradition and contemporary practice of Bauls, Bengali mystic minstrels, are explored in Calcutta filmmaker and author Ruchir Joshi’s essay film.
Matir Moina (2002)
Tareque Masud · 1 critic vote
Streaming on Kanopy, Criterion Channel
A family must come to grips with its culture, its faith, and the brutal political changes entering its small-town world.
Bakita Byaktigato (2013)
Pradipta Bhattacharyya · 1 critic vote
While shooting a documentary on true love, Pramit learns of a mysterious village named Mohini where anyone who enters will fall in love. He and his camerman decide to seek out this strange place.
Ghawre Bairey Aaj (2019)
Aparna Sen · 1 critic vote
Ghawre Bairey Aaj is inspired by Rabindranath Tagore's novel 'Ghawre Bairey' (Home and the World) and is a contemporary retelling of love triangle involving Tagore's characters Nikhilesh, Sandip and Bimala.

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