Ray’s attempt to make a more box-office-friendly film, filled with music and dance, instead twisted into this haunted chamber piece. For his retelling of a famous short story by Tarashankar Bannerjee set in the 20s, as the age of the feudalistic landowners, or zamindars, was coming to a close, Ray selected the venerable Chhabi Biswas, who was already a legendary character actor in India by the time he played Biswambhar Roy. Obsessed by his love of music and ensconced in his aristocratic eminence, the financially strapped Roy is propelled into his decadent demise through a game of one-upmanship with his crass neighbor Ganguly, a “self-made” man who proudly flaunts his industrialized wealth. In concert with its macabre heart, the film luxuriates in the music Roy so adores. Ordering the chandeliers dusted off for a final showdown, the decrepit Roy triumphantly hosts a jalsa that takes up over eight minutes of film—nothing like the hours these soirées would usually last, but in cinematic time, it seems an outrageous extravagance.