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The film is set in the lower-middle-class sections of Kolkata, and this specific urban environment serves as the primary catalyst for the film's central conflict. This was Ray's first film set entirely in his native Calcutta, reflecting contemporary realities of the urban middle-class, where women going to work is no longer merely driven by ideas of emancipation, but has become an economic reality. The city setting creates the economic pressures that drive the plot forward. Subrata, as a bank clerk, is supporting six people in a cramped apartment, and economic necessity forces Arati to go out and look for a job. The urban density and financial strain of city life make women's employment not just a social issue but an economic imperative. The cramped urban living conditions directly influence character dynamics and plot development. The house in Kalighat that Arati shares with her husband and in-laws is small and cramped, which intensifies family tensions when traditional gender roles are challenged. Ray uses well-composed shots in depth to capture multiple activities in one shot within these confined living quarters, visually representing how the physical constraints of urban living amplify emotional and social pressures. When Arati leaves the home, Ray marks this with a handheld camera that follows her along a jostling street, opening the film up into a full-blown exercise in mid-century film feminism. The bustling streets of Calcutta become pathways to liberation and economic independence. The tram carries Arati from the anger and disapproval of her husband's aging parents to Mission Row, the heart of old Calcutta's posh office area. The urban infrastructure - particularly the tram system - becomes symbolically important. The tram is integral to the life of Arati, with the film's opening credits playing out against an image of a tram's trolley pole moving along a cable. The setting's economic volatility directly shapes the plot's trajectory. The year in which the film is set, 1955, was one during which there was a big bank run in Kolkata, and the bank Subrata works for shuts down in the last of the Calcutta bank crashes. This economic instability of the urban environment transforms Arati from a supplementary earner to the family's sole breadwinner, dramatically altering the power dynamics. The film uses specific Calcutta neighborhoods to illustrate social stratification. Arati's transition into a confident woman makes for engaging passages as she visits tony areas of Calcutta to present her sales pitch. The contrast between her modest home in Kalighat and the affluent areas where she works as a saleswoman highlights the class divisions that the urban setting makes visible and navigable. The setting represents the clash between modern and traditional values in a middle-class family struggling to make a living in the big city. The Big City presents traditions coming to an end, with the modernizing city bringing change and new economic roles for women, forcing people to keep up with changing times. Ray uses offscreen city noises to convey the nervous energy of the urban environment, creating an atmospheric backdrop that reflects the characters' internal tensions. The film tenderly suffuses the hustle and bustle of an uncaring cityscape with the warmth of minute quotidian details. The film's conclusion reinforces the city's dual nature. Though they face an uncertain future, the couple reaffirms their commitment to each other and goes off together, hopeful that they will be able to find new jobs in such a big city. At the very end, Arati expresses confidence that they'll get by, saying "Such a big city...so many jobs". The urban setting of Calcutta thus functions not merely as a backdrop but as an active force that shapes every aspect of the narrative - from the economic pressures that initiate the conflict to the social opportunities that enable transformation, and finally to the promise of renewal that the city's vastness represents. The setting makes the story's central tensions possible while also providing the means for their potential resolution.
The AI Summary focuses on 1955, but Criterion essay notes 'a newscast, audible from a neighbor's apartment, that locates the narrative in May 1954'
Criterion essay extensively discusses how Ray's mother had to work after his father's death, giving Ray unique perspective for a Bengali man of his time. This biographical context is crucial to understanding the film's empathy
Ray stated the ending was neither optimistic nor pessimistic, symbolized by a street lamp with one working and one non-working bulb. The AI Summary presents the ending as simply hopeful/optimistic
While mentioned, the AI Summary doesn't fully explore how specific Calcutta neighborhoods function in the narrative geography
The AI Summary doesn't mention the racial/ethnic dimension of the film - Edith's Anglo-Indian identity and her boss's prejudice that leads to her dismissal and Arati's resignation
While the tram opening is mentioned, the symbolic meaning of the electrical sparks as metaphor for social change is not explored
Deep Focus Review discusses Ray's belief that filmmakers should not be noticed, contrasting with typical Indian cinema. This formal philosophy shapes the film's style
The setting of mid-1950s Calcutta profoundly influences the trajectory of action in Satyajit Ray's The Big City (Mahanagar, 1963) by functioning as both catalyst and constraint for the narrative. The urban environment operates on multiple levels: economically, the cramped lower-middle-class apartment in Kalighat where six people survive on one bank clerk's salary creates the financial pressure that necessitates Arati's employment. The 1955 bank crisis in Calcutta intensifies this pressure when Subrata loses his job, transforming Arati from supplementary to sole breadwinner. Spatially, the physical constraints of urban living (small rooms, multiple generations in tight quarters) amplify family tensions over changing gender roles, which Ray captures through composed shots in depth showing multiple activities simultaneously. The city's geography creates a class divide made navigable through Arati's work - from her modest Kalighat home via tram to Mission Row (the posh office district) to affluent neighborhoods where she makes sales. The tram system itself becomes symbolically central, with opening credits showing the trolley pole's electrical sparks representing the friction of social change. Socially, the modernizing urban environment brings changing economic roles for women - no longer ideologically driven but economically necessary - creating the film's central conflict between tradition and modernity. The city operates atmospherically through offscreen sounds (radio broadcasts, street noise) that establish the nervous energy of urban life while Ray also captures intimate domestic moments. Finally, the city represents dual possibility - both crushing economic vulnerability and the promise of renewal, as Arati's final line expresses: 'Such a big city...so many jobs.' However, Ray intended ambiguity, symbolized by the ending's street lamp with one working and one broken bulb, suggesting the outcome remains uncertain. The setting thus functions not as backdrop but as active force shaping character destinies, enabling both the conflicts and potential resolutions of the narrative.