THE COWARD

Amitabh, a scriptwriter of commercial films, drives in the country, scouting for locations. When his vehicle breaks down, he is taken in by a tea planter whose wife is Karuna, a woman whom he had formerly loved but whom he was unable or unwilling to take care of.

This superbly crafted chamber piece is sparse in dialogue yet intense in its arresting economy of gazes, distances, and the aching return of suppressed memories. Stellar performances from Soumitra Chatterjee and Madhabi Mukherjee, reunited here after Ray’s Charulata, offer a masterclass in acting.