"R. D. BANSAL Presents" "THE COWARD" "Based on a Story by PREMENDRA MITRA" "Starring SOUMITRA CHATTERJEE MADHABI MUKHERJEE" "HARADHAN BANNERJEE" "Screenplay, music, and direction by SATYAJIT RAY" " Well?" " The coil's shot." " The coil?" " Ignition coil." "It'll take some time." " How long?" "It has to come from Siliguri." "Siliguri?" "So it won't be ready today?" "Darn it!" " Good evening, Mr. Guha." " What can I do for you?" "Just making a phone call." " Your man says it's hopeless." " What is it?" "The coil." "Says you can't get one here." "You can't get every part in a little place like this." "Where are you headed?" " Hashimara." " Can I get a car here?" " There are no taxis here." " And no train until tomorrow?" " No." "You should have taken the train from Siliguri." "Disgusting!" "He should inspect his taxi before a long trip." "Here." "What's your line?" "Tea or forest?" " Pardon?" "You're going to Hashimara, right?" "Oh, my brother-in-law's a doctor there." " Oh, I see." " Listen... any kind of hotel around here?" "There is a small hotel..." "the Friends Hotel." "Just great." "No chance?" "All right." " Awful weather." " Sure is." "When do you need to be there?" "Tomorrow's fine." "The problem is tonight." "Mr. Guha, will the car be ready by tomorrow?" "I'll do what I can, but the thing is tomorrow's Sunday." "What a disaster!" "I'd never have taken a taxi." " How much luggage do you have?" " Just a suitcase." " Arjun." " Sir?" "Get the suitcase out of that car and put it in my jeep." "In your jeep?" " Come on." " Where?" " Care for some tea first?" " Thanks." "Some other time." "Come on." "I'll take you to a friend's bungalow." "An inspection bungalow?" " My name is Bimal Gupta." " Amitabha Roy." "I see." "So it's your bungalow?" "Any objections?" "I don't think you'll mind it for one night." "This is most..." " I guess not." " Come on." "Jump in." "Thank you very much." "No need to thank me." "This is a matter of mutual dependence." "You want shelter, and I want some company." "Understand?" "I can't suppress my curiosity any longer." "What brings you out this way?" "It's for something I'm writing." "You're a writer?" "Sort of." "They give us a fancy name, anyway." "Which is?" "screenwriter." " screen...?" " scenarios." "For films." "I see!" "Stories for films." "That's interesting." "But why come all the way out here for that?" "Won't Calcutta do?" "excuse my ignorance." "My story's set in a place like this." "Yes." "Best to have firsthand knowledge." "So what kind of story is it?" "romantic?" " Oh, yes." " Right?" " exactly." "Do you like writing?" "Think I'd be out here on a tea plantation otherwise?" "Dhan Bahadur." "Take this suitcase to the guest room." "Come on." " What are you listening to?" " Reception's awful tonight." "I'm not alone." "This is Mr. Roy." "My wife." "His taxi broke down, so I brought him along." "excuse me." "What an awful day!" "Any phone calls for me?" "Atkinson." "Come along." "This room is hardly ever used." "You won't believe me, Mr. Roy, but on an average, we get at least one Bengali in distress per year." "That's when this room gets used." "This is the..." "Wash up and change, and I'll just..." "I really don't know how to thank you." "Karuna?" "It's incredible running into you here!" "Memsahib." "Shall I bring hot water for the gentleman?" "You'll need hot water, won't you?" "Yes, bring some in." "They'll make up the bed while we're having dinner." "Renew me" "Dress me in new finery" "Autumn has left the forest" "Bare and desolate" "May spring free it from its wretchedness" "You ought to be a film star yourself and not just write stories for them." "Bearer." " Yes, sir." "What'll you have?" "Sit down." "I think we have time for a drink." "I'm afraid I've been... deprived of the pleasure." " What?" "Who deprived you?" "Don't be a killjoy!" "At least have a sherry." "Sherry and whiskey." "And for you?" "Orange juice." "You must experience all sorts of things in life." "Otherwise how will you write about them?" "I asked my wife if she'd heard of you." "She's always reading Bengali magazines." "She said she knew an Amitabha Roy in college, but never a screen..." " screenwriter." " named Amitabha Roy." "That's not surprising." "This is only my third film." "Even if I were famous, there's little chance I'd be known out here." "You're telling me!" "No news ever makes it out to this godforsaken countryside!" "You know, Mr. Roy, if tomorrow's a nice day," "I thought we might take you out for an excursion." "Tomorrow's Sunday..." "Maybe you'll even put it in your story." "I haven't seen a Bengali film in ages." "It would be easy when we go to Calcutta, but you never let me." "Bengali films!" "Why do you laugh?" "You know, Mr. Roy... the Bengalis of this present generation have no moral fiber." "And that is reflected in everything we do." "Everything!" "Whether films or politics or..." "Must you really speak this way when we have a Bengali guest?" "criticize Bengalis to a Bengali, but praise them to others." "Right?" "Right." "I was a good student, you know." "A good debater." "Made a name for myself." "Got a first in economics." "What was your subject?" "You have a degree, right?" " Yes." " In film?" " No." "Then what?" "BA..." "Keynes and Co." "Key...?" "I see, I see!" "You're writing stories for films..." "Would you rather have some juice?" "Why are you insisting he drink?" "because the protagonist in his story has his first drink, right?" " Not a bad idea." " Bad?" "It's a splendid idea!" "And you'll describe it perfectly, from firsthand experience." "You know what this place does to you?" "It drives you to drink." "Make a note of this." "It drives you to drink." "There's no way around it." "I didn't like it much at first either." "Now I love it." "Well, we mustn't forget dinner." "Come along." "Christ!" " Bearer?" " Yes, sir." " Come here." " Come and eat." "Stand up straight." "Look." "Look at this." "This is my bungalow." "You know... my wife's very gifted." "But she's far too modest." "Would you believe it?" "We'd been married three years before I discovered she could paint!" "Don't you really mean you only noticed just now?" "Why should I lie?" "I don't lie." "You're too reticent." "Eat your fill, Mr. Roy." "You've been through a lot." "Nothing very special." "There was no time." "As I said... your loss is my gain." "Or rather... our gain." "Right, darling?" " You talk too much." "You enjoy seeing the same face day after day?" "Very much." "What an actress!" "Need a female lead for your film, Mr. Roy?" "Definitely." "Each garden... you know, Mr. Roy... each garden has its own method of cultivation." "And the taste of the tea grown in each garden is different." "Just by tasting the tea... we know." "From just one sip we can tell you what garden it came from." "Didn't you say we're going out in the morning?" "I haven't bored you, have I?" "Writers aren't easily bored." "They're always looking for material." "Good Lord!" "So now I'm material, am I?" "Don't tell me you're putting me in your story!" "Would you object?" "But on one condition." "What?" "Don't make me the villain." "That would upset my wife." "Why should you be the villain?" "There are plenty of other planters." " That's a good one!" "Well, good night." "See you at 8:00 a.m." "Karuna!" "Must you be so terribly polite?" "I can't bear it when you speak to me so formally." "This is too much." " You prefer I be rude?" "I never imagined we'd meet again like this." "You're not a psychic." " I'd never have come if I'd known." " Why?" "You mean you're happy to see me again?" "Do I act as if I'm unhappy?" "No, but..." "Don't let your imagination run wild, Ami." "Stop worrying and get some sleep." "Who is it?" "I'm coming" " What's this?" " I had to come." "What's the matter?" "What's happened?" "May I have some water?" "I never imagined..." "What is it?" " My uncle's leaving here." " Where's he going?" "Patna." "On a transfer." "What about you?" "He's forcing me to go with him." "Says he's going to stop all this nonsense." "You're leaving?" "What?" "Tell me." " Do you love me?" " Need you ask?" "As much as you say you do?" "You still doubt it?" "No." "Then why did you ask?" "Just because." "So are you going or not?" "I'm going." "What's all this nonsense?" "Tell me." "Better for you that way." "If I went, there'd be no one to pester you or make you sit for portraits, right?" "What's gotten into you?" "Why all this silly chatter?" "No... you won't get rid of me that easily." "Good." "I won't go." "If I go this time, I'll never be back." "Why not?" "I just know it." "I can sense it." "He took this transfer deliberately just to put me in my place." "I see." "It's amazing... isn't it?" "They've got my whole life planned out for me." "It's unbelievable." "Unbelievable." "When is he leaving?" "Karuna?" "When is he leaving?" "Wednesday." "Maybe Thursday." "I'm not sure." "And you knew nothing about this before?" "Just today... over lunch... he mentioned it." "I heard it... and then left the table... and went upstairs... to the second floor." "Once in my room I locked the door, sat down on the bed... and just thought about it quietly" "for a long time." "As I thought, everything became clear... and I made up my mind." "I felt I had to come and tell you immediately." "So here I am." "You did the right thing." "You're angry." "Why would I be?" "because I came to your room." "You have a sullen look on your face." "That's how I look when I haven't shaved." "Oh, Ami!" "If I'd known you were coming today," "I'd have hung a curtain over that door." "So this is the three-cornered room?" "Yes, this is it." "Just right for one person." "Hey!" "What is it, Karuna?" "I'll get a job." "I'll give up art school... and get a job." "I've got a BA." "It shouldn't be too hard." "Ami?" "You'll find a job too if you really try, right?" "This is a ruthless city." "Even so, Ami." "Things may be tough for a while, but that's nothing!" "I never want to see their faces again." "They're my enemies." "They think they're doing it for my own good, but..." "Don't cry, Karuna." "Please don't cry." "I won't go!" "Karuna, don't cry, please." "Ami." "Karuna." "Karuna, please listen." "Listen to me." "You're thinking about marriage, aren't you?" "Don't be absurd." "What are you doing?" " Don't go." "Please listen." " Open the door." "Please, Karuna, listen to me." " You're hurting me." " Sorry." "Listen... you think I don't love you?" "You think I've been playacting for a year and a half?" "Just putting you on?" "I didn't come here to make a scene, and I won't." "I apologize for what's happened." "Now say what you have to say." "The taxi's waiting." "How can I make you understand?" "I knew your uncle didn't approve of me, but I never thought he'd suddenly do this." "I wasn't prepared for this." "Maybe you saw it coming, but I didn't." "You suddenly announce he's leaving in three days and taking you with him, and you want a decision on the spot, a decision our whole future depends upon." "How do you..." "I have to consider your situation too." " My situation?" " Yes." "Whether you'd be able to adjust." "It takes time to think these things through." "I know you're used to all kinds of comforts." "I've been to your house." "I've seen it with my own eyes." "My house?" "Is that all you saw?" "Did you see the person there?" "Did you recognize her?" "This last year and a half... haven't I told you over and over... that when I'm with you..." "Anyway... maybe you thought it was just romantic drivel." "I don't blame you." "It's hard to really know a person." "Just give me a little more time." " That's impossible." " Why not try?" "What's the use, Ami?" "What you really need... isn't more time... but something else." "Just one question, Karuna." "What?" " Are you happy in your marriage?" " Why?" "I have to know." "Why?" "I must know." "Or you'll never know peace the rest of your life?" "I never got married." "You can't imagine how I suffered after what happened." "For so long." "I never even got a chance to ask you to forgive me." "Forgive you for what?" "We both made mistakes... not just you." "I was offered a job... but I didn't take it." "Calcutta became unbearable." "And my three-cornered room in that boarding house." "Then I heard you'd gotten married." "I started writing again." "I have an apartment on Fern Road." "Life goes on as usual..." "eat, sleep, work." "There's just one thing I couldn't do, Karuna." "Fall in love again." "Am I to blame for that?" "Just tell me if you're happy or not." " What do you think?" " I'm trying to figure it out, but..." "Then let it remain a mystery." "excuse me." "Would you have any sleeping pills?" "I'll look." "Just don't take more than two." " What if I do?" " I don't think you will." "Did you sleep well?" " Yes." "I hope the sherry didn't give you a hangover." "Looks like a fine day." "Lovely place here!" "For a month, it's splendid." "Even two months is fine." "Perhaps even a year." "But after that..." "You don't seem to have any neighbors." "We do." "Just 19.5 miles away." "Oh, by the way, your car's not ready yet." "You called?" "We'll drop you off at the station on our way back." "You can catch a train at 6:30." "That suit you?" "Then I'd better go pack." "Yes, go pack." "We'll leave right after breakfast." "Listen... would you call Mrs. Gupta on your way?" "It takes her a while to get ready." "Weren't you supposed to call Mrs. Gupta?" "Come." "Did you sleep well?" "Just tea for me." "Why?" "I just have tea in the morning." "It's just a cold lunch today, you know." "Cold things are all I expect from you." "You ready?" "Everything's been ready for a long time." "The lunch just has to be packed." " Mr. Roy?" " Yes?" "You were asking about neighbors." "Shall I pour the tea?" "It's not that no one else lives around here." "All our staff..." "Clerks, teahouse babus... they're all within a mile." " Sugar?" " Two spoons." "But you can't really call them neighbors, because outside working hours, it's a sort of unwritten law that you're not to see them." "No omelet for you, ma'am?" " I just have tea in the morning." "Yes." "Here's something you might use in your story." "There's a rigid caste system operating in these parts." "If you were an assistant manager," "I wouldn't be sitting here having breakfast with you." "Atkinson, T. P. Chatterjee, Mehra, Terry Walters... they're all my equals." "And... you accept this system as it is?" "The British maintained this system for 150 years." "Am I to carry out a one-man revolution?" "All the same, at first I couldn't quite accept it either." "It kept bothering me." "Then I realized that if I just accept it... life becomes easier, smoother." "So now I just don't think about it." "But..." " What?" " I mean... conscience?" "If you have a conscience, it gives you trouble." "How's the tea?" "Good?" "excellent." "Is it yours?" "Yes." "I'll give you a packet." "But it won't drown your conscience." "It'll keep swimming to the surface!" " Are you comfortable?" " Yes." " Mr. Roy?" " Yes?" " Are you married?" " No." "Are you contemplating it?" "Ever been in love?" "Does that embarrass you in front of my wife?" "No." "actually... you look the romantic type." "So we were playing a guessing game about you." "But I must tell you one thing:" "Our bungalow is an ideal place for a honeymoon." "Two to Bhowanipore." "Here." "How embarrassing!" "That's never happened before." " You know what would be worse?" " What?" " If you didn't pay me back." " A nice thing to say!" "I study economics." "I can't look at things philosophically like you." "No need to." "I'll pay you back tomorrow." "With interest." "Didn't I see you reading Abanindranath's lectures on art?" " You want to borrow it?" " Is it yours?" "No, but I could lend it to you." " Good." "Bring it tomorrow." " Where?" "Where shall we meet?" "Main building, ground floor, orientation northwest." " Good heavens!" "Where's that?" " Right outside the library." "4:30 sharp." "All right." "Many a time" "Have I traveled this path" "Never have I forgotten it" "But now all signposts have vanished" "Swallowed up by the grass of the forest" "Many a time..." "When you're 191/2..." "I foresee a..." " Dire event?" "No." "A person... will enter your life who'll prove to be... a great..." "Problem?" "What is it?" "All this palm reading was just an excuse to hold your hand." "You think it wasn't an excuse for me to offer it?" "Where there's no courage, one resorts to excuses." "You know, Karuna, our society's to blame for that." "I hear that in England, boys and girls openly..." "That's enough." "That's uncivilized." "They take it too far." "But does it have to be like this?" "Is a cubicle like this romantic by any stretch of the imagination?" "Real love is in the heart." "There are no crowds there." "No one to bother us or keep an eye on us." "But I don't like it this way." "Sometimes I feel restless... and frustrated." "When the time comes, we won't let anyone stand in our way." "Miss Karuna..." "I'm an aspirant for your hand." "May I hold it?" " Could you stop a moment?" " Pardon?" "To light a cigarette." "Get out and stretch a bit." "My vehicle is no Rolls-Royce." "I'm going to look for some water." "I know the answer to my own question." "You can't be happy." "You two can't have a single thing in common." "Why won't you admit it?" " Maybe I didn't want to be happy." "Even now?" "If you had the chance?" "What chance?" "Don't you have grounds for leaving him?" "All that drinking..." "has he never mistreated you?" "I'm ready, Karuna." "Forget what happened before." "I had no courage then, but I do now." "Please!" "What if I said I no longer have feelings for you?" "You love that man?" "You think you know him?" "You think you can know a person in a day?" " Maybe not, but..." " You don't know him at all." "You're jumping to conclusions." " It just seems unbelievable." "Why?" "Maybe I've changed too." "You..." "Let's go." "Listen... last time we went on a picnic... isn't this where we stopped for water then too?" "I can't find the tree I wrote my name on." "How about "experiencing" a little whiskey?" " You seem to think it's necessary." " Just a little?" "Give it here." "After all, a man is a kind of machine too, just like an engine." "Let me try one of your Charminar Cigarettes." "Thank you." "Did you get enough, Mr. Roy?" " Yes." "They say my grandfather used to eat a whole goat." "I suppose my grandson will eat... a whole pill." "How's the story coming along?" "It's coming." "Boy meets girl." "Boy gets girl." "Boy loses girl." "Turn around and look at me." ""I'll wait at the station until the last moment." "If you still love me, come." "I won't let you down this time."" "Ouch!" "I almost burned my finger!" "I do the same thing when I fall asleep writing." "Come on." "We should be going." "I'll drop you off, then drop the wife off, and then I'm off to Atkinson's." "You're our honored guest." "Yes?" "Is your suitcase very heavy?" "Then I'll letyou oft at the level crossing" "You'll have about 50 yards to walk" "Thank you so much." "Don't forget to put me in your story." "I won't." "Good-bye." "We'll see your film in Calcutta." "Good." "Oh, and next time you come, Mr. Roy, you'll do the talking, and we'll listen." "What do you say, Karuna?" "One first-class to Hashimara." "Do you have my sleeping pills?" "can I have them back?" "I need them." "You can't get them around here." "Let me have them, darling." "Good-bye." "THE END"