In the film “Nayak”, the life and inner struggles of an immensely popular superstar come to the forefront on the course of a train journey. What really goes on in the lives of the movie-stars and actors, the glamorous personalities we adore and ogle when the camera is not rolling and nobody is shouting ‘action’? How are these lives? Are they as wonderfully perfect and flawless as they are depicted on-screen? Or do they too, like the rest of us, have anxieties, dilemmas, betrayals and other such human emotions in their hearts? Well, Satyajit Ray’s ‘Nayak’ answers most of these questions. And by using an icon like Uttam Kumar himself to portray the role of an movie icon, Ray blurred the lines between reel and real, so much that one would, while watching the various scenes unfold and the deep lines being spoken, wonder whether they are viewing the life-story of Arindam Chatterjee or that of Uttam Kumar (whose real name was Arun Kumar Chatterjee). it was purely intentional on the
A few stories, a few truths and a whole lot of meandering nonsense