Watch The Music Room For Free

I love this movie so much

Fantastic!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

I found this Indian Bengali film in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, I knew nothing about prior to reading about it, but I was hoping for something worthwhile, directed by Satyajit Ray (Pather Panchali, Aparajito, The World of Apu). Basically Bishwambar Roy (Chhabi Biswas) is a wealthy landowner, or zamindar, who lives in a palace, the decadent manner of his ancestors, with his wife and son and his many servants. His biggest passion, which his wife thinks of as an addiction, is music, and he spends a great deal of his fortune and time throwing lavish parties for the locals to attend concerts to be held in his magnificent music room. His wealth however is dwindling, his lands are being eroded by the local rivers, and he pays for a concert, arranged for his son's coming of age, by selling some of the family jewels. His neighbour Ganguli (Gangapada Basu) invites him to a party at his house, but Roy decides to organise a party of his own, the same day, and it costs him the last of his jewels. Roy's wife Mahamaya (Padma Devi) and son Khoka (Pinaki Sen Gupta) are killed in a storm, he becomes reclusive, and closes his music room. Many years later, he decides to hold one final concert, spending the last of his money, and again to spite and outdo Ganguli. It ends in tragedy when he rides his horse at speed on the beach, deliberately galloping towards a wrecked ship, the horse is panicked, and he falls to the floor, injuring himself, as he bleeds he dies. To be completely honest, I did not follow the full story as it was playing out, concentrating on the subtitles made this difficult I suppose, but I did enjoy the great music and dance routines that went on in the music room, all in all it a reasonable drama. Okay!

Depicts the end days of a decadent zamindar (landlord) in Bengal, and his efforts to uphold his family prestige even when faced with economic adversity.After the box office failure of "Aparajito", Ray desperately needed a hit film and decided to make a film based on both a popular piece of literature and a film that would incorporate Indian music. It was the first film to extensively incorporate classical Indian music and dancing.For the life of me, I haven't found an Indian film -- classic or contemporary -- that I really liked. The "Apu trilogy" does nothing for me, and Bollywood is a disaster. But "Music Room" may be the first exception... and it is precisely because of the traditional music. The cinematography is really good, but that music!

The Music Room is my favorite S. Ray film, and I came around to seeing it very late in the game. I do not hesitate when I say that it is perfect, and contains the single greatest musical number ever set to film. It amazes me when I pop in a picture made 50 years ago and learn so much from it, and am moved and shocked and carried by its honest emotions in a way that makes the Music Room feel so modern. It is now available in a tremendous Criterion version, so there should be no excuse on the part of cinephiles to miss this film. I introduce it to as many people as I can, and I consider it an act of kindness paid forward.

There is quite a bit that I admired about this Indian film, however there are also a number of aspects that, whether it be for objective or subjective reasons, I did not particularly about it. On the positive side, what the film has to say about excessive pride is interesting, as are the motivations of the main character. The photography is fascinating, not only because of the shots with mirrors but the general panning is effective too, capturing well the excellent sets. Music is an element that I found applied very effectively at times to establish the mood, however at other times it seemed inserted with little reason behind it. The high contrast prints are good for certain scenes, such as the fireworks, but the feel they generally provide is graininess, which makes the film rather uncomfortable to look at. One of the aspects that I did not like at all was the way in which the story was told. The film is mostly collection of images threaded together, rather than a series of connecting events. Some scenes, such as the main character's son riding an elephant or watching a painter, tend to disturb the flow of the plot. Another point is the supporting characters, all of whom are either silly or just lightly developed, but at least there is a good character at the center of the plot. It might also be a bit hard for those not familiar with Indian culture to decipher certain events. The last thing that I would complain about is however the final few minutes of the film in which performance is treated as more important than the character's reactions. So overall, what can I say? Some seem to believe that this is a masterpiece, and maybe it is, but I myself simply cannot agree with that charge. I do however think that it is a good piece of cinema, and I agree that it is deserving of respect. Even if one may not enjoy it, there is enough to be appreciated here to make it a worthwhile watch.