This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

I avoided watching this for a long time, leaving it to sit in my queue of DVR'd foreign films for at least six months, thinking its plot wouldn't be compelling. What kept the film in my lineup was its direction by Satyajit Ray; with Ray at the helm, I couldn't believe the film could be bad. And I am very glad I finally gave this movie a chance. Here in 1920s India we meet the decadent landlord Roy (Chhabi Biswas), an idle man who finds himself threatened by changing times that allow people who weren't born to privilege to better themselves through hard work. Roy is a classic example of the type of person who doesn't appreciate what he has. He has squandered the goodwill of his lovely wife (Padma Devi), who would rather sleep in their son's room, and though he enjoys his 13-ish son (Pinaki Sengupta), he isn't willing to accompany the family on a sick call and he cavalierly calls them back home when bad weather threatens. Roy encounters the worst kind of karma for putting his love of leisure and music above all else. However, along the way we are treated to three performances of classic Indian music and dance that are truly hypnotizing. I felt myself being skeptical of the strange sounds at first, only to lose myself in their intriguing melodies and rhythms. Bravo to director Ray for filming these stunning sequences in their entirety!As in every Ray film that I have viewed, there is a wealth of stunning imagery here...in the form of a ghostly white horse, the family elephant, which also serves as transportation, and shocking imagery from the insect world. The film absolutely grips one's heart as we observe the too-late-chastened patriarch clasping the body of his departed heir. This film takes some patience and focus but it is definitely worth the effort. Special praise should go to Kali Sarkar as Roy's intelligent and loyal servant and to the young Sengupta as a boy whose life is cut short in a cyclone. Both parts are small, but powerfully played.

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!

Besides of all of the well known, familiar, typical Bollywood type of movies, India was also capable of delivering some genuinely good, little movies.What makes this movie a good one is that it's being a rather simplistic and little drama, that actually works out more effective because of that. It focuses mainly one main character, that is slowly starting to realize he is loosing everything because of the changing times. It's a movie that works on a dramatic level with its main character and makes all of his emotions and feeling come across very realistic and almost sensible.Of course the movie is not as stylized and perfectly put together as a big Hollywood movie from around the same time period but nevertheless "Jalsaghar" still is one fine put together movie, by director Satyajit Ray. You can really tell he is a director that progressed over the years, as he gained more and more experience, recognition and money to work with.Really visually this movie is being great. I really liked the black & white cinematography by Subrata Mitra, who started out his movie career along with Satyajit Ray. It's a movie with an heavy Indian atmosphere over it, so the lovers of its culture will definitely be able to appreciate this movie, all the more.Simply one fine, effective little drama.8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Good heavens! This is about as far from Bollywood movies (cheesy musicals) as one could get. Jalsaghar is a poignant rendering of social transition at the personal level -- the indigent aristocrat whose delusive and self-destructive obsession with bringing his music room back to life shields him from the reality of his family's economic and social collapse, and indeed hastens it; the showy nouveau-riche neighbor who embodies the rise of a new social order based on economic achievement rather than aristocratic roots and inherited wealth. There are parallels to Chekhov and Faulkner (Snopeses and Sartorises). The black and white images (the white horse!) are stunning. I saw this film in the 1980s, and remember it more clearly than the movie I saw last night. It is truly a classic.