One of Satyajit Ray's most exquisite films, The Music Room brilliantly evokes the crumbling opulence of the world of a fallen aristocrat (the beloved actor Chhabi Biswas) desperately clinging to a fading way of life after his music room, his greatest joy which has hosted lavish concerts for year, turns into a shadow of its former self.

An incandescent depiction of the clash between tradition and modernity, The Music Room is a defining work by the great Bengali filmmaker, featuring music composed by Ustad Vilayat Khan and sung by the legendary Begum Akhtar, with Roshan Kumari's kathak dance. It also boasts atmospheric cinematography, and is a fitting and elegant elegy to its protagonist, the connoisseur.

This is a special showing ahead of its Blu-ray release (The Criterion Collection UK / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) in the UK in August. Part of India on Film is a British Film Institute season, part of UK/India 2017, a major cultural collaboration between the two countries. In collaboration with The British Council.

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