Shakha Proshakha (1990)

Following the unsatisfactory Ganashatru (1989) and his critique of contemporary corruption, Ray’s first international co- production looks more like a TV movie and continues the realist Ibsenite idiom with this story about a Bengali joint family. The honest old patriarch Ananda Majumdar (A. Bannerjee), who rose from government clerk to real-estate developer building a small township, has a heart attack on his 70th birthday, causing the large family to gather: his four sons, their wives and children. The eldest son, Probodh (H. Bannerjee), is a corrupt businessman, to the great disappointment of the old man who finds he is closest to his mentally retarded second son, the music-loving Prashanto (S. Chatterjee).