The Music Room

The Music Room (Jalsaghar, 1958) is an Indian drama by Satyajit Ray that you can watch online on iFILM. It follows a Bengali aristocrat who pours the last of his fortune into music rather than yield to a vulgar new-money neighbor.

The 1920s, a crumbling palace in Bengal. Biswambhar Roy (Chhabi Biswas) is the last of a line of zamindar landlords, drifting through his final years amid dust and memory. His wife and son are gone, the estate is ruined, and his one remaining joy is the opulent music room where the finest performers once played. When a wealthy upstart next door begins flaunting his taste, pride pushes Roy into one reckless gesture: to stage a final, lavish concert with money he no longer has.

Ray builds an almost tactile portrait of a dying world, and the musical sequences feature real classical greats — Begum Akhtar, Ustad Bismillah Khan, the dancer Roshan Kumari. Slow and hypnotic, it's a film about pride and the kind of beauty that bankrupts a man. Widely ranked among the essential works of Indian cinema, it's essential viewing for anyone who loves the classics of world film. Stream The Music Room (1958) online on iFILM.