The Middleman (Jana Aranya) (1975)

TOMATOMETER

88%

——

Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.

AUDIENCE SCORE

93%

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Movie Info

The unfortunate young man in this movie grew up in a moderately well-off Indian family which has now fallen on hard times. His ambitions for a career were dashed when his high grades were changed at the instigation of a vindictive professor at his school. Through a series of accidents, he finds a job as a factory-rep, or middleman. However, he does not prosper until he abandons his thoroughgoing rectitude and begins providing some extra services to people who can give him big accounts. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Cast

Pradip Mukherjee
as Somnath Banerjee
Utpal Dutt
as Bisu
Rabi Ghosh
as Mr. Mitter
Aparna Sen
as Somnath's Girlfriend
Soven Lahiri
as Goenka
Santosh Dutta
as Hiralal
Bimal Deb
as Jagabandhu MLA/MP
Satya Bannerjee
Arati Bhattacharya
Gautam Chakraborty
Lily Chakravarty
Bimal Chatterjee
Dipankar Dey
Kalyan Chatterjee
Satya Bandyopadhyay
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Critic Reviews for The Middleman (Jana Aranya)

All Critics (8) | Top Critics (3)

It has the best performances of any Ray film I've seen.

Oct 24, 2007 | Full Review…
Chicago Reader
Top Critic

Beautifully performed, blessed with Ray's customary sense of balance, and wittily satirising the absurdity of bureaucracy run riot, it makes absording viewing.

Jun 24, 2006 | Full Review…
Time Out
Top Critic

The film's silences are more attention-getting and mesmerizing than the most demanding background music.

Jan 1, 2000 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic

The burden falls on Pradip Mukherjee, a drab performer whose loss of innocence is uninvolving.

Apr 10, 2018 | Rating: 1/4 | Full Review…
Film Comment Magazine

insightful study of contemporary urban life in India

Mar 9, 2010 | Rating: B | Full Review…
Old School Reviews

Ray's humanism and oblique style does not allow for a full-blown political attack but makes for a compassionate critique.

Jul 29, 2003 | Full Review…
Film4
View All Critic Reviews (8)

Audience Reviews for The Middleman (Jana Aranya)

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