Nirjan Saikate (English subtitle: The Desolute Beach) is a Bengali

Bengali language

Bengali or Bangla is an eastern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. It is written with the Bengali script...

 film directed by Tapan Sinha

Tapan Sinha

Tapan Sinha , was a Indian film director. He was arguably the most uncompromising filmmaker outside the orbit of Parallel Cinema.-Personal life and background:...

. It was released in 1963. This movie is an adaptation of the novel with the same name by eminent Bengali writer Samaresh Basu

Samaresh Basu

Samaresh Basu was an Indian Bengali writer based in Kolkata, India. He was born on December 11, 1924 and spent his early childhood in Dhaka, Bikrampur in what is today Bangladesh...

, who wrote this travelogue under his pen name 'Kalkut'.

Plot

The writer is himself the protagonist. He is on his way to Puri by train where he gets acquinted with a group of 4 Bengali widows accompanying their niece, also going to Puri. The writer was going to just get out of his day to day Kolkata life whereas these ladies were actually going to calm down their niece who had just suffered a break up with her lover. The rest of the story revolves around these people and their attraction and involvement with the writer. The writer is amused with them and for his part tries to calm the girl. The story guides us around the different relationships the writer develops with each of the character he meets. The movie tries to show the social taboos for widows and teaches a wise philosophy that life is ahead of us and not before. There is a pretty good description of Puri

Puri

Puri is district headquarter, a city situated about south of state capital Bhubaneswar, on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal in the Indian state of Orissa. It is also known as Jagannath Puri after the Jagannath Temple . It is a holy city of the Hindus as a part of the Char Dham pilgrimages...

, Konark

Konark

Konark is a small town in Puri district in the state of Orissa, India, on the Bay of Bengal, sixty-five kilometers from Bhubaneswar. It is the site of the 13th-century Sun Temple , built in black granite by King Narasimhadeva-I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty. The temple is a World Heritage Site...

 and Rambha. At the time this movie was shot it was possible for Tapan Sinha to shot inside the Konark sun temple, also the bullock cart way to Konark is an extra for the viewer.

Cast

• Anil Chatterjee
  Anil Chatterjee
  Anil Chatterjee was a Bengali actor in the Bengali cinema during the early fifties through to the late eighties and was mostly remembered as a character actor. He acted in about 45 movies, both as a character actor and in leading roles with the limited opportunities he received during his time...
  
   as the protagonist -the writer
• Sharmila Tagore
  Sharmila Tagore
  Sharmila Tagore is an Indian film actress. She has won National Film Awards and Filmfare Awards for her performances.She has led the Indian Film Censor Board from October 2004 till March 2011...
  
   as the Niece
• Chhaya Devi
  Chhaya Devi
  Chhaya Devi or Chhaya Debi was an Indian film actress. She has acted in hundreds of Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Hindi language movies for over five decades and played many character roles...
  
  , Ruma Guha Thakurta
  Ruma Guha Thakurta
  -Early life:She was born in 1934 as Ruma Ghosh. She hails from a Brahmo Bengali family. Her father was Satyen Ghosh and her mother was Sati Devi, a singer. Sati Devi's younger sister Bijoya married film director Satyajit Ray. Thakurta had her formal education in many places including Santiniketan...
  
  , Renuka Devi, Bharati Devi—as the 4 widows.
• Rabi Ghosh
  Rabi Ghosh
  Rabi Ghosh was an actor from India. He is best known for his comic roles in Bengali movies, though his versatile acting talent has stunned viewers and critics alike in various kind of roles. He was a regular in Satyajit Ray cinemas...
  
   as a Panda of Puri
• Jahar Ganguly as the Hotel Owner.
• Nripati and Pahari Sanyal
  Pahari Sanyal
  Pahari Sanyal, born Nagendranath Sanyal, was a stalwart Bengali character actor whose status was as towering as that of others such as Chhabi Biswas and Kamal Mitra....
  
   also had important roles in the film.

Awards

The leading 4 ladies of this film -the 4 widows, shared the National Film Award for Best Actress

National Film Award for Best Actress

The National Film Award for Best Actress is an honor presented annually at the National Film Awards of India to an actress who has delivered the best performance in a leading role within the Indian film industry...

in 1963.