This presentation talks about the characters in the film Pratidwandi 

 by
Satyajit Ray with regards to opening 10 min sequence of the film. 

The scenes in which our protagonist Siddhartha commutes in the city of

Calcutta and goes to for a job interview. 
The City of Calcutta as a character. 

• The film through its narrative tries to explore and look at the city of Calcutta as a
character and it’s relationship with Siddhartha. 
•  In this opening sequence the city shown through a overcrowded bus, where the
iron bar  of the bus is shown burdened with so many hands as it represents the city
which is being burdened by its growing population. 
• The sequence also shows our protagonist struggles to commute in this
overcrowded bus foreshadowing his upcoming struggle to survive in the city. 
The film immediately in its opening sequence introduced the
protagonist and his big problem where after his father’s death
Siddhartha is forced to drop out from medical school and find a job to
feed his family. 
• Later, the scene of interview tells about his character where he is
calm, composed and answers the questions of interviewer with a
rather thoughtful approach. 
• The scene also reveals philosophy and how Siddhartha look at the
world around him.
• He priorities Vietnam war over mood landing as the most significant
event of the decade. This tells a lot about his personality which has a
spark of revolution in it.
The images inside Siddhartha head flashes in front of his eyes as he
closes them. These images may be a matter of subjective
interpretation. I see these images as Siddhartha’s desire to get the job
as he imagines himself wearing a coat posing in a botanical lab which
implicate that this how he sees himself after having this job. 
END