20 Best Satyajit Ray Movies and Where to Watch Them

Impoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work.

Aparajito picks up where the first film leaves off, with Apu and his family having moved away from the country to live in the bustling holy city of Varanasi (then known as Benares). As Apu progresses from wide-eyed child to intellectually curious teenager, eventually studying in Kolkata, we witness his academic and moral education, as well as the growing complexity of his relationship with his mother. This tenderly expressive, often heart-wrenching film, which won three top prizes at the Venice Film Festival, including the Golden Lion, not only extends but also spiritually deepens the tale of Apu. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 1996.

It is the year 1856. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah is the king of Awadh, one of the last independent kingdoms of India. The British colonialists, intent on controlling this rich land, have sent general Outram on a secret mission to clear the way for an annexation. Pressure is mounting amidst intrigue and political manoeuvres, but the Nawab whiles away his time in pursuit of pleasure and religious practice. The court is of no help either—Court nobles Mir and Mirza, ignoring the situation of their country and all their duties towards their families, spend their days playing endless games of chess. The film is based on Munshi Premchand's short story of the same name.

Arindam, a matinee idol, is going by train to collect an acting award. On the train, he is confronted by Aditi, a journalist who somewhat unwillingly starts to take his interview. Arindam, won over by Aditi's naivete, starts to disclose his past, his fears and his secrets.

When the movie opens, a woman is recalling the events that molded her perspective on the world. Years ago, her husband, a wealthy Western-educated landowner, challenged tradition by providing her with schooling, and inviting her out of the seclusion in which married women were kept, to the consternation of more conservative relatives. Meeting her husband's visiting friend from college, a leader of an economic rebellion against the British, she takes up his political cause, despite her husbands warnings. As the story progresses, the relationship between the woman and the visitor becomes more than platonic, and the political battles, pitting rich against poor and Hindu against Moslem, turn out not to be quite as simple as she had first thought.

In 1870s India, Charulata is an isolated, artistically inclined woman who sees little of her busy journalist husband, Bhupati. Realizing that his wife is alienated and unhappy, he convinces his cousin, Amal, to spend time with Charulata and nourish her creative impulses. Amal is a fledgling poet himself, and he and Charulata bond over their shared love of art. But over time a sexual attraction develops, with heartbreaking results. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation and Merchant and Ivory Foundation in 1996.

Set in the holy city of Benares, this is the second film about the detective Feluda, in which he goes for a holiday along with his cousin, Topshe and his friend, Lalmohan Ganguly. But the theft of a priceless deity of Lord Ganesh (the Elephant God) from a local household forces him to investigate.

A young boy becomes a target for crooks, after he claims to remember his past life and mentions precious jewels in a golden fortress.

Goopy Bagha Phire Elo (Bengali: গুপী বাঘা ফিরে এলো) (1992) is the third sequel of Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne series. It was directed by Sandip Ray and written by his father Satyajit Ray. This film was released eleven years after its predecessor Hirak Rajar Deshe.

A well-off Indian family is paid an unexpected, and rather unwanted, visit by a man claiming to be the woman's long lost uncle. The initial suspicion with which they greet the man slowly dissolves as he regales them with stories of his travels, tales that are at odds with their conventional middle class perspective on the world.

Amitabha Roy is a Calcutta-based scriptwriter, driving around in the country to collect material for a film. His vehicle breaks down in a small town. A tea planter, Bimal Gupta, offers hospitality for the night. Amitabha is forced to accept the offer as he has no alternative.

A wealthy landlord lives a decadent life with his wife and son. His passion – his wife would calls it his addiction – is music, and he spends a great deal of his fortune on concerts held for the locals in his magnificent music room. He feels threatened by his neighbour, a commoner who has attained riches through business dealings. His passion for music and quest for social respect are his undoing, as he sacrifices his family and wealth trying to retain it.

The chronicles of Shyamalendu Chatterjee, an ambitious and self-made young man, as he rises his way up the corporate ladder. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 2001.

Ashoke Gupta is an idealistic doctor working in a town near Calcutta. He discovers that the water at a popular temple is the source of an outbreak of typhoid and hepatitis. In order to save lives, he risks his career to try and call attention to this polluted water source, while a local group of building contractors attempt to discredit him in various ways.

The story revolves around a North Indian taxi driver, Narsingh, who attempts to reinvent his life by visiting his native place, but instead gets embroiled in a local Marwari businessman's smuggling and human trafficking business. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2001.

When Byomkesh Bakshi's new client, Dr. Nishanath Sen, is murdered at Golap Colony, he decides to probe into the case with the help of his close aide, Ajit.

Life at home changes when a housewife from a middle-class, conservative family in Calcutta gets a job as a salesperson.

Gangacharan is the new Brahmin of a village, where he assumes various duties: teaching, organizing religious events, and trying to prevent epidemics. But in that year 1943, war is raging (as reminded by the planes occasionally heard flying over the countryside), and a major famine is under way. As food shortages reach catastrophic proportions, Gangacharan attempts to preserve his privileged situation, while his generous wife, Ananga, conversely tries to help and support the community.

A wandering baba initiates a widower layer and his youngest daughter, irritating her boyfriend Satya and the ever-skeptical Nibaran.

When Goopy and Bagha learn about Hirak Raja's tyranny, they try to set him right with the help of Udayan, a school teacher, and their magical powers.