The first Satyajit Ray feature to be fully set in his native Kolkata, The Big City is one of the director’s finest films – a multi-layered, subtly political and hugely enjoyable cinematic tapestry tracking one woman’s quiet fight against a society that would rather she remained seen but not heard.

Subrata (Anil Chatterjee), a young bank clerk, might be struggling to support his extended family on a meagre salary – but he’s horrified when his wife Arati (Madhabi Mukherjee, Ray’s longtime muse) dares to challenge his cherished belief that ‘a woman’s place is with her cooking pots’. Arati takes a job just as her husband appears at risk of losing his, upsetting the family dynamics at a moment of tremendous change in what was then a newly independent country. A hugely absorbing feature from a true master.