8/10
I'd never seen a Satyajit Ray movie. I don't know if this was the best place to start but I still enjoyed it immensely. I liked the setting and the palace, but what I loved most was the music. Holy smokes! My knowledge of classical Indian music is limited to those who creep in to the fringes of the avantgarde music scene - Pandit Pran Nath, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Ali Akbar Khan and Abdul Karim Khan. But now I feel a compulsion to track down something from every musician featured in this movie, especially the mind-blowing performance at the end. I always like it when a movie gives me other things to seek out and opens my mind to other arts. This one definitely did that, and told an interesting story as well (even if I think it lagged a teensy bit in the second half).
