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The Mazumdar Family is having a hard time of it. Father Subrata (Anil Chatterjee) works in a bank, but doesn't earn a lot of money. He spends night tutoring and his days worrying if he will have enough money for the next day's household accounts. His long suffering wife Aarti (Madhabi Mukherjee) wants to help, but she has her hands full keeping the various members of the Mazumdar clan content, including her husband's aging parents (Haren Chatterjee, Sefalika Devi), their eldest daughter Bani (Jaya Bhaduri) and their young son Pintu (Prosenjit Sarkar). After much convincing, Subrata agrees to let her try and find a job. Eventually, Aarti is employed as a door-to-door saleswoman for 100 rupees a month. At first, she faces obvious discrimination among those potential customers who believe a woman's place is permanently in the home. But with the help of an English-speaking, Anglo-Indian named Edith (Vicky Redwood), Aarti becomes more confident, leaving her conservative relatives confused over their place in her new, modern life.

With remarkable sensitivity and attention to the details of everyday working-class life, the great Satyajit Ray builds a powerful human drama that is at once a hopeful morality tale and a commentary on the identity of the modern Indian woman.

Director: Satyajit Ray
Cast: Anil Chatterjee, Madhabi Mukherjee, Jaya Bhaduri
Country: India
Genre: Drama

DVD9 + DVD5 | NTSC 4:3 | 02:15:55 | 7.59 Gb + 4.22 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Bengali
Subtitles: English

Extras:
• New interview with actor Madhabi Mukherjee
• Satyajit Ray and the Modern Woman, a new interview with Ray scholar Suranjan Ganguly
• Satyajit Ray (1974), a documentary short by B. D. Garga
• The Coward (Kapurush, 1965), a short feature by Ray that also addresses modern female identity and stars Mukherjee and Soumitra Chatterjee (1:09:43)

BD50 | 1080p AVC | 02:16:05 | 43.6 Gb + 3% rec
Language: Bengali
Subtitles: English

Extras:

• Madhabi Mukerjee - in this new video interview, Madhabi Mukerjee, who plays Arati, recalls her work with Satyajit Ray on The Big City and discusses the legendary Bengali filmmaker's directing style. The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in Calcutta in 2013. In Bengali, with optional English subtitles. (17 min, 1080p).

• Satyajit Ray and the Modern Woman - in this new video interview Satyajit Ray scholar and author Suranjan Ganguly addresses the social overtones and the roles and identities women have in Charulata (The Lonely Wife), Mahanagar (The Big City), and Kapurush (The Coward). The interview was conducted exclusively for Criterion in 2013. In English, with optional English subtitles for the clips used in the interview. (23 min, 1080p).

• B.D. Garga's Satyajit Ray - this short film produced by B.D. Garga in 1974, director Satyajit Ray discusses his directing strategies. The short film contains on-set footage from the making of The Big City. In English, with optional English subtitles for the film footage. (14 min, 1080p).

• The Coward - This is a feature length film from Satyajit Ray called 'The Coward', which is an extra. This film also follows the roles that women played in India and stars Madhabi Mukerjee and Soumitra Chatterjee. In Bengali with optional English subtitles. (69 min, 1080p).