- For the Love of Music - an excellent interview with Andrew Robinson, author of Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye, recorded for Criterion in 2011. Mr. Robinson discusses director Ray's legacy and style, The Music Room, the importance of music in director Ray's film, etc. In English, not subtitled. (18 min, 1080p).
- Mira Nair - acclaimed director Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding, Salaam Bombay) discusses The Music Room and the legacy of the great Bengali director. This video interview was recorded for Criterion in 2011. (16 min, 1080p).
- French Roundtable - an excerpt from the French television program L'invite de FR3
featuring director Ray, film critic Michel Clement. filmmaker Claude
Sautet, and host Dominique Reznikoff. The episode was broadcast on
January 18, 1981. In French, with optional English subtitles. (11 min,
1080p).
- Satyajit Ray - a documentary film, directed by Shyam Benegal, featuring raw footage from the shooting of director Ray's thirty-second film, The Home and the World, as well as various interviews. In Hindi and English, with optional English subtitles where necessary. (132 min, 1080i).
- Booklet - a 36-page illustrated booklet featuring
Philip Kemp's essay "Distant Music"; Satyajit Ray's "Winding Route to a
Music Room", an essay, written in 1963, from the collection Our Films, Their Films, originally published in India in 1976; and "On the Music of The Music Room: An Interview With Satyajit Ray", an interview conducted by Andrew Robinson in Kolkata in 1986.
Biswambhar Roy is a zamindar (landlord) and the last of his kind. With
the title, he has none of the perquisites, inheriting diminishing lands
that are being eroded by the neighbouring river. But he must maintain
the lifestyle of his heritage. This ostentation is most apparent in the
grandest room of his mansion, the music room. Here he inports the finest
musicians and dancers to perform, and invites the area's most important
commoners. His wife's entreaties to control spending are ignored, and
the puberty party he throws for his son bring him down to the last few
sacks of family jewels. Then, struck by tragedy, he locks the music room
and slips into lethargy - until a final grand soiree consumes the last
of his funds.
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