Parash Pathar

Parash Pathar: (The Philosopher's Stone) 1957

Year - 1958
Producer - Pramod Lahiri
Screenplay - Satyajit Ray
Based on - The short story Parash Pathar by Parasuram
Photography - Subrata Mitra
Editor - Dulal Dutta
Art Director - Bansi Chandragupta
Music - Ravi Shankar
Sound - Durgadas Mitra
Length - 95 min.
Print - Black & White

Cast:
Paresh Chandra Dutta - Tulsi Chakravarty
Paresh's wife - Ranibala
Priyatosh Henry Biswas - Kali Banerjee
Kachalu - Gangapada Bose
Inspector Chatterjee - Haridhan Chatterjee
Servant - Jahar Roy
Police Officer - Bireswar Sen
Doctor Nandi - Moni Srimani
Cocktail party guests - Chhabi Biswas, Jahar Ganguli, Pahari Sanyal, Kamal Mitra, Nitish Mukherjee, Subodh Ganguli, Tulsi Lahiri, Amar Mullick, Chandrabati Devi, Renuka Roy, Bharati Devi

In this satirical film, Paresh, an unimportant clerk at a bank, sees his life transformed one day when a neighbor child shows him a stone which he claims is capable of instantly changing any piece of metal into gold. Incredulous at first, Paresh becomes convinced by a demonstration of the stone's power and manages to make off with it. Soon he is wealthy and takes pains to preserve the secret of his riches until, drunkenly loquacious, he reveals it during a party at the home of an industrial magnate. The industrialist covets the stone and demands to be let in on its magic formula. This causes a series of calamities that make Paresh regret his acquisition.