as Samaresh, Nandita's boyfriend Geoffrey Kendal as Eddie Stoneham Soni Razdan as Rosemary, Violet's niece Sanjana Kapoor as young Violet Karan Kapoor as Davie Ruma Guha Thakurta as Nandita's mother Crew Direction – Aparna Sen Production – Shashi Kapoor Screenplay – Aparna Sen Cinematography – Ashok Mehta Music – Vanraj Bhatia Editing – Bhanudas Divakar Sound – Hitendra Ghosh Art – Bansi Chandragupta Production Script and casting The idea of the film emerged from a story Sen had written, and that had taken the shape of a screenplay. When she showed it to Satyajit Ray, he suggested she make the film. He also suggested Shashi Kapoor as the producer. After approaching several producers and repeatedly being asked what she was trying to sell, she finally sent a synopsis of the plot to Kapoor. He liked it and asked her to come over to Mumbai, and the film took off from there. Aparna Sen had not thought of Jennifer Kendal to play the lead. She was looking for someone older, perhaps an Anglo-Indian. She was persuaded by Utpal Dutt to cast Kendal, who herself suggested the look of Violet Stoneham with her hair in a bun. Shooting Originally, Sen had thought of Govind Nihalani to shoot the film. However, he was not free, and she would have to wait a year to begin work on the film. Kapoor suggested several other cinematographers. Sen saw a film shot by Ashok Mehta, and decided she wanted him for her film. The film was shot at almost a namesake address of 26, Chowringhee Road with a beautiful view of the Indian Museum and the Maidan along with its landmarks like the Eden Gardens, the High Court, Pratt Memorial School, Governor's House, the Shaheed Minar and Fort William. The depiction of pre-marital sex in the film was ahead of its time. About the intimate scenes, Sen said: "I feel scenes of sexual intimacy are ruined if the director is embarrassed. I wasn't embarrassed. There was nothing in it that I thought was obscene." Post-production At the post-production stage, Debashree Roy's voice was dubbed over with Sen's own voice. Sen explained that this was done partly in order to save time. Moreover, Dhritiman Chatterjee was a good deal older than Roy, and she wanted a voice that was slightly older. The art direction of the film was done by Bansi Chandragupta, art director of the Apu