 In 1964 Ray made Charulata ( The Lonely Wife ) ; it was the culmination of this period of work , and regarded by many critics as his most accomplished film . Based on " Nastanirh " , a short story of Tagore , the film tells of a lonely wife , Charu , in 19th @-@ century Bengal , and her growing feelings for her brother @-@ in @-@ law Amal . Critics have referred to this as Ray 's Mozartian masterpiece . He said the film contained the fewest flaws among his work , and it was his only work which , given a chance , he would make exactly the same way . Madhabi Mukherjee 's performance as Charu , and the work of both Subrata Mitra and Bansi Chandragupta in the film , have been highly praised . Other films in this period include Mahanagar ( The Big City ) , Teen Kanya ( Three Daughters ) , Abhijan ( The Expedition ) and Kapurush o Mahapurush ( The Coward and the Holy Man ) . 
