“While the British were around, the Anglo-Indians (Indians of mixed blood) shared in the glory of the rulers of India. With the British gone, the Anglo-Indians shrank to a marginal life as schoolteachers and railway guards, while the anglicized Indians gained in sophistication and influence. 36 Chowringhee Lane deals with the relations between these two groups in present-day Calcutta. The story is domestic, but as in all good stories, large meanings grow out of small events. Violet, an Anglo-Indian spinster (played with fine inwardness by the late Jennifer Kendall) teaches Shakespeare to classes of inattentive girls. One of them falls in love with a handsome young poet, but the couple have no place in which they can be alone. Learning of their difficulties, the schoolteacher offers them her own apartment as a trysting place. From these beginnings, the film moves to a deep inquiry into the combinations of selfishness and kindness which govern the lives of its characters. It is clear from the first sequence on that Aparna Sen knows well the anglicized world she portrays....” Satti Khanna, San Francisco International Film Festival ‘83.