It’s rare indeed for a couple of Satyajit Ray films to unwind at a local theater. It’s been over a decade since there was any kind of Ray retrospective like one distributed by Sony Pictures Classics at the behest of the team of Merchant and Ivory in the late 90s.

Usually the Ray film that pops up is his debut indie film Pather Panchali. Ray’s films and career were always better received domestically than in his native India, where style and serious context have always been at odds with the more popular dancing and singing of Bollywood productions. So it’s an extra cinematic pleasure that one of the Ray films is a rarely seen documentary on Indian poet, musician, novelist and all around artist Rabindranath Tagore.

The hour-long doc Rabindranath Tagore unwinds (followed by a reception) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston this Friday, June 10 at 7 pm. From the museum’s press notes: “Created to celebrate Tagore’s centenary in May 1961, the documentary Rabindranath Tagore comprises dramatized episodes and archived images from the poet’s life.”

The following Friday, June 17 (at the same time) the 1964 Ray film Charulata (The Lonely Wife), based on a story by Tagore and considered by Ray adherents as one of his best films, unreels. Info regarding synopsis and prices can be found on the museum website.

- Michael Bergeron