Interrogating Modernity: Cultural Relativism and the Idea of Civilisation in Satyajit Ray's Agantuk

Abstract

Satyajit Ray's final cinematic testament, Agantuk (The Stranger, 1991), redefines modernity as a moral and intercultural condition rather than a technological or economic one. This paper argues that through the lens of cultural relativism, Ray critiques the Western-dominated conception of civilization and exposes the ethnocentric hierarchies that categorise societies as "advanced" or "primitive." The narrative introduces Manomohan Mitra, the cosmopolitan stranger whose anthropological insights mirror India's postcolonial anxieties and moral dilemmas. By contrasting the bourgeois fear of the urban elite with the ethical integrity of indigenous cultures, Ray challenges Eurocentrism and the developmentalist paradigm that equates progress with industrial and technological growth. The study demonstrates that Agantuk offers a decolonized vision of civilization grounded in moral integrity, intercultural empathy, and plural modernities-proposing that true modernity lies in ethical consciousness rather than material achievement.