New Delhi, Feb. 22 -- Satyajit Ray's 1966 film Nayak is about a superstar taking a train to collect a National Award. On his way, this star-played by matinee colossus Uttam Kumar-meets existential angst, admiring fans, and a journalist who doesn't trust him, on or off screen. Sharmila Tagore's Aditi-a journalist with a pen wedged in her blouse like a dagger in a scabbard-refuses to fawn. They talk on the train, her scepticism clashing against his confessions in a carriage thick with rings of cigarette smoke and ghosts, of past roles and past lives.

A remastered version of Nayak has been re-released across Indian theatres on 21 February, and this version can be streamed on The Criterion Channel. The film feels both timeless and strikingly...