Jalshaghar then and now

The famed Nimtita rajbari was the backdrop of Satyajit Ray's 1958 film, Jalshaghar as well as the original short story by Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, suprisingly unknown to each other. When Ray selected this story for his next film, after Aparajito, he almost gave up, unable to find the right "Rajbari" that fitted the story. Luck was on his side though, when someone told him about Nimtita Rajbari of the Roy Choudhuri's and after the recce, Ray was convinced that this had to be the house for his Jalshaghar. When he informed Tarashankar, he was ready to do the film based on his story, the later asked him if he had selected the rajbari at Nimtita. On hearing Ray's affirmitive, the writer said he had based his story on Upendra Narayan Roy Choudhuri, without having visited Nimtita!.
Ray also shot a few scenes for his film Devi, at the same locale.
unfortunately, in the next 60 years, the house has almost turned to ruins, with only the pillars standing. A sad sight, the building, backdrops to such classics, now derelict and alone, by the river Padma.