| It is one of life's greatest ironies that Ritwik Ghatak | | | | embody the traditional aspects of feminine power. |
| who is today something of a cult figure in Bengal was | | | | The heroine, Nita, has the preserving and nurturing |
| so little understood and appreciated during his lifetime. | | | | quality; her sister, Gita, is the sensual woman; their |
| Despite the fact that today his films have won much | | | | mother represents the cruel aspect. The incapacity |
| critical acclaim, the fact remains that in their time | | | | of Nita to combine and contain all these qualities is |
| they ran to mainly empty houses in Bengal. Ghatak's | | | | the imminent source of her tragedy. |
| films project a uniquesensibility. They are often | | | | Besides, here Ghatak tries to delve deep into our |
| brilliant, but almost always flawed. | | | | roots and traditions and discover a universal |
| Born in Dhaka (now in Bangladesh), the partition of | | | | dimension within it. And for the first time, he says he |
| Bengal and the subsequent division of a culture was | | | | experimented with the techniques of overtones. In |
| something that haunted Ghatak forever. Joining the | | | | the film, Ghatak succeeds in achieving a grand totality |
| left-wing Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), | | | | through an intricate but harmonious blending of each |
| he used to work for a few years as a playwright, | | | | part with the whole in the innerfabric of the film. |
| actor and director. When IPTA split into factions, | | | | Meghe Dhaka Tara transcends into a great work of |
| Ghatak turned to filmmaking. | | | | art that enriches and transforms the visual images |
| By and large Ghatak's films revolve around two | | | | into metamorphic significations... |
| central themes: the experience of being uprooted | | | | The music in the film perfectly intermingles with the |
| from the idyllic rural milieu of East Bengal and the | | | | visuals, none dislodging the other be it a remarkable |
| cultural trauma of the partition of 1947. His first film, | | | | orchestration of a hill motif with a female moaning or |
| Nagarik (1952) weaved the oppressive tale of a | | | | a staccato cough with a surging song. |
| young man, his futile search for a job and the erosion | | | | Here, it would be relevant to mention that Ghatak |
| of his optimism and idealism as his family sinks into | | | | weaves a parallel narrative evoking the celebrated |
| abject poverty and his love affair too turns sour. | | | | Bengali legends of Durga who is believed to descend |
| Ghatak then accepted a job with Filmistan Studio in | | | | from her mountain retreat every autumn to visit her |
| Bombay but his 'different' ideas did not go down well | | | | parents and that of Menaka. This double focus, |
| there. He did however write the scripts of Musafir | | | | condensed in the figure of Neeta, is rendered yet |
| (1957) and Madhumati (1958) for Hrishikesh | | | | more complex on the level of thefilm language itself |
| Mukherjee and Bimal Roy respectively, the latter | | | | through elaborate, at times non-diegetic sound |
| becoming an all time evergreen hit. | | | | effects working alongside or as commentaries on the |
| After this brief stint followed by his comeback to his | | | | image ( e.g. the refrain Ai go Uma kole loi, i.e. Come |
| good old Calcutta, he made Ajantrik (1958) about a | | | | to my arms, Uma, my child, used through the latter |
| taxi driver in a small town in Bihar and his vehicle, an | | | | part of the film, esp. on the face of the |
| old Chevrolet jalopy. An assortment of passengers | | | | rain-drenched Neeta shortly before her departure to |
| gives the film a wider frame of reference and | | | | the sanatorium). |
| provided situations of drama, humor and irony. | | | | This approach allows the film to transcend its story |
| However, his "magnum opus" happens to be none | | | | by opening it our towards the realm of myth and to |
| other than Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), the first film in | | | | the conventions of cinematic realism (e.g. evoked in |
| a trilogy, examining the socio-economic implications of | | | | the Calcutta sequences). |
| partition. The protagonist Nita (played by Supriya | | | | "Meghe Dhaka Tara" was followed with Komal |
| Chowdhury) is the breadwinner in a refugee family of | | | | Gandhar (1961), concerning two rival touring theatre |
| five. Everyone exploits her and the strain proves too | | | | companies in Bengal and Subarnarekha (1965). The |
| much. She succumbs totuberculosis. In an | | | | last is a strangely disturbing film using melodrama and |
| unforgettable moment, the dying Nita cries out "I | | | | coincidence as a form rather thanmechanical reality. |
| want to live...", while the camera pans across the | | | | His next film, Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (1973), done for |
| mountains, thereby accentuating the indifference and | | | | a young Bangladesh producer happens to be focusing |
| eternity of nature even as the echo reverberates | | | | on the life and eventual disintegration of a fishing |
| over the shot. | | | | community on the Titash. However, this epic saga |
| Complexities notwithstanding, Meghe Dhaka Tara | | | | was completed after many problems at the shooting |
| reaches out to the audience with its directness, its | | | | stage including his collapse due to tuberculosis and |
| simplicity, and its unique stylistic use of melodrama. | | | | was a commercial failure. |
| Melodrama as a legitimate dramatic form has | | | | Notably, Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (1974), the most |
| continued to play a vital role in rural Indian theatre | | | | autobiographical and allegoricalof his films, was made |
| and folk dramatic forms. Ghatak goes back to these | | | | just before his untimely demise. Here, he himself |
| roots in his presentation of a familiar struggle for | | | | played the main role of Nilkanta, an alcoholic |
| survival, which has lost its dramatic force and pathos | | | | intellectual. The film has been spoken about in critique |
| through repetition in real life. | | | | circle for Ghatak's stunning use of the wide-angle lens |
| In Meghe Dhaka Tara, day-to-day events transform | | | | to most potent effect. |
| into high drama: Nita's tormented romance is | | | | Unfortunately for Ghatak, his films were largely |
| intensified with the harsh sweep of the whiplash on | | | | unsuccessful. Many remaining unreleased for years, he |
| the soundtrack; Shankar's song of faith in a moment | | | | abandoned almost as many projects as he |
| of despair reaches the height of emotional surrender | | | | completed. Ultimately the intensity of his passion, |
| with Nita's voice joining his and Nita's urge to live | | | | which gave his films their power and emotion, took |
| becomes a universal sound of affirmation | | | | their toll on him, as did tuberculosis and alcoholism. |
| reverberating in Nature, amidst the distant peaks of | | | | However he has left behind a limited, butsubtly rich |
| the Himalayas. | | | | and intricate body of work that no serious scholar of |
| The three principal women characters in this film | | | | Indian Cinema can dare ignore. |