{"id":1265,"date":"2014-07-30T04:44:53","date_gmt":"2014-07-29T23:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/?p=1265"},"modified":"2025-11-12T16:01:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T10:31:59","slug":"ritwik-ghatak-a-crusader-of-the-rootless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learningandcreativity.com\/silhouette\/ritwik-ghatak-a-crusader-of-the-rootless\/","title":{"rendered":"Ritwik Ghatak: A Crusader Of The Rootless"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ritwik

Ritwik Ghatak (Pic: Wikipedia)<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cArt for art\u2019s sake\u201d \u2013 Ritwik Ghatak did not believe in this. For this master filmmaker, art was a mission, an exploration of the degeneration of society. His films, therefore, carried the stamp of his own hurt and indignation at being uprooted from his flourishing native land in East Bengal (now Bangladesh) only to be thrown into the vortex of teeming refugee settlements, unemployment and hunger in Calcutta.<\/p>\n

Ghatak\u2019s journey was one never ending struggle against a system that did not understand him or his need to make his kind of films. When he died on February 6, 1976, consumed by alcoholism, defeated but not broken, he was still struggling to find funds for his last project Jukti, Takko Ar Gappo (1974),<\/em> which remains incomplete.<\/p>\n

Born in Dhaka in Novemeber 4, 1925, Ghatak spent his childhood and adolescence in riverine East Bengal, amidst the lush green picturesque landscape of River Padma, till the Partition of 1947 tore him away to Calcutta. \u201cSo many sounds, so many pictures, so much emotion,\u201d he often recalled, and those impressions found footage in his films.<\/p>\n

His sense of betrayal and disgust at the imposed political decision that had dissected his beloved Bengal gained intensity in the following years when its aftermath became evident in the socio-economic decline of Bengal and the bloody birth of Bangladesh.<\/p>\n

Like many others of his age, influenced by the Second World War, the Bengal Famine and Partition, Ghatak became a Marxist. He plunged into the Bengali unit of the Indian People\u2019s Theatre Association (IPTA) and wrote a number of plays including Sukumar Rays\u2019 Ha-ja-ba-ra-la.<\/em> After assisting director Nemai Ghosh in Chinnamul<\/em> (The Uprooted) (1951) \u2013 the first Bengali film to project the terrible consequences of Partition, Ghatak made his maiden film Nagarik <\/em>(The Citizen) (1952).<\/p>\n

\"Nagarik\"

Nagarik spoke of the angst of a young refugee Ramu\u2019s vain struggle to find a job in Calcutta and the gradual pauperization of his displaced family (Pic: YouTube)<\/p><\/div>\n

Nagarik,<\/em> like all other 8 feature films, was written and directed by Ghatak himself. It spoke of the angst of a young refugee Ramu\u2019s (Satindra Bhattacharya)<\/span> vain struggle to find a job in Calcutta and the gradual pauperization of his displaced family and also that of his beloved Uma, who with her sister and mother is similarly caught in a vortex of despair, humiliation and poverty. Though technically weak and melodramatic, the film bore the imprint of his life-long obsession with the despair of the rootless. But the film did not see release in Ghatak\u2019s lifetime, reaching the theatres 25 years after its making. In fact, all of his films, bar one, failed at the box office, forcing his celebrated contemporary Satyajit Ray to comment, \u201cHe (Ghatak) had the misfortune to be largely ignored by the Bengali film public in his lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ajantrik<\/em> (1958), Ghatak\u2019s second film was an off-beat comedy, way ahead of its time for sheer originality of theme \u2013 the director\u2019s alarm at the serious threat posed by the industrialization to the socio-cultural identity of tribals.<\/p>\n

\"Ajantrik\"

Ajantrik explores the deep loss of humanity in the industrial age, where rootless man loves his machine more than anything.
(Pic: Banglatorrents)<\/p><\/div>\n

The film traces the relationship between a ramshackle car and its owner-driver who invests it with a human personality and showers love on it. But nothing can stop the decadence from setting in and one day the car ultimately ends up in the junkyard. Reflected in the mangled heap of metal is the ultimate end of identities in the industrial age, be it man or machine, warns the director.<\/p>\n

Ghatak\u2019s anguish at the collapse of values in the modern, fractured society is perhaps best captured in Meghe Dhaka Tara <\/a><\/em>\u09ae\u09c7\u0998\u09c7 \u09a2\u09be\u0995\u09be \u09a4\u09be\u09b0\u09be (The Cloud-Capped Star) (1960), based on a novel by Shaktipada Rajguru which to this day remains one of the high points of Indian neo-realist cinema and Ghatak\u2019s \u00a0greatest commercial success at home. Sketching the tragic disintegration of a refugee family, Ghatak probes into the losing battle of morals, ideals and conscience against deprivation. Neeta <\/a>(Supriya Choudhury), the eldest daughter of the family, drives herself to almost self-annihilation to feed her parasitical family that is intent on sucking out her last drop under the burden of conflicts and unfulfilled needs. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The

The cry “Dada, ami baachte chai” (“Brother, I want to live”) resounds across the hills as Neeta’s voice echoes her heartrending need for dignity and survival. (Pic: Internet)<\/p><\/div>\n

The cry “Dada, ami baachte chai”<\/em> (\u09a6\u09be\u09a6\u09be, \u0986\u09ae\u09bf \u09ac\u09be\u0981\u099a\u09a4\u09c7 \u099a\u09be\u0987\u0964) (“Brother, I want to live”)\u00a0\u00a0resounds across the hills as Neeta’s voice echoes her heartrending need for dignity and survival, and the impact stays with the viewer long after the film has ended.\u00a0<\/span>A recent survey by a leading Indian news group reported that this\u00a0concluding line of Meghe Dhaka Tara<\/em>, was the most well-known line of any film.<\/p>\n

Melodrama, in this film, is dexterously used to heighten the effect of a situation. To portray the intensity of the mood, Ghatak uses\u00a0sound effects, and surrealistic sound in a most unusual fashion and rich doses of classical music that perfectly align with the time of the scene, such as a morning raga in the opening morning scene, a signature tune that reflect\u00a0the emotions of Neeta and the resounding strums of the veena portraying the anguish of Neeta as she slowly climbs down the stairs after discovering that her younger sister is romancing her fiance.<\/p>\n

In a masterly application of Tagore song \u201cJe rate more dooar guli bhanglo jhoDe\u201d\u00a0\u09af\u09c7 \u09b0\u09be\u09a4\u09c7 \u09ae\u09cb\u09b0 \u09a6\u09c1\u09af\u09bc\u09be\u09b0\u0997\u09c1\u09b2\u09bf \u09ad\u09be\u0999\u09b2 \u099d\u09a1\u09bc\u09c7<\/em>\u00a0 (the night my doors gave way to the rage of the storm) sung by Neeta\u2019s unemployed singer brother (Anil Chatterjee) on a stormy night, Ghatak draws out the emotional turmoil within Neeta and the crippling helplessness of her brother. \u201cI cannot speak without Tagore,\u201d Ghatak had said in an interview just before his death. \u201cThat man has culled all my feelings long before my birth. He has understood what I am and he has put in all the words.\u201d<\/p>\n

Je raate mor dooar guli<\/strong><\/em> (Meghe Dhaka Tara<\/em>, 1960) Rabindranath Tagore \/ Rabindranath Tagore \/ Debabrata Biswas, Geeta Ghatak<\/span><\/p>\n