RITWIK GHATAK

-Karunya Vinukonda
INTRODUCTION
Ritwik Ghatak, a refugee from East Bengal
(now Bangladesh)
reflected his sorrow borne out of witnessing
the biggest man-made tragedy in human
history, the Indian partition
Ghatak made politically radical films
influenced a whole new generation of film
makers the names synonymous with the Indian
New Wave cinema.


HISTORICAL ASPECT AND
EARLY LIFE

Ghatak migrated to Calcutta in early youth
His films are heavily influenced by his personal
experience of Partition
In our boyhood we have seen a Bengal, whole
and glorious. Our dreams faded away. We
crashed on our faces, clinging to the crumbling
Bengal, divested of all its glory.
Trains
the mindset of the refugees of Partition
Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA),

REFLECTIONS OF REAL LIFE
OVER CINEMA

a cinema of conflict, a conflict between
youthful idealism and the traumatic reality of
postfamine and post-partition Bengal
heightened melodrama
Satyajit Ray
Ghataks films are never detached from the
problems that plagued people in post-partition
Bengal and come smeared with the soil, the
mud and the blood of the land.
But equally, they also soar with the music, the
theatre and the great cultural traditions of his
beloved motherland.
organized and solid ideological base of Marxism
he practically comprehends the works of
Rabindranath Tagore
cinema was the only medium which had the
power to inspire the masses. In 1951, he made
the transition from theatre to cinema because
he realised its tremendous possibilities as a
socio-political instrument of change
Film-watching is a kind of ritual.

STYLE, STORY LINE
It can reach millions of people at one go,
which no other medium is capable of
Ghatak's films revolve around two central
themes: the experience of being
uprooted from the idyllic rural milieu of East
Bengal and the cultural trauma of the partition
of 1947.

SCRIPT, CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ghatak consistently layers these three
components of
women
landscape (exterior and interior)
sound and music.
employs Bengali folk music and frames Bengali
landscapes to informboth aurally and visually
Subarnarekha set in a refugee colony, called
Nabajeeban on the outskirts of Calcutta in the
1950s, illustrates beautifully his cinematic
manifestation of Partition
A passing train cuts deafeningly across the
background of a shot as Neeta sits with Sanat
by the river in Meghey Dhaka Tara,
overpowering the soundtrack entirely with its
travelling wheels, piercing whistle and
screeching breaks so as to drown out their
conversation, sabotaging the spectators ability
to hear
moment in Meghey Dhaka Tara, the camera
positions close up under Neetas chin as the
light shines on her glistening hair, giving the
impression that Neeta is looking upwards to
the twinkling light that reflects off her hair like
stars
Suddenly a whip sounds repeatedly on the
soundtrack over Shankar and Neetas singing,
prompting her to sob uncontrollably for the
first time in the film, under the burden she
carries supporting her family and losing her
own dreams. Here again, it is as if the
soundtrack pierces the image, breaking its
beauty and breaking Neeta too, breaking her
down in fact
Ajantrik generates a framing that reminds one
of a dynamic construction Bimals head is cut
off from his body while the rest of the frame
registers clear sky.
closed system of the frame is never
absolutely closed.
affective framing, carrying off with a scrap of
the sky and forming between it and the face, a
virtual conjunction
These are the key elements of Ghataks
originality in the cinema a potent mix.

Theres an association made between Bimal
(Kali Banerjee), the cab-driver hero of Ajantrik,
and his own broken-down car
Ghatak also uses some artificial-sounding
noises on the films soundtrack that oddly
evoke science fiction, as if to express his
fascination, his bemusement and amusement,
with Bimal talking to and more generally
treating his 1920 Chevrolet as if it were both a
living creature and an extension of his own
personality
The sound of this wreck being pulled away in
the final scene is especially harsh and
poignant, yet the sound of the detached car
horn still wheezing and honking when an infant
squeezes it allows the hero some sense of
triumph and joy in the films final shot.

Ghatak followed an unorthodox method of
sound composition
essentially rethink the dramaturgy of the
visuals, and affect the ways that we look at
these visuals by drawing our attention towards
certain details and away from certain others.
Ghatak seems to compose both his visual mise
en scne and his aural mise en scne in
discrete layers
employs deep focus cinematography,
permitting a certain counterpoint between
background and foreground. Ghataks sound is
often layered between music, dialogue and
sound effects that can be naturalistic (such as
the sound of food cooking on a grill, which
Malcolm mentions) or expressionistic (such as
the recurring sound of a cracked whip, which
Malcolm also mentions)
our visual attention can shift
Ghatak films melodrama is a form of alternate
realism
Ghatak takes his thoughts and emotions to the
viewer through conscious use of repeated
narrations and coincidences
interview in 1974: I am not afraid of
melodrama. Using it as a device is the
birthright of the artiste. It is a very important
form of expression in art.
Passing train carriages block the light and cast
a panel of shadow so that the area underneath
her eyes becomes darker, as if she is
exhausted, harrowed, under-slept. The
darkness under her eyes disappears when
panels of light, unblocked by the train, travel
over her face and again return with the passing
shadows. The alternation of light and shadow
traces the movement of the train onto her
face.
Meghey Dhaka Tara likewise performs
incredible transformations, this time between
the river and Neeta, who is the Cloud-Capped
Star of the films title. The relationship
between the river and Neeta begins as the
running water of the river sparkles behind the
title sequence like exquisitely formed twinkling
stars. Later on, the moonlight reflecting off the
river filters across Neetas face in the darkness
of her bedroom suggest the passing clouds
over the night sky and over her face
As Neetas situation worsens with Sanat, her
sweetheart, marrying her sister Geeta tiny
particles of light stream through the thin gaps
between the bamboo strips woven to form the
family hut, twinkling in a way that recalls the
river of the title sequence, as Shankar and
Neeta sing together
Nagarik (Th e Citizen ) (1953) released
Ajantrik (Pathetic Fallacy or The Un
mechanical) (19578)
Bari Thekey Paliye (Runnin g Away From
Home) (1959)
Meg hey Dhaka Tara (The Cloud Capped Star)
(1960)
Komal Gandhar (The Gandhar Sub lime or
EFlat)(1961)
Subarnarekha (The Golden Line) (1962)
Titas Ekti Nadir Naam (A River Named Titus
)(1973)

Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (Arguments and a Story
or Reason , Debate and a Tale) (1974)
Short Films:
Fear (1965) in Hindi
Rendezvous (Rajendra Nath Shukla, 1965
Civil Defence (1965) at Film & Television
Institute of India, Pune
Durbar Gati Padma (The Turbulent Padma)
(1971)

CONCLUSION
to focus more intently on the screen.
Ghataks cinema asks us to contemplate
deeply of the universe to focus more
intently rather than be entertained

REFERENCES
Hcl.harvard.edu
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: Rutgers University Press
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Urban Performance in India since 1947 .: University of Iowa Press
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Hayward, Susan. Cinema Studies : Key Concepts.: Routledge
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Daiya, Kavita. Violent Belongings : Partition, Gender, and Postcolonial Nationalism in
India. : Temple University Press
Cardullo, Bert. Out of Asia : The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, Abbas
Kiraostami, and Zhang Yimou; Essays and Interviews.: Cambridge Scholars
Publishing,
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www.upperstall.com
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www.rouge.com
www.bargad.org
Mubi.com
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www.ejumpcot.org

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