ritwik ghatak

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RITWIK GHATAK

-Karunya Vinukonda


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INTRODUCTION

Ritwik Ghatak, a refugee from East Bengal(now Bangladesh)

reflected his sorrow borne out of witnessingthe biggest man-made tragedy in human

history, the Indian partition Ghatak made politically radical films

influenced a whole new generation of filmmakers the names synonymous with the IndianNew Wave cinema.


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HISTORICAL ASPECT AND

EARLY LIFE Ghatak migrated to Calcutta in early youth

His films are heavily influenced by his personalexperience of Partition

In our boyhood we have seen a Bengal, whole

and glorious. Our dreams faded away. Wecrashed on our faces, clinging to the crumblingBengal, divested of all its glory.

Trains

the mindset of the refugees of Partition

Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA),


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REFLECTIONS OF REAL LIFE

OVER CINEMA a cinema of conflict, a conflict between

youthful idealism and the traumatic reality ofpostfamine and post-partition Bengal

heightened melodrama

Satyajit Ray Ghataksfilms are never detached from the

problems that plagued people in post-partitionBengal and come smeared with the soil, themud and the blood of the land.

But equally, they also soar with the music, thetheatre and the great cultural traditions of hisbeloved motherland.


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organized and solid ideological base of Marxism

he practically comprehends the works ofRabindranath Tagore

cinema was the only medium which had the

power to inspire the masses. In 1951, he madethe transition from theatre to cinema becausehe realised its tremendous possibilities as asocio-political instrument of change

Film-watching is a kind of ritual.


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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 centralthemes: the experience of being

uprooted from the idyllic rural milieu of EastBengal and the cultural trauma of the partitionof 1947.


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SCRIPT, CINEMATOGRAPHY

Ghatak consistently layers these threecomponents of

women

landscape (exterior and interior)

sound and music. employs Bengali folk music and frames Bengali

landscapes to informboth aurally and visually


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Subarnarekha set in a refugee colony, calledNabajeeban on the outskirts of Calcutta in the1950s, illustrates beautifully his cinematicmanifestation of Partition


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A passing train cuts deafeningly across thebackground of a shot as Neeta sits with Sanatby the river in Meghey Dhaka Tara,overpowering the soundtrack entirely with its

travelling wheels, piercing whistle andscreeching breaks so as to drown out theirconversation, sabotaging the spectators abilityto hear


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moment in Meghey Dhaka Tara, the camerapositions close up under Neetas chin as thelight shines on her glistening hair, giving theimpression that Neeta is looking upwards to

the twinkling light that reflects off her hair likestars


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Suddenly a whip sounds repeatedly on thesoundtrack over Shankar and Neetas singing,prompting her to sob uncontrollably for thefirst time in the film, under the burden she

carries supporting her family and losing herown dreams. Here again, it is as if thesoundtrack pierces the image, breaking itsbeauty and breaking Neeta too, breaking herdown in fact


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Ajantrik generates a framing that reminds oneof a dynamic construction Bimalshead is cutoff from his body while the rest of the frameregisters clear sky.

closed system of the frame is neverabsolutely closed.

affective framing, carrying off with a scrap ofthe sky and forming between it and the face, a

virtual conjunction


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These are the key elements of Ghataksoriginality in the cinema a potent mix.


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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 oddlyevoke science fiction, as if to express hisfascination, his bemusement and amusement,with Bimal talking to and more generallytreating his 1920 Chevrolet as if it were both aliving creature and an extension of his own

personality


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The sound of this wreck being pulled away inthe final scene is especially harsh andpoignant, yet the sound of the detached carhorn still wheezing and honking when an infantsqueezes it allows the hero some sense oftriumph and joy in the films final shot.


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Ghatak followed an unorthodox method ofsound composition

essentially rethink the dramaturgy of thevisuals, and affect the ways that we look at

these visuals by drawing our attention towardscertain details and away from certain others.

Ghatak seems to compose both his visual miseen scne and his aural mise en scne indiscrete layers


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employs deep focus cinematography,permitting a certain counterpoint betweenbackground and foreground. Ghatakssound isoften layered between music, dialogue andsound effects that can be naturalistic (such asthe sound of food cooking on a grill, whichMalcolm mentions) or expressionistic (such asthe recurring sound of a cracked whip, whichMalcolm also mentions)

our visual attention can shift


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Ghatak films melodrama is a form of alternaterealism

Ghatak takes his thoughts and emotions to theviewer through conscious use of repeated

narrations and coincidences interview in 1974: I am not afraid of

melodrama. Using it as a device is thebirthright of the artiste. It is a very importantform of expression in art.


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Passing train carriages block the light and casta panel of shadow so that the area underneathher eyes becomes darker, as if she isexhausted, harrowed, under-slept. Thedarkness under her eyes disappears whenpanels of light, unblocked by the train, travelover her face and again return with the passingshadows. The alternation of light and shadowtraces the movement of the train onto herface.


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Meghey Dhaka Tara likewise performsincredible transformations, this time betweenthe river and Neeta, who is the Cloud-CappedStar of the films title. The relationshipbetween the river and Neeta begins as therunning water of the river sparkles behind thetitle sequence like exquisitely formed twinklingstars. Later on, the moonlight reflecting off theriver filters across Neetas face in the darknessof her bedroom suggest the passing clouds

over the night sky and over her face


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As Neetas situation worsens with Sanat, hersweetheart, marrying her sister Geeta tinyparticles of light stream through the thin gapsbetween the bamboo strips woven to form thefamily hut, twinkling in a way that recalls theriver of the title sequence, as Shankar andNeeta sing together


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Nagarik (Th e Citizen ) (1953) released

Ajantrik (Pathetic Fallacy or The Unmechanical) (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 orEFlat)(1961)

Subarnarekha (The Golden Line) (1962) Titas Ekti Nadir Naam (A River Named Titus

)(1973)


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Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (Arguments and a Storyor 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)


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CONCLUSION

to focus more intently on the screen.

Ghatakscinema asks us to contemplatedeeply of the universe to focus moreintently rather than be entertained


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REFERENCES

Hcl.harvard.edu

Virdi, Jyotika. The Cinematic ImagiNation: Indian Popular Film as Social History.

: Rutgers University Press

Dharwadker, Aparna Bhargava. Theatres of Independence : Drama, Theory, andUrban Performance in India since 1947 .: University of Iowa Press

Banker, Ashok. Bollywood.: Pocket Essentials

Hayward, Susan. Cinema Studies : Key Concepts.: Routledge

Khan, M.A.. Encyclopaedia of Mass Media, Volume III. : Himalaya Publishing House Daiya, Kavita. Violent Belongings : Partition, Gender, and Postcolonial Nationalism inIndia. : Temple University Press

Cardullo, Bert. Out of Asia : The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Satyajit Ray, AbbasKiraostami, and Zhang Yimou; Essays and Interviews.: Cambridge ScholarsPublishing,

www.chaocenter.rice.edu

www.upperstall.com

www.filmref.com

www.rouge.com

www.bargad.org

Mubi.com

www.chaosmag.in

www.ejumpcot.org
http://www.chaocenter.rice.edu/http://www.upperstall.com/http://www.filmref.com/http://www.rouge.com/http://www.rouge.com/http://www.filmref.com/http://www.upperstall.com/http://www.chaocenter.rice.edu/


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