ritwik ghatak suffers outside india from not being satyajit ray. to most american and british audiences ray is alternative indian cinema just as kurosawa is alternative japanese cinema and the attention to the "universal" appeal of these auteurs' films obscures the pioneering work of many other great film-makers (as well, of course, much of their own work--the ray of "mahanagar" is not the ray of "pather panchali", for instance, or at least not in the same way).similarly non-indian audiences are not always attuned to the role of music and songs in indian films. in ghatak's cinema (and "komal gandhar" in particular) music is used not just to advance the story-line as in say the great bombay films of guru dutt but formally as well. ghatak intentionally mixed folk and popular art forms in an attempt to create a new form of political expression and this is nowhere as effective as in the most personal of his early films, "komal gandhar" which draws upon his days in the IPTA-- a theater group that included composers such as salil chowdhury whose songs, "obak prithibi" among them, are featured prominently in this film. the impact of these songs is not translatable in subtitles and it is not surprising that non bengali/indian audiences might think of this as just another example of extraneous song and dances numbers inserted into an indian film.it is a shame that ghatak's films are not widely available in india let alone in the the world outside. but those in the san francisco area should not miss the opportunity to view this and a number of ghatak's other masterpieces starting this very weekend (end of may, 2001).
SynopsisThis film is also known as E-Flat. It is part of Ghatak's trilogy on post-partition Bengal, along with Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960) and Subarnarekha (1965).About the filmSaid to be Ghatak’s favorite film, the quasi-autobiographical E-Flat portrays the People’s Theater Movement of the late 1940s, agonizing over its jealousies and schisms as two rival groups seek to put on a joint production. The title comes from a Tagore poem in which a girl is compared with a particular melody and the melody, in turn, with Bengal. The script has an equally elaborate structure in which the divided mind of the film’s heroine, Anasuya, mirrors the divided leadership of the People’s Theater and, ultimately, a divided Bengal.About the directorIt is one of life's greatest ironies that Ritwik Ghatak who is today something of a cult figure in Bengal was so little understood and appreciated during his lifetime. Today his films have won much critical acclaim but the fact remains that in their time they ran to mainly empty houses in Bengal. Ghatak's films project a unique sensibility. They are often brilliant, but almost always flawed.Ghatak was born in Dhaka now in Bangladesh. The partition of Bengal, the division of a culture was something that haunted Ghatak forever. Ghatak joined the left-wing Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) where he worked for a few years as a playwright, actor and director. When IPTA split into factions, Ghatak turned to filmmaking.By and large 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.Ghatak's first film was Nagrik (1952) about a young man's search for a job and the erosion of his optimism and idealism as his family sinks into abject poverty and his love affair too turns sour. Ghatak then accepted a job with Filmistan Studio in Bombay but his 'different' ideas did not go down well there. He did however write the scripts of Musafir (1957) and Madhumati (1958) for Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Bimal Roy respectively, the latter becoming an all time evergreen hit.Ghatak returned to Calcutta and made Ajantrik (1958) about a taxi driver in a small town in Bihar and his vehicle an old Chevrolet jalopy. An assortment of passengers gives the film a wider frame of reference and provided situations of drama, humour and irony.But perhaps his best work was Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960),the first film in a trilogy examining the socio-economic implications of partition. The protagonist Nita (played by Supriya Chowdhury) is the breadwinner in a refugee family of five. Everyone exploits her and the strain proves too much. She succumbs to tuberculosis. In an unforgettable moment, as the dying Nita cries out "I want to live…", the camera pans across the mountains accentuating the indifference and eternity of nature even as the echo reverberates over the shot.Ghatak followed it up with Komal Gandhar (1961) concerning two rival touring theatre companies in Bengal and Subarnarekha (1965). The last is a strangely disturbing film using melodrama and coincidence as a form rather than mechanical reality.Ghatak also had a brief stint as Vice-Principal of the Film And Television Institute of India (Pune), a time he recalled as a happy experience. However his next film Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (1973) done for a young Bangladesh producer was not.The film on the life and eventual disintegration of a fishing community on the Titash, was completed after many problems at the shooting stage including his collapse due to tuberculosis and was a commercial failure.Ghatak made one more film before his death Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (1974) the most autobiographical and allegorical of his films. He himself played the main role of Nilkanta an alcoholic intellectual and the film is remembered for his stunning use of the wide-angle lens to most potent effect.
