“24 Truths per Second” Godard said, Ghatak showed!
iView Author:
Medha Dutt
(Kolkata, India)
E-mail:
primidutt [at] gmail [dot] com
“24 Truths per Second “
The famous French New Wave director, Jean-Luc Godard, was very right when he said of Cinema, that it is “24 truths per second”. And nowhere do we find it more so than in the films of Ritwik Ghatak.
I know there are many others, like, Ray, Sen, Benegal, Nihalini, Mani Kaul, but maybe being a Ghatak fan, his name is the first to come to mind! No offense!
Ghatak’s filmography is deceptively small – in his lifetime, apart from short films and documentaries, he directed eight films in all. All, except one, Meghe Dhaaka Taara, sank without a trace at the box office. Ghatak’s Meghe Dhaaka Taara was a part of a trilogy about the refugees in Kolkata after the partition of Bengal. Incidentally Ghatak himself was a native of East Bengal.
It is said that this great film maker directed his movies from his mind. He had no papers with him while directing, used no sketches and drawings like Ray. His vision lay in his mind. No financers came forward to back Ghatak’s films, the result being that he could not use a large number of cameras, nor could he afford to can unnecessary shots or depend on retakes. He operated on a shoe-string budget.
Ghatak lived in near poverty all his life. Even when the Government of West Bengal decided to gift him an accommodation (after his movie Meghe Dhaaka Taaraa was declared a hit), he turned it down. According to him, he could not be a hypocrite and accept a gift from the same Government which he was deriding in his films. He preferred to stay in his far from comfortable living quarters.
Ritwik Ghatak was a man of phenomenal talent. He inspired film makers like Mani Kaul, John Abraham, and Kumar Shahani when he was Dean at the FTII, Pune. Ghatak was equally well known for his addiction to alcohol. His frustrations and repeated failures with film making did little to save him from alcoholism. When his contemporaries like Ray, and much later, Sen, were busy attending International Film Festivals with their films, Ghatak kept himself busy with slowing killing himself with alcohol.
Today when Ghatak is taught at all leading film institutes across the globe, it would be ironic to know that in his lifetime, this great film maker was unknown outside India. In India too, apart from West Bengal and maybe some niche audience, he was not well recognized. Ghatak had flown ‘abroad’ only once – to his old home, East Bengal, which was originally a part of India, till it was partitioned and declared ‘foreign’.
Ghatak could never let go of the pain that the partition of Bengal caused him. In his films he repeated goes back to the theme of the partition. We see displaced families, we see hunger, we see death, we see the attitudes of the times, in every scene we are confronted with the truth of the moment.
His films, though not great stories in themselves (in fact rather weak stories), are elevated to a plain where they emerge as great films. The credit undoubtedly is Ghatak’s alone. For an example, let’s take the film Subarnarekha, part of his trilogy on partition.
The story has just too many coincidences. The story revolves around Ishwar Chandra, who adopts a small boy named Abhiram into his household, where he stays with his much younger sister, Sita. When Abhiram and Sita grow up, they fall in love, Ishwar discovers that Abhiram is of low caste and he immediately turns him out of the house. Sita elopes with him, and together they move to Kolkata to try and eke out a living. Years pass, and we see the couple have a son, but are reduced to unimaginable poverty. After failing to get work, Abhiram finally gets the job of a State bus driver. Now begin the coincidences – On the very first day, Abhiram accidentally kills a man due to fault in bus’ breaks, the incensed mob lynches Abhiram, driven to the edge, Sita finally succumbs to prostitution, in the mean time, her elder brother is in town and he wants to forget his sorrows and just have some fun. For the first time in his life, he decides to visit a prostitute, and no points for guessing which house he’s led to! On seeing her drunken brother at her doorstep as her first customer, Sita of course kills herself.
I don’t think I’ve ever come across a more melodrama ridden plot! This story in the hands of a lesser director would have been just what it was, an over the top melodramatic Bollywoodish movie. But with Ghatak, it has risen, and how!
It is a pity that this great film maker passed away without being conferred with his due honor. Ghatak died of cirrhosis of liver. Apart from a handful of film personalities who visited the PG Horpital in Kolkata after his death, Satyajit Ray was the only person to have been present there till the funeral.
Godard’s famous quote can sum up life as well, “24 truths per second“.
Tags: Bengali, Direction
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Never knew this side of Mr. Ghatak. Thanks for sharing. Ah! makes me want to run to the stupid desi DVD store here and tell them to get good cinema! Anyway, more Ghatak movies on my plate as I start falling in love with Indian cinema all over again.
good one Medha … keep them coming !!!
i guess you have seen “juktu takko gappo”….one of the prime examples of filmmaking…..ghatak just turns it into a rivetting experience….it is infact very unlike bengali/indian cinema….
my favourite, Ajantrik. It is very interesting that ghatak used melodrama to a large extent in his films. These days, the word melodrama has become kind of a derogatory term in film parlance. But Ghatak’s treatment of melodrama was amazing. It has been correctly pointed out that SubarnaRekha could have been a disaster by any other director, but Ghatak’s interpretation changed the whole outlook.
good read
=p~
Yup Arijit, Jukti… was something.
Ghatak mesmerises. He actually can make the screen talk to you. Komal Gandhar after half-a-dozen bottles of beer was totally transporting.
Dhonnobad Medha
By the way, does anyone have any info on Gautam Chatterjee’s movies? Anyone seen Nagmoni or can tell where to find it? Calcutta and Pune crowd, what say?
@Medha,
Nice post. informative on Ritwik Ghatak. Its good that Ritwik Ghatak is covered on PFC.
Have seen 2.5 films ( M D T and Titas Ekti Nadir Naam and half of Subranarekha).
Storywise Titas also has very ordinary story but Ghatak’s visual presentation is very impressive.
I do feel to cover this film sometime.
MDT has been mentioned a lot everywhere. Camera work in Titas like ordinary story is amazing.
@Medha,
thanks for this.
but i do have an issue with this “It is a pity that this great film maker passed away without being conferred with his due honor.”
who decides whether he passed away without being conferred his due honour???
im dead sure Ghatak wouldnt like to be remembered the way he is remembered now or in any way u deem as ‘due honour’
he was an idealist…
so was john…
they wouldnt care to be a ’symbol’ in any sense of the term… as long as people made films they honestly felt like making…
dpac
if i may.
article is not about what ghatak would have liked.
it is about what we missed.
:(
of course u may vishrant…
i specifically pointed to what i think was presumption on Medha’s part when i mentioned the section of the transcript.
nothing more or less.
what ‘we’ missed if our own ‘miss’
shabbas Medha Shabbash…
Great RITWIK GHATAK will always be rememberd for his great works. It will always haunt us by making us realise how much we have missed!
MANY MANY Thanks for this article Medha!
Thank you guys! Ritwik Ghatak is my top most favorite. I can go on and on about him. Someone I consider to be the greatest of all film makers, for the simple reason that he believed in his art and never compromised on his stand despite hardships.