Nagorik – A Glimpse of Ghatak’s Genius.
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Given the chance of writing about movies and movie experience here on PFC, I had been thinking about the experience of watching a movie that I wanted to share with you all. Until last week, I had no idea which one I’d choose. That’s when I chanced on the DVD of Nagarik/Nagorik. This movie is by Ritwick Ghatak whom I am getting to know slowly. He needs no introduction and I feel, I have not known him enough through his movies to give you an introduction.
I had been postponing watching his movies for some time. One major reason is that I am still new to Bangla and our Indian movie subtitles are absolutely HORRENDOUS. I had seen Meghe Dhaka Tara recently and the movie impressed me but I was trying to read the subtitles more than watch the movie in the first place. The second reason is that half of the time, I have to pause the movie and ask my wife what the dialogue meant, courtesy the subtitles. Thus, it takes a long time to watch a Bangla movie, especially with my sublime command over the language. The only actor I knew who worked in Nagorik is Keshto Mukherjee who has a significant but small role. That should pretty much sum up my expertise in Bangla cinema.
When my wife was looking for information about this movie online, she said to me that this was Mr. Ghatak’s first feature film which was released only after his death. Well, if you are interested in his life and work, I am sure the WWW is a huge place to get all the information you want. Unfortunately, that is not the case for his movies. There was only one website that was selling his movies with English subtitles and I ordered his entire collection.
Anyway, I finally got to watch it and I have no doubt in my mind when I say that this movie is by far one of the best by anyone making their first film. The movie is written and directed by Mr. Ghatak. The movie is about Ramu, a young man of post-partition Kolkata, who is in search of a job. He is educated and is from a family that used to lead a comfortable life before partition. He has a sister Seeta, who has not had the chance to study and their parents are having a tough time finding a match for her. Whenever there is someone who comes to their place to look at Seeta, they treat Seeta like an inanimate object and shamelessly check to see if she can walk or how long her hair is. His mother is always yearning of the good old times they had and his father has lost all hope and has a cynical attitude towards life. Ramu completely disagrees with his father and believes that good times are around the corner. All he needs to do is get a job. He has a calendar on the wall with a picture of a home and green pastures of land all around. He promises his mother his sister and his lady love Uma about getting such a home as soon as he gets a job. His mother takes in Mr. Sagar Sen a chemist, as a paying guest to help pay the rent. Ramu fails to find a job and all his attempts go in vain. Uma’s family also dependent on Ramu getting a job and so is Jatin, who lives in the same building as Uma and is always trying to get some money from Ramu.
Time passes by and the family gets more dependent on Sagar than Ramu and this is humiliating for him. Seeta in her effort to support Ramu is very harsh on Sagar. As the family loses the father and his pension, they are kicked out of the home by the landlord. Jatin also moves to living in a basti in the meantime. Uma offers to help Ramu set up his new home and Ramu finds hope and comfort in her coming along with him. Seeta professes her love to Sagar and he admits to his love for her as well but, he is unwilling to take the relationship any further as he has lost his job. Ramu overhears this conversation and is touched by the moment. He convinces Sagar to stay and they decide to live together as a family. The movie ends with the family leaving to live in a smaller home in a basti and another family coming in to live in this neighbourhood.
The mood of the film is depressing and frustrating. Mr. Ghatak keeps that atmosphere alive and steady by using timely background scores and silences which have a profound effect on the viewer. Given the times in which the movie was made and also the limited resources, it is amazing to see how the screenplay and editing play to the advantage of the film. The movement from one scene to another is never explicit and is most of the time agreeable and subtle. A lot of the scenes are shot with optimal camera positioning and movement. Simply put. Awesome!! The acting is mostly theatrical but it in harmony with the mood and the tone of the film. Also, a narrator is used to bind the passage of time. As I was watching the movie, I felt that I had a strange connection with the narrator than the lead actors themselves, which according to me was a definite connection with the director. (One shouldn’t ever give up the chance for self-praise at any time) The story takes its time to unfold and Mr. Ghatak had the capability to weave in a thin layer of suspense (for the lack of a better word), in the story. The denouement is inspiring and also brings in a new life into the movie.
A few scenes I would like to share. One where Seeta is standing outside her house lost in her thoughts when the landlord arrives for the rent is one of the best. There is a kite stuck probably on the electric wire and it slightly flutters as the wind passes by, trying to find just the right amount of push to get away from where it is and on the other end is Seeta. Simple and effective! Ramu’s dream life is on a calendar on his wall which has a picture of a house surrounded by green pastures. He is always thinking of getting a home like that as soon as he finds a job. Although he is unsuccessful in every attempt, he always dreams. This is a point of contention with his father who keeps telling him that his job search is a gamble and there is no hope for him. Ramu’s father uses his own life as an example to show Ramu what he means. At the end of the movie when everyone leaves the house, Ramu tears up the calendar. He realizes that he doesn’t have an option but to fight for his survival, because to give up hope would be equivalent to giving up life itself. live rather than dream of one. So, he decides to face reality rather than living in his world of dreams.
I had always heard about Mr. Ghatak and his work, but I never ventured to watch any. Mostly because, I had the impression of ending up watching a ’sad’ movie. Thank God, I grew out of such ideas in time. I think this movie has made me walk on the path where I shall get to know about one of India’s most talented directors of all time. I am all excited……
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
I have only seen Meghe Dakha Tara – It completely blew me away with its genius.
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Theatricality is what he wants to have in the act of his actors.Bijon Bhattacharya(writer and director of ‘Nabanna’),from whom the modern theatre of India had taken shape,had once told that Rittwik had believed in an way that is larger than life.Rittwik was a great theatre director too and loved to act and direct ‘Passion Plays’(My terms in modern sense,not the European one).This film was made before ‘Pather Panchali’ and was seen after his death only.He was very silent on this venture. He never had the privilage of pioneering true Indian Cinema,but he is the onem, who was original(even according to Ray himself)Indian maker not schooled in Hollywoodish childishness. He(without being prejudiced by common Bengali origin) was the one who taught what can be Indian cinema,by not being cinema from/of India. Wish you very best in your discovery of Rittwik,one MAESTRO of WORLD CINEMA.
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I really loved this film.
Ghatak was an real technicial.
If you turn off the volume, the first shot of the movie, with the camera panning across the city – actually seems like french cinema.
I remember one more scene where the camera focuses on a street square but views it from a window above in a building across the street.
almost unbelievable that the film was made in 1952
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Thanks Shashank, SuddhaSatya and, Vinayak for taking your time to read my post.
Sarang-
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I have also seen his Meghe Dakha Tara its a masterpiece.
I recently came across this interesting page on Ritwik Ghatak,
http://www.induna.com/598-artistdetails/
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a very good post. thank you.
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