The man who could have been the father of alternative Indian cinema had his film Nagarik been released before Pather Panchali, Ritwik Ghatak spent his lifetime in the shadow of another Bengali stalwart, Oscar winning filmmaker Satyajit Ray, who never failed to take away the limelight, while the former struggled to finance his projects and battled relentlessly with a 'variety of personal and political demons.'
A decade ago, on the occasion of Ghatak's 75th birth anniversary, the Ritwik Memorial Trust took a few good steps, such as publishing the script of his film Meghe Dhaka Tara. This preceded the formal release of the Ritwik Special issue the 'Ekushe Samsad' journal entitled Ebong Pratarka by the celebrated actress Madhabi Mukherjee. Three documentaries of Ritwik Ghatak - Puruliar Chhou, Amar Lenin and Rendezvous - were also screened on this occasion at Calcutta's Nandan II.
In the late 1990s , when all eight Bengali feature films of Ritwik Ghatak were screened at the New York Film Festival, American audiences received them with great ebullience. Critic Jacob Levich summed up: "Taken as a whole, Ghatak's work emerges as a challenge to received notions about Indian film culture and history, as well as a force to be reckoned with by anyone who aspires to know or claims to care about world cinema."
The Wild Child from the Banks of Padma
Nostalgia for an undivided Bengal form the underlying theme of many Ghatak films. Even in his writings he fondly reminisces his childhood years in East Bengal, now Bangladesh: "My days were spent on the banks of the Padma the days of an unruly and wild child. The people on the passenger boats looked like dwellers of some distant planet… In the drizzling rain a joyful tune would float in the village air, pulling at one's heartstrings with the sudden gusts of wind. I have rocked in the steamer on the turbulent river after dark, and listened to the rhythmic sound of the engines… In the autumn, once I sailed off on a boat and lost my way among tall grasses where snakes hide…"
The Partition and the Pain
Ritwik, like many Bengalis of his generation (including my own parents), was a refugee from East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. He loved his birthplace East Bengal more than anything. The partition of Bengal was like an immutable blemish in his soul, and the agony of being a refugee feature in most of his films. In his collection of essays entitled 'Cinema and I', Ghatak says: "Being a Bengali from East Pakistan, I have seen the untold miseries inflicted on my people in the name of independence - which is a fake and a sham. I have reacted violently to this." Jukti Takko Ar Gappo, Shei Bishnupriya, and Titas Ekti Nadir Naam, the movie filmed in Bangladesh, powerfully portray this aspect of Ghatak's grouse.
Ritwik's Remarkable Repertoire
Ritwik Ghatak passed away in 1976, at the age of 51. He made 8 full-length feature films - Nagarik (1952), Ajantrik (1957), Bari Theke Paliye (1959), Meghe Dhaka Tara (1961), Komal Gandhar (1961), Subarnarekha (1962), Titas Ekti Nadir Naam (1973), Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (1974). As actor, Ritwik appeared in Tathapi (1950) and Chinnamul (1950). Ghatak wrote the script of six films, viz., Madhumati (1955), Musafir (1955), Swaralipi (1961), Kumari Mon (1962), Dwiper Naam Tiyarang (1962), Raj Kanya (1962). His documentary films include, Adivasiyon Ka Jeevan Srot (1954), Bihar Ke Darshaniya Sthan (1954), Scissors (ad film) (1962), Ustad Allauddin Khan (1962), Scientists of Tomorrow (1967) and Puruliar Chhou Nritya (1970). Ghatak also made some short films, like Fear (1965), Rendezvous (1965), Amar Lenin (1970), Yeh Kyun (1970) and Durbargati Padma (1971). A good number of works remain unfinished because of his untimely death. These include four features - Bedeni (1952), Kata Ajanare (1959), Bagalar Bangadarshan (1964), Raunger Golam (1968), and two documentary films - Indira Gandhi (1972) and Ramkinkar (1975).
The Most Bengali of Directors
Film critics could hardly see through the art of Ritwik's creations, especially his powerfully realistic and morbid themes, and so he rarely got a sound critical appraisal from the intellectual milieu in his lifetime. Satyajit Ray in a memorial lecture after Ghatak's death, said: "Ritwik's films have a special character… the main virtue of Ritwik was his distinctiveness, his originality, and this he maintained till the end. He had in him this influence of Soviet cinema, and of theatre in the dialogue, content and conclusions of his films. And these two elements were nourished by something that was rooted in the soil of Bengal. Ritwik was a Bengali director in heart and soul, a Bengali artist much more of a Bengali than anyone."
| Books by Ritwik Ghatak |
| Cinema and I Rupa and Co, Calcutta, India, 1987 |
| Chalachitra Manush Ebong Aro Kichhu (Bengali), 1975 |
| Books on Ritwik Ghatak |
| Ritwik (Bengali) by Surama Ghatak |
| Ritwik Kumar Ghatak : A Monograph by Haimanti Banerjee |
| Profiles - Five Film-makers from India : V. Shantaram, Raj Kapoor, Mrinal Sen, Guru Dutt, Ritwik Ghatak by Shampa Banerjee |
| Ritwik Ghatak : A Return to the Epic Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Screen Unit, Bombay |
| Ritwik Ghatak - Arguments/Stories edited by Amrit Gangar and Ashish Rajadhyaksha Screen Unit, Bombay, 1982 |
| Podma Thheke Titash (Bengali) by Surama Ghatak |
| Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (Bengali) edited by Atanu Pal, Banishilpo, Calcutta, 1988 |
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