Adoor rates Ritwik Ghatak's 3 films as all-time favourite

Kolkata, Nov 12 (PTI) Describing auteur Ritwik Ghatak as one of the foremost torch bearers of Indian cinema, his student at the Pune film institute and eminent director Adoor Gopalakrishnan on Wednesday rated three of his films as his most favourite all-time classics besides others.

Speaking at a discussion to commemorate the birth centenary of Ghatak at the 31st Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF), Gopalakrishnan said like Ghatak, he also came from theatre background.

"Ghatak's cinematic exercises were unique in their conceptual originiality, untamed energy and incisive observation of everyday life," Gopalakrishnan said, describing him as one of the foremost torchbearers of Indian cinema who had not got due recognition.

Gopalakrishnan described Ghatak's ‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’ (1960), ‘Subarnarekha’ (1965) and ‘Ajantrik’ (1958) as all-time classics apart from the story and script of Hindi film ‘Madhumati’ also written by him.

"I certainly retained some of the influences of Ritwik Ghatak's films in my work, including melodrama, in my own way," he said to a question.

Pointing out the unconventional use of sound and images in Ghatak's films, the legendary Malayalam film maker said his teacher brought many practices from theatres where he had been involved and used them in cinema.

Recalling the days in 1963 when he was in the second year of the Pune film institute, when Ghatak joined as Vice-Principal, the ‘Mukhamukham’ director said, "We were excited as we waited for him to take classes and tell us about the use of sounds and use of unusual angles." He was an iconoclast in his approach to cinema and his use of visuals and sound was unconventional, Gopalakrishnan said.

About the perception regarding Ghatak's alcoholism, he said, "We never saw him coming to the classroom in an inebriated condition. We would rather always see him carrying books in his hands." The discussion on Ghatak in KIFF was also held on Tuesday when participants said that he films of Ghatak brought to the fore a 'collective refugee experience' and retains their relevance even today.

They also rue that Ghatak, known for making films on India's partition in the eastern border, did not get any acknowledgement despite his films talking about human displacement.

Supriyo Sen, eminent independent filmmaker and director of acclaimed documentaries, recalled how he came to know Ghatak through his movies.

"I heard from my father how we left East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, in the early 1950s and settled here. When I first watched Ritwik's films, the words of my father and the experience of my family members - as I heard from them - echoed in my mind," said Sen at the seminar held on Tuesday.

The maker of documentaries and films like 'Way Back Home', 'The Nest', 'Hope Dies Last in War' and 'Wagah', said his association with Ghatak was through his "partition-related films that brought to the fore a collective refugee experience".

"His films acted as spark as it narrated the tale of the displaced like it is about an unrealised promised land," Sen said.

Ghatak could not reach that promised land before he went to Bangladesh and made 'Titash Ekti Nadir Naam' (A river named Titash,1973), produced by Habibur Rahman of that country, Sen said.

Coming to the present political situation "where partition still haunts us", Sen said during his visit to Bangladesh with his father, he could meet the fictional characters in Ritwik's film like Ramprasad and Kader during interaction with the people there and sensed the bonding that is intrinsically embedded.

Actor-director Parambrata Chatterjee, who is the grandnephew of Ghatak, said that when he was 15 or 16 years of age, he came to watch Ritwik's film 'Komol Gandhar' (1961) with his mother and "it remained with me." Describing the phase, preceding and succeeding the partition era, as the "biggest human displacement in modern history," Chatterjee said apart from Ghatak's, there was not much reflection of the turbulent times, of bloodshed and violence in movies made by other film makers of the time.

"I am a proud Indian, I am also fundamentally a Bengali. Not a Hindu Bengali, as I believe Bengalis of all communities were shuddered by the jolt of partition. Ritwik Ghatak dwelt on this partition-riddled past and his films were much impactful. There should be more studies and research on his works," Chatterjee said.

Eminent director Ashoke Viswanathan said that unlike several others, Ghatak was very little influenced by any film movement and followed his own path.

"In 'Jukti Takko Aar Goppo" (1974), he shunned narratives and the way he positioned camera added more depth to the frames," he said.

Referring to the rebellious streak of Ghatak, Viswanathan, the Dean (Film) of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI), said, "Ritwik used to curse his films and himself. He was instinctive. Even during acting, he showed his intense emotion and passion in every shot." Ghatak, who was born in 1925 in Dhaka in present-day Bangladesh, had debuted in film making from 'Ajantrik' (1958) and then went on to make 'Bari Theke Paliye' (1958), 'Meghe Dhaka Tara' (1960), 'Komal Gandhar' (1961), 'Subarnarekha' (1965), 'Nagraik' (1977) and 'Jukti Takko Aar Gappo' (1974). PTI SUS NN