KOMAL GANDHAR!Forget not Ritwik Ghatak and his musicality, melodrama,sound design,frames to understand Partition of India!
Palash Biswas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym-F7lAMlHk
They kept the Zamindari and their Riyasat and partitioned India,Indian people and turned the nation into Zamindari,Riyasat.It is the caste class hegemony against which Ritwik Ghatak made his films!Komal Gandhar is the masterpiece to understand India and us,the Indian People!
It is overlapping Abhigyan Shkuntalam and the Buffer shot zooms in present scenario of BEEF BAN and BEEF Festival,both of which oppose India and Indian people!Polarizing us with religious and caste identities.It is politics as as well as the economics of Free Marge Global Order,Global Hindutva and governance of Fascism!
The story is about partition and its impact,IPTA and Indian Communist movement!
I am grateful to You Tube for the clippings!I am grateful to Ei Samay for Kumar Sahani interviewed which opened the opportunity for me to discuss the Partition of India,transfer of population and its impact.I extended the frame of the Webcam and the frame.It is an experiment. If you endorse it,I may present other stories of partition!
Komal Gandhar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Komal Gandhar (Bengali: কোমল গান্ধার Kōmal Gāndhār),[1] also known as A Soft Note on a Sharp Scale, is a 1961 Bengali film[2] written and directed by noted film maker Ritwik Ghatak.[3][4][5] The title refers to the Hindustaniequivalent of "E-flat". It was part of the trilogy, Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), Komal Gandhar, and Subarnarekha (1962), all dealing with the aftermath of the Partition of India in 1947 and the refugees coping with it, though this was the most optimistic film of his oeuvre.[6] The film explores three themes juxtaposed in the narrative, the dilemma of Anusuya, the lead character, divided leadership of IPTA and the fallout of the partition of India.[7]
I was born in a refugee resettlement colony.I was brought up there and witnessed the absent humanscape and landscape,the lost musicality,sound system,six seasons and overwhelming folk,the tragedy,the flowing Padma and Madhumati rivers,the calamities,the association with nature from which they never recovered.
It is the unprecedented violence,the hatred campaign we inherit from the partition of India,even the institutional fascism,continuous holocaust across the border,the disintegration,the personality disorder,Social disorder and disorganization and political anarchy and terror!As we lose the legacy of universal fraternity,association with Nature,celebration of life,mother tongue,homeland everything even the civic and human rights,citizenship!
Komal Gandhar and every film made by Ritwik Ghatak is all about aesthetics of social realism inherited by Nabarun Bhattacharya in his writings.It is complete degeneration,loss of identity and faith,eligion!
The Ultimate human tragedy is the story of Komal Gandhar.It is the story of Indian People`s theatre and alternative cinema,alternative media,art and literature.
I dare to deal with the masterpiece just because it is mandatory in an environment of riotous civil war because of Hindutva agenda and the latest BEEF Scandal to divide the country with religious and caste identity.If we have to stop this nonsense,we have to understand the phenomenon of partition and its overlapping impact,the lost musicality which is the soul of Indian cinema.We have to go through the melodrama of the partition Holocaust.
Komal Gandhar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Komal Gandhar (A Soft Note on a Sharp Scale) | |
Komal Gandhar DVD cover | |
Directed by | |
Produced by | |
Screenplay by | |
Music by | Jyotirindra Moitra Lyrics: Rabindranath Tagore |
Cinematography | Dilip Ranjan Mukhopadhyay |
Edited by | Ramesh Joshi |
Release dates | 31 March 1961 |
Country | |
Language | |
Komal Gandhar (Bengali: কোমল গান্ধার Kōmal Gāndhār),[1] also known as A Soft Note on a Sharp Scale, is a 1961 Bengali film[2] written and directed by noted film maker Ritwik Ghatak.[3][4][5] The title refers to the Hindustaniequivalent of "E-flat". It was part of the trilogy, Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), Komal Gandhar, and Subarnarekha (1962), all dealing with the aftermath of the Partition of India in 1947 and the refugees coping with it, though this was the most optimistic film of his oeuvre.[6] The film explores three themes juxtaposed in the narrative, the dilemma of Anusuya, the lead character, divided leadership of IPTA and the fallout of the partition of India.[7]
Contents
[hide]
Overview[edit]
The title was taken from the line of a poem[a] by Rabindranath Tagore that meant a sur or note, E-flat. As in other films by Ghatak, music plays a pivotal role in the movie.
Through the microcosmic perspectivising of a group of devoted and uncompromising IPTA workers, Ghatak with his signature style touches on varied issues of partition, idealism, corruption, the interdependence of art and life, the scope of art, and class-struggle. Unlike his other films, this one runs along an upbeat mood with the lead pair of lovers (Vrigu and Anusua) being reunited.
Cast[edit]
Abinash Bannerjee as Bhrigu
Bijon Bhattacharya as Gagan
Satindra Bhattacharya as Shibnath
Chitra Sen as Jaya
Anil Chatterjee as Rishi
Satyabrata Chattopadhyay
Supriya Devi as Anusuya
Gita Dey as Shanta
Soundtrack[edit]
Music was by Jyotirindra Moitra, from IPTA, and a noted Rabindra Sangeet exponent who had previously given music in Ghatak's Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), and had song by singers like, Bijon Bhattacharya, Debabrata Biswas, Hemanga Biswas. Bahadur Khan played sarod in the soundtrack. The film is noted for its wedding songs and also contrapuntal use of sound.[8]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
Citation[edit]
Jump up^ Manju Jain (1 August 2009). Narratives Of Indian Cinema. Primus Books. pp. 81–. ISBN 978-81-908918-4-4. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
Jump up^ Robert Burgoyne (1 August 2009). The Epic Film. Taylor & Francis. pp. 394–. ISBN 978-0-415-99017-2. Retrieved8 July 2012.
Jump up^ "E-Flat (1961)". New York Times. Retrieved 3 August2012.
Jump up^ "Jinxed legacy". Hinduonnet.com. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
Jump up^ "Of Time And The River…". www.outlookindia.com. 2006-07-21. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
Jump up^ Rosalind Galt; Karl Schoonover (2010). Global Art Cinema: New Theories and Histories. Oxford University Press.ISBN 0-19-538562-4.
Jump up^ Haimanti Banerjee (1985). Ritwik Kumar Ghatak: a monograph. National Film Archive of India. pp. 62–3.ISBN 81-201-0001-8.
Jump up^ Indian horizons, Volume 44. Indian Council for Cultural Relations., 1995. p. 127.
Ritwik Ghatak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
It has been suggested that Bagalar Banga Darshan be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since May 2014. |
Ritwik Ghatak ঋত্বিক কুমার ঘটক | |
Image of Ritwik Ghatak | |
Native name | ঋত্বিক কুমার ঘটক |
Born | Ritwik Kumar Ghatak 4 November 1925 |
Died | 6 February 1976 (aged 50) Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
Occupation | Film maker and writer |
Nationality | Bangladeshi |
Citizenship | BAngladeshi |
Notable works | |
Notable awards | National Film Award's Rajat Kamal Award Best Story forJukti Takko Aar Gappo Best Director's Award from Bangladesh Cine Journalist's Association for Titash Ekti Nadir Naam |
Spouse | Surama Ghatak[1] |
Children | Ritaban Ghatak (son) Samhita Ghatak (daughter) Suchismita Ghatak (daughter)[2] |
Relatives | Manish Ghatak (elder brother),Mahasweta Devi (niece), |
Ritwik Ghatak (Bengali: ঋত্বিক কুমার ঘটক, Ritbik Kumar Ghôţôk, 
Contents
[hide]
Early life[edit]
Ritwik Ghatak was born in Dhaka in East Bengal (now Bangladesh).[7]Ghatak's father Suresh Chandra Ghatak was a district magistrate and a poet and playwright; his mother's name was Indubala Devi. He and his twin sister Prateeti, were the youngest of nine children. The other children were Manish, Sudhish, Tapati, Sampreeti, Brototi, Ashish Chandra and Lokesh Chandra. He and his family moved to Calcutta (now Kolkata) just before millions of other refugees from East Bengal began to flood into the city, fleeing the catastrophicBengal famine of 1943 and the partition of Bengal in 1947. Identification with this tide of refugees was to define his practice, providing an over-ridingmetaphor for cultural dismemberment and exile that unified his subsequent creative work. The 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, which led to more refugees fleeing to India, was to have a similar impact on his work.
Family[edit]
Ritwik married Surama Devi, niece of active left-wing member, Sadhana Roychowdhury. They separated and she went to her ancestral place, Shillong after Ritwik was temporarily sent to a mental hospital. They had three children: son Ritaban and two daughters. Ritaban is a filmmaker[8] in his own right and is involved in the Ritwik Memorial Trust. He has restored Ritwik's Bagalar Banga Darshan, Ronger Golam and completed his unfinished documentary on Ramkinkar. He has also made a film titled Unfinished Ritwik. He is now working on adapting Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's short story 'Ichhamati'. Ritwik's elder daughter Samhita, has made a docufeature titled Nobo Nagarik. His younger daughter died in 2009.[9]Ghatak's elder brother Manish Ghatak was a radical writer of his time, a professor of English and a social activist who was deeply involved with the IPTA theatre movement in its heyday and later on headed the Tebhaga Andolan of North Bengal. Manish Ghatak's daughter is the writer and activist Mahasweta Devi.
Creative career[edit]
In 1948, Ghatak wrote his first play Kalo sayar (The Dark Lake) and participated in a revival of the landmark playNabanna.[10] In 1951, Ghatak joined the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA). He wrote, directed and acted in plays and translated Bertolt Brecht and Gogol into Bengali. In early 1970s, he wrote and directed his last play Jwala (The Burning). The music director was Darbar Bhaduri, who was called by Ghatak 'Dada' or 'Guru' from his childhood. Ghatak was greatly inspired by Darbar Bhaduri. In Rajshahi, Bangladeh—his homeland Ritwik lived beside Bhaduri's house. Almost all time he was with Darbar Bhaduri. Darbar Bhaduri was a 'King maker' who kept away from outside world. Ghatak by pressure made Darbar Bhaduri the music director of Jwala, and the music was extraordinary.
Ghatak entered the film industry with Nimai Ghosh's Chinnamul (1950) as actor and assistant director. Chinnamul was followed in two years by Ghatak's first completed film Nagarik (1952), both major breakthroughs for the Indian cinema.[11][12] Ghatak's early work sought theatrical and literary precedent in bringing together a documentary realism, a stylised performance often drawn from the folk theatre, and a Brechtian use of the filmic apparatus.
Ghatak's first commercial release was Ajantrik (1958), a comedy-drama film with science fiction themes. It was one of the earliest Indian films to portray an inanimate object, in this case an automobile, as a character in the story.
Ghatak's greatest commercial success as a script writer was for Madhumati (1958), one of the earliest films to deal with the theme of reincarnation. It was a Hindi film directed by another Bengali filmmaker Bimal Roy. It earned Ghatak his first award nomination, for the Filmfare Best Story Award.
Ritwik Ghatak directed eight full-length films. His best-known films, Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star) (1960),Komal Gandhar (E-Flat) (1961), and Subarnarekha (Golden Lining) (1962), a trilogy based in Calcutta and addressing the condition of refugee-hood, proved controversial and the commercial failure of Komal Gandhar (E-Flat) and Subarnarekhaprevented him from making features through the remainder of the 1960s. In all three, he used a basic and at times starkly realistic storyline, upon which he inscribed a range of mythic references, especially of the 'Mother Deliverer', through a dense overlay of visual and aural registers.
Ritwik Ghatak, at young age
Ghatak moved briefly to Pune in 1966, where he taught at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII). During his year at FTII, he was involved in the making of two student films: Fear and Rendezvous.
Ghatak returned to filmmaking in the 1970s, when a Bangladeshi producer financed the 1973 epic Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (A River Called Titas). Making films became difficult because of his poor health due to extreme alcoholism and consequent diseases. His last film was the autobiographical Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (Reason, Debate And Story) (1974), in which he portrayed Neelkantha (Nilkanth) the lead character.[13] He also had a number of incomplete feature and short films in his credit.
Impact and influence[edit]
A scene from Ghatak's last film Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (1974)
At the time of his death (February 1976), Ghatak's primary impact would seem to have been through former students. Though his stint teaching film at FTII was brief, one-time students Mani Kaul, John Abraham, and especially Kumar Shahani (among many others),[14] carried Ghatak's ideas and theories, which were further elaborated upon in his book Cinema And I, into the mainstream of Indian art film. Other students of his at the FTII included the acclaimed filmmakers Saeed Akhtar Mirza and Adoor Gopalakrishnan.[15]
Ghatak stood entirely outside the world of Indian commercial film. None of the elements of the commercial cinema (singing and dancing, melodrama, stars, glitz) featured in his work.[citation needed] He was watched by students and intelligentsia, not by the masses. His students have tended to work in the art cinema or independent cinema tradition.
While other neo-realist directors like Satyajit Ray succeeded in creating an audience outside India during their lifetime, Ghatak was not so fortunate. While he was alive, his films were appreciated primarily within India. Satyajit Ray did what he could to promote his colleague, but Ray's generous praise did not translate into international fame for Ghatak. For example, Ghatak's Nagarik (1952) was perhaps the earliest example of a Bengali art film, preceding Ray's Pather Panchali by three years but was not released until after his death in 1977.[11][12] His first commercial release Ajantrik (1958) was one of the earliest Indian films to portray an inanimate object, an automobile, as a character in the story, many years before theHerbie films.[16] Ghatak's Bari Theke Paliye (1958) had a similar plot to François Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959), but Ghatak's film remained obscure while Truffaut's went on to become one of the most famous of the French New Wave. One of Ghatak's final films, Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (1973), is one of the earliest to be told in a hyperlink format, featuring multiple characters in a collection of interconnected stories, predating Robert Altman's Nashville (1975) by two years.
Ghatak's only major commercial success was Madhumati (1958), a Hindi film which he wrote the screenplay for. It was one of the earliest to deal with the theme of reincarnation and is believed to have been the source of inspiration for many later works dealing with reincarnation in Indian cinema, Indian television, and perhaps world cinema. It may have been the source of inspiration for the American film The Reincarnation of Peter Proud (1975) and the Hindi film Karz (1980), both of which dealt with reincarnation and have been influential in their respective cultures.[17] Karz in particular was remade several times: as the Kannada film Yuga Purusha (1989), the Tamil film Enakkul Oruvan (1984), and more recently theBollywood Karzzzz (2008). Karz and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud may have inspired the American Chances Are(1989).[17] The most recent film to be directly inspired by Madhumati was the hit Bollywood film Om Shanti Om (2007), which led to the late Bimal Roy's daughter Rinki Bhattacharya accusing it of plagiarism and threatening legal action against its producers.[18][19]
Ghatak's work as a director had an impact on many later Indian filmmakers, including those from the Bengali film industryand elsewhere. Ghatak is said to have influences on Kumar Shahani, Mani Kaul, Ketan Mehta, and Adoor Gopalakrishnan. For example, Mira Nair has cited Ghatak as well as Ray as the reasons she became a filmmaker.[20] Ghatak's impact as a director began to spread beyond India much later; beginning in the 1990s, a project to restore Ghatak's films was undertaken, and international exhibitions (and subsequent DVD releases) have belatedly generated an increasingly global audience. In a critics' poll of all-time greatest films conducted by the Asian film magazine Cinemaya in 1998, Subarnarekhawas ranked at No. 11.[21] In the 2002 Sight & Sound critics' and directors' poll for all-time greatest films, Meghe Dhaka Tarawas ranked at No. 231 and Komal Gandhar at No. 346.[22] In 2007, A River Named Titas topped the list of 10 bestBangladeshi films, as chosen in the audience and critics' polls conducted by the British Film Institute.[23] Russia-born German actress Elena Kazan once said Ghatak's Jukti Takko Gappo has the most profound influence on her view about world cinema.[24]
Bangladeshi filmmaker Shahnewaz Kakoli said she has been greatly influenced by Ritwik Ghatak's films and regarded Ghatak as her idol. She told–[25]
Like all Bengalis, I too have grown up watching movies of Satyajit Ray and Ghatak, though I like Ghatak more and I idolise him. I am greatly inspired by him and consequently my movie 'Uttarer Sur' (Northern Symphony) too is influenced by Ghatak.
Works[edit]
Main article: List of works of Ritwik Ghatak
Though Ghatak is mainly known as film director, he wrote many stories and plays. In his creative career, Ghatak made eight full-length feature films and few short films and documentaries. He also wrote many short stories, plays and poetries. Ghatak wrote more than 50 articles and essays on film.
Ideology[edit]
Ghatak was not only a film director, he was a theorist, too. His views and commentaries on films have been parts of scholarly studies and researches. As a filmmaker his main concentration was on men and life and specially the day-to-day struggle of ordinary men. He could never accept the partition of India of 1947 which divided Bengal into two countries. In almost all his film he dealt with this theme.[26]
Filmmaking was not only art for him. In his opinion it was only a means to the end of serving people: It was only a means of expressing his anger at the sorrows and sufferings of his people.[27]
Awards, honours and recognitions[edit]
Padma Shri for Arts in 1970 by The Government of India.[5][6]
Musafir had won the Certificate of Merit for Third Best Feature Film at 5th National Film Awards in 1957.[28]
National Film Award's Rajat Kamal Award for Best Story in 1974 for Jukti Takko Aar Gappo].
Best Director's award from Bangladesh Cine Journalist's Association for Titash Ekti Nadir Naam.
Ajantrik got special entry in the Venice Film Festival in 1959.
In a critics' poll of all-time greatest films conducted by Asian film magazine Cinemaya in 1998, Subarnarekha was ranked at No. 11 on the list.
In the 2002 Sight & Sound critics' and directors' poll for all-time greatest films, Meghe Dhaka Tara was ranked at No. 231 and Komal Gandhar at No. 346 on the list.
In 2007, A River Named Titas topped the list of 10 best Bangladeshi films, as chosen in the audience and critics' polls conducted by the British Film Institute.
Heerer Prajapati had won the Best Children's Film Award (Prime Minister's Gold Medal) at 16th National Film Awards in 1970.[30]
Further reading[edit]
Ritwik and His Films: in two volumes, edited by Rajat Ray[verification needed]
Ritwik Kumar Ghatak: edited by Rajat Ray, Shristi Prakasan[verification needed]
Ritwik Ke Shesh Valobasa: Pratiti Devi, Bangladesh, Sahitya Prakas[verification needed]
Ritwikkumar Ghatak (2003). Ritwik Ghatak, face to face: conversations with the master, 1962–1977. Cine Central.
Ritwik Ghatak: The Celluloid Rebel: Shoma A. Chatterji ISBN 81-291-0245-5, ISBN 978-81-291-0245-4
Riwik Kumar Ghatak: (a monograph) Haimanti Banerjee, National Film Archive of India, Pune, 1985. ISBN 81-201-0001-8.
Shoma A. Chatterji (2004). Ritwik Ghatak: The Celluloid Rebel. Rupa & Company. ISBN 978-81-291-0245-4.
Refugee Women In Ritwik Ghatak Movies= Debasmita Ray, Kolkata (ISBN 978-93-82420-17-0)
References[edit]
Jump up^ "My husband as I saw him". timesofindia.com. Retrieved8 March 2012.
Jump up^ Partha Chatterjee (6–19 October 2007). "Jinxed legacy". Frontline. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
Jump up^ "Ritwik Ghatak bio at Senses of Cinema".http://sensesofcinema.com. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
Jump up^ "Na22nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Iffi.nic.in. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
^ Jump up to:a b "National Portal of India". India.gov.in. Retrieved30 July 2012.
^ Jump up to:a b "Controversy". Ramachandraguha.in. Retrieved30 July 2012.
Jump up^ Hood, J.W.: The Essential Mystery, page 20.
Jump up^ "Ritaban Ghatak". Biff.kr/. Retrieved 2 May 2012.
Jump up^ "My husband as I saw him". Retrieved 7 November2012.
Jump up^ Fredric Jameson; Masao Miyoshi (30 June 1998). The Cultures of Globalization. Duke University Press. pp. 195–. ISBN 978-0-8223-2169-9. Retrieved 5 October2012.
^ Jump up to:a b Ghatak, Ritwik (2000). Rows and Rows of Fences: Ritwik Ghatak on Cinema. Ritwik Memorial & Trust Seagull Books. pp. ix & 134–36. ISBN 81-7046-178-2
^ Jump up to:a b Hood, John (2000). The Essential Mystery: The Major Filmmakers of Indian Art Cinema. Orient Longman Limited. pp. 21–4. ISBN 81-250-1870-0
Jump up^ Hood, J.W.: The Essential Mystery, page 45.
Jump up^ William van der Heide (12 June 2006). Bollywood Babylon: Interviews with Shyam Benegal. Berg. pp. 44–. ISBN 978-1-84520-405-1. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
Jump up^ Chitra Parayath (8 November 2004). "Summer Viewing — The Brilliance of Ritwik Ghatak". Lokvani. Retrieved30 May 2009.
Jump up^ Carrigy, Megan (October 2003). "Ritwik Ghatak". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 3 May 2009
^ Jump up to:a b Doniger, Wendy (2005). "Chapter 6: Reincarnation".The woman who pretended to be who she was: myths of self-imitation. Oxford University Press. pp. 112–136 [135].ISBN 0-19-516016-9
Jump up^ Ashanti nags Om Shanti Om[dead link] Mumbai Mirror, 7 August 2008.
Jump up^ "Shah Rukh, Farah Sued: Writer Claims SRK stole his script for Om Shanti Om". Humsurfer.com. Retrieved30 July 2012.
Jump up^ "Why we admire Ray so much". Naachgana. 14 April 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
Jump up^ Totaro, Donato (31 January 2003). "The "Sight & Sound" of Canons". Offscreen Journal (Canada Council for the Arts). Retrieved 19 April 2009
Jump up^ "2002 Sight & Sound Top Films Survey of 253 International Critics & Film Directors". Cinemacom. 2002. Retrieved 19 April 2009.
Jump up^ "Top 10 Bangladesh Films". British Film Institute. 17 July 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2009.[dead link]
Jump up^ http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/german-actress-says-ritwik-ghataks-films-have-profound-impact/1140076/
Jump up^ "Bangladeshi filmmaker idolises Ritwik Ghatak". News Track India. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
Jump up^ Nandi Bhatia (2008). Partitioned Lives: Narratives of Home, Displacement, and Resettlement. Pearson Education India. pp. 68–. ISBN 978-81-317-1416-4. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
Jump up^ Ghatak, Ritwik (1987). Cinema and I. Ritwik Memorial Trust. pp. 77'.
Jump up^ Gulzar; Govind Nihalani; Saibal Chatterjee (2003).Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema. Popular Prakashan. pp. 639–. ISBN 978-81-7991-066-5. Retrieved 4 November2012.
Jump up^ "16th National Film Awards" (PDF). Iffi.nic.in. Retrieved30 July 2012.
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