ARTIST : ANAMIKA ADHIKARI

Whom do I, the communicator, address?

The metropolitan variety or the rural masses?
Which vocabulary, and going further,
which wavelength, as a necessary adjunct, do I choose?
To work out an ideal situtation, should I try a middle path
- both in terms of words and images, and in terms of attitudes?
Cultural preferences may be difficult to resolve in black and white.
It is up to each communicator to choose his or her own shade of grey.
Mrinal Sen

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Hindol
Year 5, No. 2

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July, 2013

Editorial Team :
Chittaranjan Pakrashi, Jayanti Chattopadhyay
Malabika Majumdar, Maitrayee Sen,
Ajanta Dutt, Nandan Dasgupta

E-46, Greater Kailash-I,

New Delhi-110048
ohetuk.sabha@gmail.com
98110-24547

ISSN 0976-0989

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92131344879891689053

Back Cover:
Bireswar Sen
Front Inside Cover:
Anamika Adhikari
Artists:
Shanu Lahiri
Rituparno Ghosh
Pulak Biswas
C.R. Pakrashi
Jivan Adelja
Jyotirmoy Ray
Rituparno Photo Credit:
Rahul Majumder

http://www.scribd.com/collections/3537598/Hindol

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&5 - Nandan Dasgupta

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&5 - Kajari Sengupta

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 / Translation

I give you something more with these thoughts - only you

will be able to spot them.
Do you recollect those times by the riverbank? The hushed
nights? The moonlight therein? The two of us wandering
together in make-believe worlds? Those profound
discussions in grave voices? Or just sitting together in
silence? The breeze at sunrise, the shadow of dusk! And,
then on that day, those clouds heavy with rain, Sravan's
downpour, Vidyapati's songs?
They are all gone.
But their memoirs remain in these thoughts. In them I
have hidden a few of our joys and grief of some of those
days. Do look at them fondly once in a while, only you
will be able to see them! There are writings within these
writings - one for only you and I to read, the other for
the rest.
Rabindranath Tagore
September, 1883
(Translation : Nandan Dasgupta)

|, 1420

27

28

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ARTIST : JIVAN ADELJA

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|, 1420

29

The Slow Dance

g
Have you ever watched kids
on a merry go around?
Or listened to the rain splashing on the ground?

q
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Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight
Or gazed at the Sun into fading light?

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Do you see thro'
each day on the fly
When you ask "how are you"?
Do you hear the reply?

Do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores
Running through you head?

^

You would better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short, the Music won't last

g,



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|, 1420

30

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ARTIST : CHITTARANJAN PAKRASHI

|, 1420

31

A Fighting Spirit:
Selected Writings of Ashoka Gupta
Compiled and Edited by: Sarmistha
Dutta Gupta and Narayani Gupta
Publisher: Niyogi Books,
New Delhi 2013
Pages: 192
Price: Rs. 595/-

The Spirit of Ashoka Gupta

A Book Review
Ashoka Gupta plays myriad roles in this book, which presents her
own writings, often in English translation. These are accompanied by
several tributes to her by leading women of our times which include
essays by Prof. Jasodhara Bagchi, and her daughter Kasturi Menon,
retired IAS officer. Ashoka Gupta's indomitable spirit, her charming
personality and her zest for living suffuse A Fighting Spirit. She offered
livelihood to so many others during the struggle for freedom and
thereafter that it made her a person truly needed at the front where
social service and politics were intrinsically related. Her work was
undertaken at a time when women were shy and retiring, used to living
in the shadows of the extended joint family system, away from the
public sphere. As a social worker, activist, wife of senior beauraucrat,
Saibal Gupta, friend, mother, relative, president of All India Women's
Conference, and State Commissioner for the Bharat Scouts and Guides
Movement in India, she executed each role to its fullest success, and
brought to her work a sensitivity and good sense that made Gandhiji
insist upon her presence in Noakhali in the last days of the Raj. Gandhiji
said to her husband, "I am happy you are volunteering as well, but at

|, 1420

32

Book Review

the moment I will only put your wife to work" (59).

Extracts from Ashokadi's diaries outline the deep concerns facing
the people of Noakhali - such as the need for search parties to rescue
abducted women and reassurance for people that they were still Hindus.
Poems written by a grieving old man are quoted in her diaries: "The
fields will drown, the sins weigh down the earth, / The more the earth
makes us weep, the more it will weep itself" (72). What is conflict
ridden is that although the girls were kidnapped, most of the time the
Muslim men wanted to marry them, even at gun-point.
She writes poignantly about two major problems in India at the
time of Independence - the distribution of milk and cloth to families in
Bengal. There was a terrible scarcity on both issues, and the problems
regarding cloth for each family has been simply but authentically
documented - so clearly perhaps for the first time. As she vehemently
asks, "It is possible to make do with twenty yards of cloth or four saris
every year with some difficulty, but what about chemises and girls'
dresses?" (39).
Ashokadi also pays tribute to her "sisters-in-arms" as she calls them.
Of Sneha Kanjilal she says, "I have witnessed [her] dedicated, focused,
untiring work, day after day, refusing to heed caution" (150). She
observes that Sucheta Kripalini would never take 'no' for an answer
and "Whatever needed to be done, she was able to get it done by top
(British) officers" (151). She affirms that Lakshmi Menon's "last dream"
was to have 100% literacy for Indian women by the year 2000. She
claims what a joy it was to work with Usha Haldar who set up the daitraining centre in Bankura and would not rest until each woman had
been absorbed.
The second part of the book is as informative as the first for those
who write about Ashokadi, present her in many biographical details in
her travels between Dacca-Chittagong, and then later Calcutta and even
Dandyakaranya to rehabilitate the refugees. Kasturi Menon gives her a
fulfilling tribute as a mother when she writes, "Each one of us felt that
to her he/she was the child that was special, and I am sure that Dada,
Didi and Apala would have the same story to tell" (188). She also gives
us a glimpse into Ashokadi's romantic marriage, a "Ghoti-Bangal beeye".
Apparently, during the courtship days, Saibal Gupta asked her whether
she had read Bertrand Russell. She told him she had not, but she had

|, 1420

Book Review

read Thomas Hardy, Lytton Strachey and D H Lawrence. She was never
at a loss for words or ideas, and even in her 90s she celebrated her
birthdays for the joy of others. As Narayani Gupta recalls, when a childguest commented that a birthday party without balloons was not
possible, Ashoka Gupta immediately agreed and sent out to procure
the said balloons.
I remember our universal Ashokadi from my schooldays. Her
daughter, Kuntadi was our Guide teacher in Loreto House, and when
we went to the rallies of the Bharat Scouts and Guides in Hastings or
St. Lawrence School, there she would be on the dais, her deep blue sari
immaculately draped, her white blouse shining with badges taking
the salute for our march past. When we dropped into the Girl Guide
office in Palace Court, Kyd Street to collect our scarves or woggles,
she would often be there smiling, and would often give us the items
herself.
Niyogi Books has made an excellent presentation of this volume
with photographs that are unique and facsimiles of letters, which
are indeed invaluable today. This book will be of great worth to
many students of history and the social sciences. It is also a book of
memories for all those households who remember the decades of
Independence and post-Independence, when women went into the work
of nation building, and became in their turn household names for the
Bengalis.
Ajanta Dutt

|, 1420

33

34
Sanchari Bardhan
Delhi

The Old Man's

struggle with the Sea
A Book Review

Ernest Hemingway lived an adventurous life and had an illustrious

career as one the greatest writers of his generation. The Old Man and
the Sea won the Pulitzer Prize. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in
1954 at the peak of his literary career. This novel was published in the
year 1952. Hemingway had earlier talked of a similar fisherman in an
essay called "On the Blue Water: A Gulf Stream Letter. "
The Old Man and the Sea is at first glance a story about the triumph
of an eighty year old fisherman whose days of glory have passed him
by. Now he relies on luck and a keen instinct born from years of fishing
to help him get on. Santiago has gone for eighty four days without
catching any fish, but he is a true optimist who believes that there will
be fish in the coming day. He is usually accompanied by a young boy
who was taught how to fish by Santiago. They share a close relationship,
that of a mentor and his apprentice. The presence of the young boy is
perhaps a symbol for the continuation of the work of one fishing
generation into the next. But the boy is not there in the central struggle
at sea.
The plot of the novel is developed by the enduring strength and
determination of its characters. The main protagonists are Santiago,
the sea and the marlin, and the enemy are the sharks. The sea is referred
to as "la mar", which in Spanish is feminine. Like a woman, the sea has
a fickle yet generous nature. Santiago is a weathered fisherman and he
understands her nature. He studies the current of the water; every wave
and every change in temperature is noted by him to maximize his

|, 1420

Book Review

chances of catching fish. Even though Santiago is alone, Hemingway

subtly introduces other characters such as birds, dolphins, flying fish
and thus the audience feels a sense of togetherness with them even
though the fisherman is alone in his boat.
The novel focuses on the adventure of fishing and of venturing out
into a journey with the marlin as the prize. Santiago is almost like a
hero who goes out into battle against the strong forces of nature. The
marlin which at the beginning was just a prey, becomes much more
important as a companion in life, one who struggles to survive, just
like the old man. Santiago's struggle and also the marlin's struggle makes
the readers feel a sense of familiarity with the two. This is expressed
through Santiago's thoughts, "I wonder if he has any plans or if he is
just as desperate as I am?" It is as if the two are brothers or comrades.
While describing Santiago's struggle with the marlin one is also
indirectly introduced to the struggle of the marlin and the man. While
struggling to hold the marlin for over two days the old man's strength
starts to wane. Santiago says, "You're feeling it now fish and god knows
so am I." Till the very end, the marlin struggles to survive and ultimately
it is the triumph of the old man over the marlin. But even with the
melancholic end Santiago feels a strong sense of kinship with the marlin.
Santiago's feelings are clearly stated: "Fish... I love you and respect
you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends."
Many years of fishing in the harsh climes of the sea has made
Santiago strong, yet old age does not stop for any man. Without the
help of the young boy, it is a race against the strong forces of nature
and time - a test of Santiago's endurance. The marlin that has been
hooked by the old man is bigger than the boat itself. The marlin's strength
coupled with the harsh climate is almost an impossible task for an old
man but it is a testament to Santiago's endurance that even when his
strength was almost depleted he did not give up. The old man was
weak from lack of proper sustenance and injury, yet he keeps faith and
believes that the marlin will be his.
The sharks are the last hurdle between Santiago and his goal. They
are creatures purely governed by their desire for blood. It is a peculiar
type of strength and endurance that defines the sharks as they follow
the weak scent of blood all the way to its source - that is, Santiago's
boat and the marlin. Santiago's quick thinking and his strong survival

|, 1420

35

36

Book Review

instinct allows him to fight off the sharks even with a broken oar. The
sharks are like the kings of the sea just as lions are kings of the forest.
Both are symbols for the strong forces of nature and Santiago's dreams
of lions playing on the beach is perhaps a symbol for strength. Their
frolicking near the sea also gives both Santiago and the readers a sense
of rejuvenation.
Hemingway's writing style is subtle in the novel and his words are
not extravagant. He uses the third person narrative and thus there is a
feeling of an omniscient presence, which gives relief to the audience
as it ensures that the story will have closure. There is not much
conversation in the novel and thus each statement makes a big impact.
For example Santiago's loneliness is prominent in the repetition of the
sentence - "I wish the boy were here." The imagery of the novel is
again simple and direct. The novel evokes a sense of the wild yet fragile
beauty of nature. Santiago's story of triumph is the triumph of man
over nature. Even though the story augments the law of nature, we are
given to understand that age need not be a limitation in the struggle
called life.

|, 1420

37
You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving."
The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture.
They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.
Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights, is worthy of
all else from you.
And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to
fill his cup from your little stream.
And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage
and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving?
And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their
pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed?
See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of
giving.
For in truth it is life that gives unto life while you, who deem yourself
a giver, are but a witness.
And you receivers... and you are all receivers... assume no weight of
gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives.
Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings;
For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity who has
the freehearted earth for mother, and God for father.
Kahlil Gibran ("On Giving")

This issue of
HINDOL
is supported by
LATIKA SARKAR

|, 1420

38

L

Prophet

Kahlil Gibran- 20
Claude Bradon
His power came from some great reservoir of spiritual life
else it could not have been so universal and so potent, but
the majesty and beauty of the language with which he
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The Prophet d Almustafa 12
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48
Kajari Sengupta
Gurgaon

Kai Po Che

Kai Po Che, a film loosely based on Chetan Bhagat's bestseller

The Three Mistakes of My Life, is a heart-rending film about the journey
of three friends through the ups and downs of life.
Despite what seems to be a conscious and deliberate avoidance of
glitz, glamour and star presence, the conventional crowd attractors,
the film did very well at the box office and won critical acclaim both
in India and abroad. It is one of those rare films that show middle
class thinking and lifestyle in its true light. Till date, whenever a film
has focused on a bunch of male friends in their early twenties, it has
invariably shown over the top adventures, rib-tickling humor and
repartee and, of course, girls galore - hardly the true picture. Kai Po
Che on the other hand concentrates on bringing out the complexity of
the main characters and their relationships in the backdrop of our
changing times.
The film introduces us to the hot blooded, impulsive yet emotional
Ishaan who is passionate about cricket. He refuses to think about career,
much to his father's annoyance. He discovers rare cricketing talent in
Ali, a boy in his neighborhood, and determines to mentor and lead
him on to achieving what he could not - a place in the national cricket
team. Omi, Ishaan's loyal and loving friend, often falls victim to
misunderstandings due to Ishaan's obsession with the child. The root
of the problem lies in the fact that Omi is the nephew of Bittu, head
of the Hindu political party in the area whereas Ali is the son of the
Muslim party leader. Govind is the most mature amongst the three and

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Film Review

so is keen on setting up a business that will secure their future. He

knows how important it is to properly manage and invest their earnings.
He is thus mentally devastated when the Gujarat earthquake destroys
the upcoming mall in which he and his friends had invested a huge
amount of money. Apart from his practical wisdom, he is also
straightforward and often fearlessly stands up against Ishaan whenever
the latter does something wrong or impulsive. However, this very
person who always seems to do what is right plays along with Ishaan's
sister Vidya's flirtatious advances, ignoring the trust Ishaan had placed
in him to teach her mathematics.
All through the first half of the film, Omi comes across as the 'yes
man' of the trio. He is prepared to go the extra mile for his friends and
repeatedly begs his wealthy uncle to provide them with money for the
business. He helps spiritedly with managing the shop and is a willing
accomplice in all of Ishaan's impulsive acts, be it smashing Vidya's
admirer's car, cheering like mad while watching cricket on T.V., flipping
through porn magazines or getting drunk and diving into water from
crazy heights. But gradually Omi becomes more and more indebted
towards his uncle for the amounts he borrows from him. He is forced
to join the Hindu political party and soon becomes the brunt of Ishaan's
ire as his political leanings are diametrically opposite to those of Ishaan.
A cold war ensues between them. But how long can such fast friends
stay apart? Starved of each other's companionship, they finally give
in and let all their grudges melt away in the warmth of a close hug.
But their friendship has more tests to endure. All of a sudden, Omi's
parents lose their lives while travelling to Ayodhya in the ill-fated
Sabarmati Express. They happened to be in those very compartments
that were burnt down by Muslim enthusiasts. A riot follows and Omi
gets pulled in by his uncle. He walks through the streets with a gun
in hand, looking around at the senseless slaughter and destruction
around him, still dazed by the shock of his parents' death. He suddenly
spots his uncle getting killed in the hands of Ali's father. In a rush of
adrenaline Omi breaks into Ali's house to finish off the killer and his
family. Little does he know that Ishaan and Govind are there too, trying
to protect Ali and his family. The sight of his two friends, however,
fails to cool him down and in a matter of seconds he aims his gun at
Ali. Ishaan, in a bid to protect the boy, gets killed by the bullet. But

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49

50

Film Review

it seems the bullet has hit Omi too, in a different way, destroying his
soul and taking away his joys forever. Omi is never seen to laugh again.
The film ends on a positive note showing how, after several years,
the friends' business has reached great heights. The scene unfolds to
show a grown-up Ali out in the field playing for the Indian team against
Australia. The title of the film Kai Po Che means, 'I've cut the kite',
which implies that the threesome ultimately made their dream come
true, also echoing Omi's miserable cry for having irreparably cut the
bond between Ishaan and himself.
Interestingly, the book does not go into so much detail about Omi's
character. He is just portrayed as a sidekick of the other two. The entire
story in the book is presented through Govind's eyes. It focuses on the
three big mistakes of his life - his investing in the mall, getting
romantically involved with Vidya and letting Ali get seriously hurt in
a moment of selfish impulse. Initially the film appears to be following
the book word for word, but towards the end it takes a completely
different turn. In the book, Omi does not lose his parents; only his
uncle Bittu loses his son. On the night of the riot, the three friends
and Ali stay over at an old bank building, in which they used to give
coaching classes, to avoid the mayhem outside. Bittu hunts them down
though, followed by a bunch of thugs. He wants them to hand over
Ali so that he can kill him and avenge his son's death. They refuse
and decide to fight back. In fact, Omi sacrifices his life to save the
child. The rest survive after a gruesome battle.
To those who have read the book, it becomes obvious that the
director of the film wants a more sensational closing. But it may be
said that the effort is not a mere gimmick, as it makes the tragedy more
hard-hitting. No wonder, you walk out of the hall with a lump in your
throat and the beautiful soundtrack lingering in your ears. Amit Trivedi
has worked magic again with the sarangi, dhol and shehnai to compose
some earthy yet electrifying songs and a haunting background score.
The cinematography is close to perfect. It makes you fall in love with
Gujarat's terrain despite showing its driest and hottest aspects. The
film gives your senses a definite high and after it is all over you are
left craving for more.

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PHOTO COURTESY : RAHUL MAJUMDER

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52

PHOTO COURTESY : RAHUL MAJUMDER

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53
Monojit Lahiri
Delhi

Hey, That's No Way

To Say Goodbye

[Monojit Lahiri in his title recalls the iconic lines of fabled songster Leonard
Cohen as he pays a personalized tribute to brilliant, gifted and multi-faceted
film-maker, Rituparno Ghosh, who left us a couple of months ago to discuss
movies with his revered masters in the most dazzling studio of all ]

"Death is like the loo. You gotta go, you gotta go!!" It could only
be a madcap genius like Woody Allen, who could unleash this witticism
and take the sting out of something as terrifyingly inevitable as death.
When I got the news the morning it happened from a friend an avid
TV News junkie, not interested or knowledgeable about movies in
general or personalities in particular) I was stunned! It was just a few
months ago at the Kolkata Book Fair that we had met up and had a
brief warm chat. He was moderating a very interesting programme on
Ray's Women, where he was in conversation with such class actors as
Madhabi Mukherjee, Aparna Sen and Sharmila Tagore. Immediately
after the programme, he took me aside and whispered wickedly. "Dada,
hope you were not too bored with all the inane chatter!"
Witty, smart, clever, charming, articulate, Ritu and I go back to
the early nineties when we first met at my sister-in-law, Aparna's [Sen]
place at Alipore, Kolkata. I was living and working out of Delhi, so
knew nothing about him. I remember him telling me that he was in
advertising too - a copywriter - but his heart was into movie making.
He had just made a children's film Hirer Aangti, but since he was an
unknown director and it wasn't well marketed, the film made no waves.

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He said he was scripting his first feature film Unishe April [which
had huge echoes of Bergman's Autumn Sonata] starring Aparna and
Debasree Roy in principal lead roles and could I please pray that it
resonates with the audience? He admitted later - after the film's success
- that the contribution of Rina-di [Aparna] and Renu Roy could never
be underestimated "because without their morale-boosting support,
scripting and dialogue help and aggressive initiatives in rustling up
finances, the film would have remained just that - a day in the
calendar!"
Unishe April was indeed a mind-blowing experience for the
audiences of the year 1994! A totally content-driven film, powered
with amazingly crafted dialogue and bereft of any glamour or
stereotypical filmy component, the distancing and bonding tale of a
mother-daughter pair scored big, marking the entry of a young, new,
bold director, with a vision and mission all his own. The film not only
got him tons of followers but also garnered huge praise from the press.
Most importantly, the film got a National Award for Best Actress
Debasree Roy and a Best Feature Film for him! Scoring a perfect ton
on debut, Ghosh seemed to have made the National Award a habit,
winning 12 between 1994 - 2012 [Chitrangada - Special Jury Award].
Definitely a record!
What was so special about Rituparno Ghosh? For one, I can't think
of any other film-maker in Bengal who so adroitly fused scholarship
with market forces. His advertising background obviously came into
play because right from the way he dreamt up his subject, his casting,
his treatment, his publicity and the way he would present and pitch
his stuff to his audiences - he was spot-on! Secondly, few, if anyone,
could match his deadly [and winning] combination of blending quality
with speed and making a small budget look big! No wonder, in a space
where quality film-makers continue to desperately look for funds, Ritu
had producers forever lining up. Hardly any of his films ever lost
money. I once asked him why he didn't pay heed to critics who accused
him of making films at break-neck speed that "look good but lack soul".
He smiled and pleaded guilty, but offered two telling reasons. "Ideas
come to me thick and fast and perhaps, like many others, I can pause
and take my time, but I don't because the members of my unit need to
be gainfully employed and the more prolific I am, the better for them.

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As for my films being overly concerned with looks, I think cinema is
a visual medium and great visuals create their very own magic and
fan following. Maybe it's my advertising background or an inherent
weakness but don't we first see and then hear?"
Finally, no film-maker, not Ray, Sen, Ghatak, nobody, had the kind
of seductive charm Ritu had to convince people - stars, producers,
journos, critics, intellectuals, ordinary people - to rock with him! I
imagine, sitting in Kolkata and persuading the likes of Bollywood Alisters to enthusiastically and happily work in his tiny-budget films...
Ash-Ajay Devgun in Raincoat, Ash in Chokher Bali, Manisha Koirala
in Khela, Soha and Abhishek in Antarmahal, the Big B, Preity Zinta,
Arjun Rampal in The Last Lear, even Sharmila and Rakhee in Shubho
Mahurat, Bipasha in Shob Charitro Kalponik, Kiron Kher in
Bariwali Intelligent, insightful, evolved, sensitive, extraordinarily
well-read, aglow with intellectual curiosity yet sweet, simple, generous,
kind, fun-loving and very grounded, Rituparno Ghosh had a readymade home in every heart he connected with. No wonder be it Aparna
Sen, the Bachchans, Moon Moon Sen, Kiron Kher or whoever, Ritu
was always referred to as 'family'.
This was no age to say goodbye, but hey, thanks for memories,
Ritu... I am going to miss those long chats on the phone discussing
cabbages and kings. Here's to Lights, Camera, Action...
upstairs!!

ARTIST : PULAK BISWAS

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56
Ajanta Dutt
Delhi

Rituparno's Lear:
About Masks and Clowns

There are more than 400 film-versions of Shakespeare's plays, and

King Lear has been a favourite for directors in adaptations on screen
and stage. Lear mirrors society, the pity of infirmity and old age against
the vigour and violence of youth. Lear-films made in English and other
languages world-wide mask power-politics within family and the state.
Against varied social backdrops that institute themselves into the fabric
of a country, directors analyse these themes from the play, using camera
to explore and bridge the distance between stage and screen. Thus filmmaker Akira Kurosawa places Ran in the Sengoku period of Japan and
traces the downfall of the Ichimonji clan. Korol Lear of Communist
Russia depicts the sufferings of the child-like, oppressed people
controlled by their despotic monarch in yet another twist to the parentchild hierarchy.
Bangla film-maker Rituparno Ghosh in his film The Last Lear (2008
- National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English) pays tribute to
the Bard by writing his screenplay in English and highlighting the
vulnerability of old age. He places his protagonist in Bollywood and
casts superstar Amitabh Bachchan in the role of an aging Shakespearean
actor who will give a different reading to ethics in the world of filmmaking. Ghosh's movie unfolds the tragic downfall of one more 'foolish'
old man who has been persuaded by a young film-maker to play the
role of a clown in a film called The Mask. In fact, the clown and mask
become symbols relating this movie to the original. In King Lear, the
fool disappears and Ghosh may be answering the question - where has

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he gone? Does the King really become the fool when he learns to be
wise, and is that why Mishra must play the clown when he cannot play
Lear?
The predominant symbols and 'disguises' used here to link Indian
cinema to Shakespearean theatre depict the theme of filial love. The
plot structure is contrived as none of the characters are related to each
other, but present in totality as the Lear family. The cinematic figures
Vandana, Shabnam and the nurse, wear the metaphorical masks of Lear's
daughters as they represent complex relationships toward the fatherlike figure of Harish Mishra. Unlike Goneril, Reagan and Cordelia of
Shakespeare who lose their sisterly bonding through their father's
strange act of division, the three women in this movie come together in
a sisterhood of caring for the old man who lies paralyzed in the next
room, and they consolidate their own feelings of support for each other
against male suspicion and tyranny they have suffered in their domestic
relationships.
The violence and unlikely accident in the film reflects the scene
near the cliffs of Dover in King Lear, for Mishra, regardless of danger,
begs to play his own stunt-scene in the movie which has macabre
connotations. Ghosh employs his character Siddhartha in a dual frame,
to critique rationality against a new director's frenzied search for
perfection. Rituparno explains his purpose in an interview: "See, the
relationship between a filmmaker and his subject is my abiding concern
as a filmmaker. I have made so many films on this issue - Bariwali,
Khela, Last Lear."
The technique of placing a film within a film is used again in this
movie we are discussing, where Ghosh emphasizes the plot and subplot of King Lear, and sifts through dual realism of the private world of
the players and realistic cinema. The clown symbolic of the veteran
actor, Mishra belongs to a dying generation of players because circus
has given way to movie halls. The clown, beyond his motley clothing
and garish make-up, is a tragic figure and his smile is always painted
onto his face. The concerns of movie-making versus a theatrical
performance are re-positioned as scenes unfold and foolish choices
made by actors and characters defy description in The Last Lear.
The director said, "I saw Aajker Shahjahan as a college student
and was very moved. Plus, there was the question of cinema's

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58
relationship with theatre, which interested me. And I wanted to take
Utpal-da out of the context of BengalSo, when I thought of making
something with universal appeal, I arrived automatically at Shakespeare.
That's how The Last Lear was born."
The Last Lear begins on the night of Diwali when the film, The
Mask is being premiered. The symbolism of fireworks splattered against
a dark night sky is a precursor for the film's own shades of light and
darkness in the lives of the players, especially the shadows that are
present in the lives of the three women who while away the night in the
mansion of Harish Mishra. Once a stately home of Kolkata, these rooms
are also dark and forbidding, reminiscent of the cold castle of a fallen
monarch.
The young director Siddhartha is an ominous figure of darkness
the darkness that stalks Harish Mishra after his fallfirst, when he
gives up Shakespearean theatre and the second time when he literally
falls from the cliff in an attempt to do his own stunt in his first film.
The thoughts of the journalist narrator Gautam (Jishu Sengupta) are
heard and then the scene moves to a violent quarrel between Shabnam,
actor in The Mask and her partner in their flat. She (Preity Zinta) drives
to the house of paralyzed actor Harish Mishra, leaving her young man
acutely suspicious that she is not going to the premiere because she has
another man in her life.
She arrives in the midst of a quarrel where the nurse Ivy is going to
abandon her patient because her boyfriend will not allow her to work
nights anymore, and Vandana, the actor's companion will be left on her
own. Thus the three women grouped together through their own
miseries, share a night piecing together the life of Harish Mishra and
the shooting of the film The Mask, while they start formulating bonds
of sisterhood. Both Ivy and Shabnam are in abusive relationships and
later we learn that Vandana walked out of an unhappy life at her inlaws to become the mistress of this aging Shakespearean actor, fifteen
years earlier. How ironic that the name of the nurse should be Ivy (IV),
and her life is very similar to that Shabnam who has been seen in The
Mask, trying to repair a bad marriage. So these women in their so called
disguised relationships become the daughters of Lear, and in fact share
the characteristics of Cordelia among them. These women speak in
three different kinds of English. Shabnam's language is most standard;

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Vandana has an accent that can be deemed Bengali and typifies a typical
housewife; and the nurse speaks a tongue that in Calcutta would be
recognized as typically Anglo-Indian. Thus her choice of profession
and status in life are opposed to that of Shabnam's. Vandana is the
surprise factor, the daring daughter who has walked out of her in-law's
and her parents' home of security to become Mishra's mistress. But she
is young enough to be his daughter. The three women share the colours
of the clown's motley dress: Shabnam is in the white of innocence;
Vandana is in the red and brown of a harassed married lady; and Ivy's
dupatta is the yellow of wildflowers. They are bright and scintillating,
and yet represent the dejection of what lies beyond dress in their own
unsuccessful lives.
If we are looking for Lear's division of his kingdom, the old Mishra
lying broken in the next room has certainly divided everything that
was precious to him. Vandana is the chatelaine of a run-down palatial
mansion, and he has given up the stage to live secluded and an outcast
from society because of her. Ivy presence is a reminder he has
relinquished both physical and mental strength, and is right at that
moment lying at death's door. Shabnam with the sweetness of Cordelia,
is ready to share with him what he has taught her the love of acting
and the ability to intone great lines from Shakespeare to stir him from
his paralytic slumber.
References to The Mask, the movie within the movie, flit in and
out of the Last Lear, just like the CCTV footage in Mishra's sitting
room is "a film by itself" and Mishra wants to call it Windows having
no idea that there are windows related to computer technology.
We first see a poster of the film that has been displayed at the
premiere. It is not in full focus, but it shows the face of the veteran
actor (and to us Big B) laughing, with a shock of salt and pepper locks
falling over his face. The fact that the poster is in black and white, with
some sepia tone to highlight its stark background, also symbolizes the
black and white shots of Harish Mishra's life when first-time director,
Siddhartha comes to woo him to make his film about clowns.
The journalist comes to interview Mishra and is chased away
because he cannot recognize Puck and Oberon. Gautam admits he knows
nothing and leaves this angry old man who is "insanely obsessed with
Shakespeare." [Yes, Amitabh Bacchan is still playing the angry old

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60
man just as he did in the film Black or in his earlier films like Anand
and Deewar]. Gautam is further convinced that he must bring his director
friend 'Bhaiya' into contact with Mishra, and Siddhartha obviously
strikes the right note when he recognizes Prospero's lines that Mishra
uses in greeting.
The conflict between film and theatre appear in the subsequent
conversations and Mishra argues that on stage you never know when
the "best moments" of acting will happen to you. Siddhartha likewise
argues for the world in the camera, and the conviction that has brought
them together, which is not connected to Shakespeare. Sid does not
wear bells but rings like an Elizabethan jester; yet he charms the old
man with his intellect and wit so that most of what he says and does
becomes acceptable to Mishra.
Mishra in a dressing gown, with sleeves that open into a bell shaped
costume makes him look as though he is still acting, on stage, and is
not sitting in his own living room, twirling glasses of vodka. In fact the
entire movie gives the impression that it could be shot on stage, such
little variation there is in the principal scenes. As Mishra talks about
the camera not displaying the full body but focusing on fragments like
the face or the hands, he also uses the word 'fool' for the first time in
the script, and affirms that the cinema is full of "incomplete moments."
Rituparno Ghosh's complete focus on Shakespeare is again evident when
Sid asks Mishra to switch on the lights and the actor recites," Put out
the light, and then put out the light."
This entire interaction brings into play the ideas that conviction,
ego, prestige issues form a challenge and Sid's desire to get Mishra to
act the part of Maqbool, the Clown will be crowned with success. If
only Harish Mishra had had a Fool like Lear who would be his "truthteller" and help him cope with the realities of his own unreal world!
I doubt whether it is mere coincidence that Ghosh should choose
the name Maqbool when a well-known Indian film made upon the theme
of Macbeth is also called Maqbool. Mishra and Sid play guessing games
regarding people on the streets and somewhere in this conversation
Sid begins to address the older man as Harry Baba. This fact is a contrast
to the rest of the caste calling him Harish Ji, and also affirms that a
filial bond is developing between the two men, not unlike the one
between Gloucester and Edgar. Sid and Gautam are close friends and

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61
brothers because of the name 'Bhaiya' by which Gautam addresses him.
Like the sisters described earlier, the characteristics of Edgar and
Edmund in the play King Lear are distributed between them. The stark
opposition of good and evil in the Shakespearean siblings is mitigated
somewhat as Sid is not all evil, and Gautam is foolish enough to let his
goodness lead him into the path from where there is no return for Mishra.
Siddhartha, the director, wears a mask all though the movie. His
face is set and controlled giving no hint of the guilt that must be hidden
behind his hooded eyes. He seems to take refuge in his camera, whether
on the shoot or in the viewing chamber. His only smile appears and
disappears in Harry Baba's drawing room when he insists that the
old man perform without his spectacles, despite his blindness. The fact
that Sid persuades Mishra to come down the stairs thus in his house
without his specs suggests what will happen later upon the hillside,
Ghosh's obvious replay of the cliffs of Dover. The words he uses show
his knowledge of theatre: "If you fall, I'll hold you," Sid says. "Every
time an actor has to fall on stage, he has to trust his co-actor to hold
him." How ironic are these wordshow darkly ironical because when
Mishra falls, there is no one to break that fall, not even the trees. The
insensitivity of Sid is in sharp contrast with Ghosh's own sensitivity
and yet we see the two directors, the real and the virtual, striking towards
that ideal goal of perfection-the taking of a truly realistic shot.
When the shooting of the film begins, the caste is on location. We
learn that the movie called The Mask is about the dying race of circus
clowns who have entertained the public for generations. Yet today their
skills have no value for the cinema has taken away their moments of
triumph. When one of the brethren actually commits suicide highlighting
the sorrowful condition of clowns, Maqbool revengefully sets fire to a
cinema hall. Of course he must immediately run with his troupe for the
police are after them, and they take the night train up to the mountains.
Again their departure is shown in sepia hues, in a long-shot, divorced
as they are from the real world where women must not protest against
gender bias, and stage actors can be coerced into playing roles in films.
As though to mirror the world of women trapped in unsuccessful
relationships, on-location story for The Mask brings a married couple
to the mountain resort. Shabnam is seeking to come to terms with her
on-screen break-down of her marriage, and her off-screen anger and

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62
grief. In fact, Mishra offers to help Shabnam learn her lines and tells
her to get rid of the anger which he can see, and therefore the camera
too will see it. In this scene, as he teaches her to make her voice resound
in the mountains with a simple "Hey", he again recites Shakespeare
that seems almost second nature to him. It is also a known fact that
Ghosh trained his actors in similar ways before taking his shots.
On-location, Mishra gives his second interview to Gautam where
he says he belonged to the stage for precisely 30 years and 9 months.
His mysterious exit takes on stranger shades of meaning as he trudges
amidst pouring rain to a phone booth to make a call to his companion,
Vandana that neither realizes will be the last time they speak to each
other. In retrospect she tells the other women, "He was so excited
like a small child." In the Last Lear there are no literal daughters, so
the women present must play the caring roles of mothers and daughters
to this aging Lear. Death is dogging all of them although none of them
is facing death. It is Harish Mishra's death that is facing all of them,
and they are all culpable in different degrees.
Sigmund Freud asserted that Cordelia in Shakespeare's King Lear
symbolises Death. Therefore, when the play begins with Lear rejecting
his daughter, it can be interpreted as him rejecting death; Lear is
unwilling to face the finitude of his being. The play's poignant ending
scene, wherein Lear carries the body of his beloved Cordelia, was of
great importance to Freud. In this scene, she causes in Lear a realisation
of his finitude, or as Freud put it, she causes him to "make friends with
the necessity of dying." As a wish fulfillment perhaps, Ghosh's movie
shows the modern day Cordelia/Shabnam sitting beside the dying actor,
pulling him back to life with lines recited from the original play.
There are some excellent takes regarding the differences between
film and theatre. For instance, when Mishra realizes that an entire page
of his speech has been cut from the script, he berates the director. Sid
explains that although Maqbool at this point is finding compassion in
Nature, soliloquy is good in theatre, but cinema has other expressions
of feeling. Thus Ivy's presence, and the cigarettes she smokes are an
excellent smoke screen to hide her true feelings.
In a make-up scene on the sets of The Mask, Gautam who is writing
a book on the making of this movie, unwittingly introduces the
absolutely dangerous topic when he says, "for the first time someone

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else will do your stunt and that too in the climax. How do you feel?"
Indeed this would never have happened in theatre. The actor always
plays out his own tragic end.
This begins Mishra's penultimate argument with Sid: "Why should
anybody risk his life for a part that I am playing?" Sid labors to make
him understand that this is not theatre but cinema, but Harry Baba
persists with, "you make realistic cinema. Will he be able to die and
fall like Maqbool will die and fall?" Here is an inversion. The police
shoot Maqbool and thus he falls over the cliff. This replay of death is
seen as a symbol in so many of Ghosh's movies that one wonders
whether he is affirming that a truly great actor embraces the identity of
his character and thereby lets go of his own. Mishra can play Maqbool
when he is no longer Mishra; similarly, Amitabh Bachhan can also
become Mishra when he gives up his celebrity status of being the Big
B.
Mishra refuses to accept that the climax will be taken in a long
shot. This time he goes down on his knees and begs Sid, "I am your
father's age this is my last request. Please." Sid appears helpless at
this moment and explains the legalities, that he will have to sign a bond
that the creative decision is entirely his own and he has in no way been
pressurized. The journalist, Gautam has no idea what his stray words
have led to. The stuntman, Akbar warns Mishra to grasp the bushes
that will break his fall. The actor keeps saying he wants the gunshot for
his cue to leap as he can't see anything. The cameras rolland Shabnam
says later, "Nothing happened. It was a perfect shot."
What follows are hot words from the director, and his equally
illogical behaviour. He is furious that the shot has been ruined and
blames the stuntman for his warnings. He insists, "He's aware of the
bushesand does not look dead for a moment you will see him
grabbing the bushes." Obviously Maqbool has heeded Akbar's warning
and this is not realistic cinema.
Mishra does not only play Lear but represents other aging father's
too like Gloucester in Shakespeare's play. And the director who had
played Edgar, son to Mishra's Gloucester, and tried to protect him all
along, now pushes him over the brink. Sid prepares for another take
and asks Mishra: "Harry Baba you want to do the shot again?" Very
provocatively he suggests that Akbar is still around and can do the

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64
shot. But if he is playing the perfectionist behind the camera, then Mishra
is a perfectionist where his acting is concerned. Sid does not heed the
horrified crew informing him that the trees on the hillside have been
cut and the old man will be killed when he leaps. Mad Tom who saves
his father from the fall has now become the power maddened Edmund
who usurped his father's throne in King Lear. So Sid now says to his
cameraman, "Move! I'll take it. Harry Baba, you're ready? Roll
cameras."And the Last Lear focuses on the same human cruelty as its
original which does not quite manage to kill the unsuspecting Harry
Baba.
Gautam says he will probably never speak to 'Bhaiya' again. But
are they not one and the same? Gautam and Siddhartha are two faces
of the same person, both bearing the names of Buddha who searched
for truth. In this case they have tarnished their name with the same
guiltthat of fratricide. And they are guilty of sending one old man to
his death by their heedlessness.
This event, like scene 6 in King Lear is constructed to magnify our
fear and pity by confronting us with both Gloucester and Lear as one in
their combined anguish; it also serves to lead us towards catharsis.
Whose words are they, Lear or Gloucester's that ring in our ears"As
flies to wanton boys are we to th' gods. / They kill us for their sport".
This wanton boy Sid has even surpassed the Gods to feed his own
beliefs for realistic cinema.
It is hard to believe that a new director would have taken such a
step, however much he might be envisioning real cinema. A critic writes,
"Siddharth, the film director is a wonderful character, who is in a way
a variation of Harry's character, a man who knows what he wants and
lives in the world that he has created around himself. If Harry can
sacrifice everything for the bard and his lines, Siddharth can go to any
extent for his film."
This scene on the hillside is once again Ghosh's own passion to recreate Shakespeare, the blind Lear, and the literally blinded Gloucester
who will all believe what their children are telling them. And then in
the scene at home we learn that Vandana left her home to stay with him
when she watched him playing Othello and she thought about
Desdemona, "What a way to die." He left the theatre because he heard
someone speak ill of his partner, and she had an abortion two days later

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65

ARTIST : SHANU LAHIRI

without telling him. This Lear has been saved from parenthood but
nevertheless he will fall to his doom because of his surrogate children.
There is a flicker of hope left in the movie when Shabnam goes to
the paralyzed and brain-damaged actor's room. The night has passed
and she tries to wake him, first talking about the movie they made
together, and then with lines from Lear that he once taught her. "Do
you know me Sir," she asks when she sees his eyes opening and a
flicker of recognition on his face. The masks of the Shakespearean
character roles they are playing now slip into place and he says, "when
did you die? I am mightily
abused."
And then he enunciates
King Lear's tragic lines,
"Pray do not mock me..."
The camera pans and the
daughters of Lear are shown
again; first Shabnam by his
bedside; then Vandana
outside his door with the
newspaper; and finally Ivy
in the corridor behind her.
They are all near him, even
Gautam and Sid who had
driven to his mansion after
the premiere. The camera
leaves these images and
goes to the empty street
below. The voice of the
last Lear enunciating
Shakespeare (perhaps only
a
figment
of
our
imagination) sinks into
music.

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66
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78
When all desires for self are gone, there may still be a desire
to see the result of your work. If you help anybody, you want
to see how much you have helped him; perhaps even you want
him to see it too, and to be grateful. But this is still desire, and
also want of trust. When you pour out your strength to help,
there must be a result, whether you can see it or not; if you
know the Law you know this must be so. So you must do right
for the sake of the right, not in the hope of reward; you must
work for the sake of the work, not in the hope of seeing the
result; you must give yourself to the service of the world
because you love it, and cannot help giving yourself to it.
'At the Feet of the Master'
J. Krishnamurti
(1895 - 1986)

This issue of
HINDOL
is supported by
SMITA CHOWDHRY
'RANI' OBEROI
SHEELA SEN
MANJU & ARUN ROY
GOVINDA BASU
ANURADHA GUPTA

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ARTIST : RITUPARNO GHOSH

Courtesy : Rahul Majumder

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ARTIST : RITUPARNO GHOSH

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PRITHVIRAJ - SANJUKTA

ARTIST : RITUPARNO GHOSH

Courtesy : Rahul Majumder

ISSN 0976-0989

Year 5, No. 2

The art of Bireswar Sen (1897 1974), even though born of the same stirrings
that were being felt in Bengal in the early years of the last century, is in a class of its own.
Over the years, this distinguished disciple of Abanindranath Tagore charted a different
path, as if hearing a different drummer. There is quietude in his work, and a sense of
contemplative stillness.
Bireswar Sen was greatly drawn to the mountains, painting the Himalayas again
and again. But for all the sweep and the majesty of the mountains that he so loved, he
painted them on a small, almost miniscule scale, the average size of most of his studies
no larger than a postcard. But in his works there is no absence of grandeur, no loss of
stateliness. One does not in fact even notice the smallness of the scale, for as one
gazes at them, one keeps moving inside each work, crossing icy peaks, exploring
caverns, taking in vistas of sky and earth. And, above all, feeling a higher presence that
now reveals itself, and now disappears. One is compelled to go quiet, and to think.
- Prof. B.N. Goswamy