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Diamond Oberoi Vahali

Ritwik
Ghatak and
the Cinema
of Praxis
Culture, Aesthetics and Vision
Ritwik Ghatak and the Cinema of Praxis
Diamond Oberoi Vahali

Ritwik Ghatak
and the Cinema of Praxis
Culture, Aesthetics and Vision

123
Diamond Oberoi Vahali
School of Letters
Ambedkar University
Delhi, India

ISBN 978-981-15-1196-7 ISBN 978-981-15-1197-4 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1197-4
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
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Singapore
 Life denies death. Therefore all art has to
confirm life.
Birth is life.
Art is birth.
Let us not ever forget this. However soiled
and poisonous the curse may be, we have to
emerge out. Art has given us this
responsibility.
Instead of high-sounding words let us
remember this. Perhaps then we can achieve
something. (Ghatak 1987 B, p. 84).1

1
Ghatak, R. (1987 B). Art Film and the Future (M. Parikh, Trans.). In A. Rajadhyaksha & A.
Gangar (Eds.), Arguments and Stories (pp. 83–84). Bombay: Screen Unit.
Yet it all depends on you, the audience, on
your judgement. You can attack, and wound
us, but allow us to live, of course only if you
find some reason to let us live. If you do not
find such a reason, speak out loud. Write to
the newspapers. The culture of Bengal holds
this new medium in its dying grip. Why don’t
all of you prove that this is something none of
you desire? Let it all be over and done with.
Then we can make money-spinners in peace,
and sit and smoke our hookahs. The time has
come to choose which side we are on.
You too are one great wall. Possibly the
greatest wall of them all.
. . . try to comprehend us. Try to understand
that we are moving in the middle of a flowing
river. Whatever we are at this moment, that is
not our final entity; we shall grow and give
shade. We are only waiting for a little
sustenance.
By now you must have some idea about us-we
are the professional film-makers, who have to
move within the strict framework of the
business, we have to make commercial films.
Shakespeare had created a noble character
called Falstaff. We are his manifestations.
A critic called John Palmer had once written
something very appropriate about Falstaff:
Falstaff is ‘the most vital expression in
literature of man’s determination to triumph
over the vile body. He is the image of all
mankind as a creation of divine intelligence
tied to a belly that has to be fed’.
 For us too the problem of keeping our belly
fed is the vital problem. This is why there is
so much sordidness, so much sinning.
Yet to fill one’s belly is the birthright of every
man. He has been denied that right the day he
left behind the state of primitive socialism. He
will return to that state when the most modern
form of socialism will envelope his life. In
between lies the nightmare of reality.
Today all human good is overshadowed by
the struggle for survival. The day the shadow
lifts, human will and human dexterity will
reveal themselves. That day we shall not
come to plead with you . . .
That day the sound of guns will be stilled. No
mother will shed tears on that day. And we
will make films to our heart’s content.
Because it will be the day when the walls will
finally crumble. (Ghatak NFDC, p. 10).2

2
Ritwik Ghatak: NFDC. p. 10.
For my parents, Rupinder and Narinder who
helped us to understand that perseverance is
also love and sincerity is integrity and that we
have a long way to walk before we arrive at
understanding.
Acknowledgements

Any work, like this work cannot be possible without acknowledging one’s journey
of being into it as each work reflects in someway the culmination of that journey at
a given point in time. Therefore I owe this work first and foremost to my parents
who taught me the first lessons of life which included the ways in which we
perceive reality. It was from this lesson that I embarked upon my journey of
understanding life, literature and cinema. The second most invaluable lesson they
taught me was that perseverance is also love and that one has to continue to work
earnestly; no matter how difficult it may be, yet one has to continue with consis-
tency and struggle. I learnt from them the meaning of struggle and of not giving
up. I therefore dedicate this work to both of them who brought us up with so much
love and helped us understand that resilience and emergence with faith is the
meaning of life.
From my maternal grandparents I learnt the meaning of love and compassion.
They exemplified through their being that all education is incomplete if one has not
inculcated love and empathy in one’s life. From my three siblings, I learnt the
meaning of solidarity and of standing by each other. In every difficult moment of
my life, they stood by me and gave me strength and courage through their
unflinching support. Talking and listening to them I witnessed the emergence of
thoughts and ideas in me. All my thoughts actually belong to them, for these
emerged through my deep interaction with them across the numerous stages of my
life. I truly experienced the meaning of co-arising. I am thankful to them for making
this and much more possible for me and for all their invaluable insights that shaped
this work.
My three invaluable teachers, Prof. Jaidev, Prof. H. S. Gill and Ritwik Ghatak,
taught me the meaning of literature, art and cinema. From Prof. Jaidev I learnt the
connection between literature and social justice and that paying attention to the
minutest possible detail is the path to excellence. He also taught me the
inter-connection between life and literature and how literature opens up a deeper
understanding of our own inter-personal relationships in life. From Prof. Gill I
learnt about the unseen ways in which art and creativity work and developed a deep

xi
xii Acknowledgements

understanding of the human condition of each being, in which that being must be
placed. Reading and listening to him, I understood the value of form and language
in literature. From Ritwik Ghatak, whom I consider to be my teacher, though I was
never taught by him, I understood the means through which great cinema can be
created, especially the relationship that exists between sound and image. Watching
his films, I experienced the immense power of cinema to transform people and
society. I also experienced the true meaning of art which only emerges when it is
committed to life. This commitment to life in every form is essential; this is what he
precisely stood for in all his creative expressions.
I am thankful to my numerous students over the past twenty five years who have
patiently listened to my thoughts and ideas and whose insights have helped me
further develop my thinking. As a teacher I learnt the meaning of co-arising in
thought and the manner in which the being of a teacher and students resonate and
thoughts begin to shape, emerge and surface from this inter-being. In the process
the notion of the self dissolves and thoughts float in fluid spaces without any
ownership. It is this symphony of thoughts and ideas which begin to resonate and
reverberate in everyone’s being. Therefore it is to them that I, in great many ways
owe this work.
I am grateful to the most beautiful discipline of literature which taught me the
meaning of seeing beyond seeing, of witnessing the wonder of unfolding, of
endlessly engaging with layers within layers, and of working with multiple per-
spectives, until the veils fall. Reading literature, I also learnt to look at the creative
spark hidden in every minor detail. I am grateful to my encounter with cinema, one
of the greatest inventions of humankind. It opened up a world of images and sounds
for me and embraced me in the awe of the silver screen; that enchanted world where
sound and image acquired newer meanings with every fresh encounter. I have learnt
a lot from numerous literary writers and film-makers. It was these deep encounters
with literature and cinema that led me, unaware to myself in the direction of
exploring and engaging with the world of this wonderful film-maker.
This work was done in two phases: In the initial phase, when I was completing
this work as my Ph.D. thesis numerous people helped in facilitating the process of
this work. Special mention must be made of Prof. Gill who was my Ph.D. super-
visor besides being a wonderful teacher. I must acknowledge the tremendous
amount of freedom he gave me during the process of writing this thesis. I must also
thank all the teachers in the Centre of English Studies in JNU and my teachers in
the Department of English in H.P. University for the perspectives that I developed
during the course of attending their classes. I also here need to mention the lectures
on film appreciation delivered by Arun Bedeni at CENDIT, which in a way
introduced me to the world of cinema in the days when I was grappling to
understand this medium. Similarly the film appreciation course at the Film and
Television Institute of India was an eye opener, especially the lectures delivered by
Prof. Suresh Chabria. Special thanks to Dr. Madan Gopal Singh and Dr. Ravi
Vasudevan for their very valuable insights into Film Studies. Reading Madan
Gopal’s Ph.D. thesis was inspiring indeed! I would also like to thank Dr. Moniak
Biswas for sharing Technology and Cinema in Bengal: A Historical Overview
Acknowledgements xiii

which helped me to get an insight into the experiences of various technicians who
worked and interacted with Ghatak.
I am extremely grateful to Surma Ghatak and Ritaban Ghatak for not only
listening to my numerous nascent queries but also for sharing whatever information
and material they had, including Ghatak’s original unpublished works with so much
love and warmth. I can never forget my meetings with them. They were so
forthcoming. For many years even after the submission of my thesis in 1998,
Surmadi continued to share with me news related to all new publications of Ritwik
Ghatak. She made me feel so much a part of this family that cherished Ghatak’s
cinema by always referring to Gahtak in her letters as “your Ritwikda did this and
that… ”. I feel sad that she is not present to see the culmination of this work in book
form. I feel overwhelmed by her commitment to Ghatak and his cinema and the
immense contribution that she has made to bring him from darkness and obscurity
into light. Thank you.
I deeply acknowledge the efforts made by many of my Bengali friends at
translating numerous interviews and film dialogues from Bangla into English.
Special mention must be made of Jogin, Meghnath, Shumi, Banida, Putuldi and
Palda for translating with utter devotion and for walking extra miles for me. Banida
and Putuldi were so forthcoming whenever I approached them and translated so
many of Ghatak’s Bangla interviews for me. They also made numerous attempts to
teach Bangla to me and bought simple books so that I could learn to comprehend
Bangla myself. Many thanks for all your efforts. Thanks to Meghnath for his
insights into Ghatak’s cinema, especially the nuances related to the East and West
Bengali dialects and for all the time that he spent discussing language, politics and
music in each of Ghatak’s films with me. Many thanks to Jogin for spending days
altogether discussing, translating and digging out material for me and for helping
me develop a critically engaged political perspective that in many ways has shaped
this work. I am thankful to him for spending days to translate Ritwik Ghatak’s
“Draft of Policy Principles for IPTA” at a time when its transaltion was not pub-
lished in English. His contribution to this work is immense indeed. I also need to
thank him for all his support at every level over the past many years and for the
immensity of his being which to say the least is most generous and helpful to all in
need.
Special thanks to Dimple (Amreen) for critiquing, analysing and for helping me
develop a critical perspective and for her very deep existential insights into the
psychological dynamics of the refugees. Her deep insights and knowledge of cin-
ema has been most inspiring and has helped shape my interest in this medium.
Discussing cinema with her was always an eye opener. In some ways she was the
one who initiated me into considering cinema as a great art form in my early
childhood. Her contribution to this work is infinite as it permeates throughout the
work. Thanks for all your involvement, love and support. Thanks to Honey for her
psychoanalytical inputs related to understanding the refugee psyche and for lending
a deeper lens of looking at the unstated, unheard, impalpable undertones, and for
listening, reading, discussing, resonating and holding, for always being there in
every sense of the term but most of all for your never failing love; to Bobby for
xiv Acknowledgements

your selfless, indelible love, support and concern and for always taking care; to Ma,
Nani and Duniya for enduring my long absences; to Mamu and Thurvinder Uncle for
always supporting and standing by; to Rajesh for discussing, facilitating and for all
his involvement; to Rajesh’s mother for making me feel so much at home; to Niti,
Gopal, Zovi, Sonali, Anupama, Ishmeet, Sandhya, and Jenifer for encouraging to
Bela for discussing; to Shyam for being an inspiring presence throughout; to Kishwar
for showing the path towards radical pedagogies; to Vermaji for looking after the
technical aspects of this work and for all his help throughout; to Prof. Jaidev for
reading, editing, and for numerous suggestions. I can never thank him enough.
I also need to acknowledge my colleagues in the School of Letters in Ambedkar
University, especially the faculty of English for all their support and
encouragement.
I owe this work to all my friends for the numerous little things they did for me
and to my very warm family especially to my mother for her unflinching inspira-
tion, love and patience and my father who earnestly helped me to understand the
meaning of work.
Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Part I The Making of an Artist

2 An Overview: Resonances, Influences and Moorings . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1 Quest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . . . 13
2 Moorings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . . . 19
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . . . 23
3 A Search for a Personal Vision of Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
1 Vision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2 Commitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Introduction to Part II and III: “Epic: A Form of Multiple

Apertures and Spaces” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Part II Ritwik Ghatak and the Epic Tradition: Themes,
Form and Mythic Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4 An Embrace with the Epic Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
1 The Episodic Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
2 Subversion and Distanciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3 Self-Reflexivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4 Inter-textuality and Intra-textuality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5 A Search for a New Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6 Intervention within the Melodramatic Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

xv
xvi Contents

5 The Magnum Opus of the Bengal Partition and Its Aftermath:

Motifs and Antinomies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
1 Home and Homelessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2 Recession of Space: Bars and Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
3 Mourning and Nostalgia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
4 Unemployment and Class Deterioration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5 Political Unrest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
6 Struggle: Individual and Collective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
7 The Linguistic Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
8 The Anguished Being of Exile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
8.1 Exile: A Derelict, Deserted and Deserting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
8.2 Amnesia: The Loss of Self . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
8.3 Myopia: Sight and Sightlessness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
9 The Ever Moving Exodus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6 The Angst of Exile: Being and Non-Being . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 79
1 The Bodiless, Ethereal Being of a Refugee: Subarna Rekha and
the Unheard Howl of Exile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
2 Meghe Dhaka Tara: Betrayal and Erosion of Self . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
3 Jukti Takko Ar Gappo and the Perennial Nomad . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
7 Recasting the Contemporary in the Crucible of the Myth:
Interventions and Interpretations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..... 91
1 The Mahabharata, Abhijnanasakuntalam and Komal
Gandhar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
2 The Ramayana, the Katha Upanishad and Subarna Rekha . . . . . . 97
3 The Myth of Shiva and Jukti Takko Ar Gappo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
4 Meghe Dhaka Tara and the Durga Myth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
5 Shey Bishnupriya and the Contemporary Nawadwip . . . . . . . . . . 101
6 Kumara Sambhavam and the Impossible Birth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
7 Titas Ekti Nadir Nam and the Legend of Lakhinder
and Behula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Part III Ritwik Ghatak and the Epic Tradition: Cinematography,

Movement, Lighting, Sound and Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8 Lighting: A Self-reflexive Discourse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
9 Sound: A Contrapuntal Melody . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Contents xvii

10 Cinematography: A Search for a New Cinematic Aesthetics . . . . . . 139

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
11 Metaphor: The Abstract Conceptual Domain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Part IV Film and Praxis: Countering the Orgiastic Dance of Vested

Interests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12 Marxism and the National Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
1 The National Question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
2 Bengal Partition Versus 1947 Partition of the Indian
Subcontinent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
3 Post Independence India and Citizenship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
13 In Search of Praxis: A Political Odyssey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
1 The Nation and the Citizen: Thrusts Towards Peripheries . . . . . . 177
2 Power and its Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
3 Who is an Activist? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
4 The Communal Psyche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
5 Embracing the Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
6 The Many Vietnams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
7 The Collapse of Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
8 Life Context and Activism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
9 Championing the Cause of the Forgotten, the Dismissed, the
Mentally Challenged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
10 The Human Condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
11 In Search of Praxis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
14 Film and Praxis: A Search for a Subversive Language
of Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

Part V Angst, Resilience and Survival: Who is it who thus Lives

and Dies? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15 Marxism, Art, Culture and Praxis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
1 Draft of the Policy Principles of Indian People’s Theatre
Association (1951) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
2 On the Cultural “Front”: A Thesis Submitted by Ritwik Ghatak
to the Communist Party of India in 1954 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
xviii Contents

16 The Angst of an Artist: In the Shadow of Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

1 The Angst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
2 Life in Death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
17 Resilience and Survival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
About the Author

Diamond Oberoi Vahali teaches literature and cinema at the School of Letters,
and the School of Undergraduate Studies at Ambedkar University Delhi. She
completed her Ph.D. at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School of Language,
Literature and Culture Studies. She co-edited and co-authored Once Upon a Time:
A collection of Short Stories; and Life and Times of Shanta Toofani: Story of a
Survivor. She has published articles on various aspects of literature and cinema. Her
interests include literature, cinema studies, psychoanalysis, the human condition,
empathetic and experiential pedagogies, engaged spirituality, life writing and
memory studies, folk, oral and indigenous cultures, and narratives of resistance,
compassion and resilience.

xix
Chapter 1
Introduction

Abstract This chapter is an introduction to Ritwik Ghatak, his intervention within

the Marxist discourse related to art and culture, as well as offers insights into his
understanding of nationalism and the deep anguish that he lived as a consequence
of the partition of India. The chapter delineates the structure of the book, divided as
it is across five sections. The “Introduction” briefly summarises the argument of
each chapter and highlights interrelationships across chapters.

Keywords Marxism
Art
Ideology
Nationalism
Partition

This book addresses itself to Ritwik Ghatak’s preoccupation with his times which
saw, among others, the uprise of the Communist ideology, the Indian People’s
Theatre Association (IPTA) and its concern with a people’s art, and, later, the
partition of the nation and its aftermath. Despite the fact that Ghatak vehemently
stood for the fundamental principles of Marxism, he even as a youth had entered the
polemic that centred around the form that Marxist art must embody. The questions
and the demands that were coming to the fore, primarily, through the Party
(CPI) and obliquely, through the All India Progressive Writers’ Association
(AIPWA),1 were related to the aspect of realism as a mode to be valued and
followed. Ghatak along with a few other IPTA artists had stood against the agitprop
school of art. Though he did highly value “Realism” as propounded by the AIPWA
writers, yet he found it too alien, given the cultural milieu of his people, especially
in the context of the performing arts. He upheld the epic mode and believed that as
an artist, his primary duty was to speak to people in their own forms. Along with
several other IPTA artists, Ghatak raised contemporary issues in his cinema, but
encoded them within folk forms, and developed them by juxtaposing them with
myths and legends. It was through this process, that the artists were able to
simultaneously incorporate the contemporary, through the medium of the folk and
were able to demystify the Brahminical, patriarchal and class contradictions

1
The All India Progressive Writers’ Association was formed in 1936. The Fourth All India
Conference of AIPWA was held in May 1943. It was from this conference that the All India
organization of IPTA was formed.

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 1

D. O. Vahali, Ritwik Ghatak and the Cinema of Praxis,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1197-4_1
2 1 Introduction

inherent in the myths. Thus, Ghatak’s endeavour was to speak to people in the
popular folk mode, the mode in which they perceived reality. He strongly believed
that a great work of art is to be tested by its popularity among the people. Hence,
any artwork which is great must first turn popular. The purpose of art, for him, like
all other Marxists was to bring about a change in the perception of the people; this
would lead to a change in the system. Since cinema can simultaneously speak to
thousands of people, Ghatak chose it as his battleground.
The event that shook him completely was first his expulsion from IPTA, and
subsequently from the Party (CPI) that he had so much loved and valued. After the
initial shock, although he apparently did manage to recover, yet it left an indelible
mark on his entire life and in a way determined the course that both his art and his
life were to follow. Further, the form that the independence of the nation took
completely shattered him. He felt that the common people’s historic struggle and
their entire revolutionary zeal had all come to nought. The Indian government had
betrayed the people completely, first when it had signed the Mountbatten plan and
had allowed independence to arrive as a bloody partition of the land and secondly
when it had accepted the capitalist model for free India. Ghatak’s entire work after
1947 revolves around these twin consequences of India’s independence. It reflects
his concern with the partition, which according to him was not merely a geo-
graphical or a political division, but the division of a whole people. He felt the
people would never forgive this division. Ghatak’s cinema thus is marked by this
national trauma and the economic and cultural displacement it entailed for the
masses.
Linked to the partition of the nation was the question of nationalism which was
viewed by the Left as a bourgeois compromise. The independence of India resulted
not only in the partition, but also in the mass migration of people, which led
inevitably to homelessness, unemployment, segregation and abject impoverishment
of the people. However, the reduction of the middle class, into the lower middle
class, was due not only to the partition but also to the capitalist model that the
Indian government followed after independence. Thus, India, according to Ghatak,
had only achieved pseudo-independence which in reality had further subjugated and
betrayed the people. The entire milieu of Ghatak’s cinema foregrounds the swift
class deterioration of the people. Its consequences affected and reshuffled not only
the social dynamics but the interactions and dynamics within a given family
structure also, dynamics which subtly and gradually were undergoing a transfor-
mation. But as this class deterioration continues to amalgamate, Ghatak believed
that the people would be able to perceive the treachery of the system, which exists
by dividing them. He was convinced, that gradually but surely, the people would
rise, and unite to overthrow this anti-people system. Hence, even as Ghatak presents
the traumatic partition of the nation and its consequences, he also problematises
across his cinema, the notion of struggle which develops and adds new strands and
dimensions. His cinema thus reflects the political odyssey of an artist revolutionary,
who all his life stood for the values of the Communist uprising. As one studies his
cinema chronologically, one finds that Ghatak’s ideological notion of struggle
enters and moves out of various inner polemics, until it finally settles down, around
1 Introduction 3

the need for praxis within the socio-historical-political-philosophical and cultural

context of India. This kind of praxis alone, he felt, would lead to the correct form of
action and open the path for revolutionising the system from below.
This work, besides stating Ghatak’s ideological and psychic moorings, states as
to how the content and form of his cinema converge towards an analysis, where the
form becomes the content by forcing the spectator to take a stand vis-à-vis the
contemporary crises. Ghatak’s cinema thus makes use of several cinematic devices
that are apparently conventional but actually are subversive in their coding.
Besides the political dynamics of his life and its reflection in his cinema, a major
section of the book is devoted to Ghatak’s personal vision of cinema, as well as to
its aesthetics, which include the formation of innovative devices in relation to
lighting, sound and cinematography. The most significant aspect to be noted is how
through an innovative use of film technique he enters the domain of conceptuali-
sation and formulates metaphors through the principle of abstraction.
The book highlights the manner in which Ghatak’s entire cinema can be viewed
as an epic and each film within it, as an episode in this vast epic of the endless,
ever-moving exodus. For instance, as almost all the films are divided into episodes,
they are integrated through recurrent thematic and formal motifs. Since these motifs
are common to all his films, Ghatak’s films never appear to end with the formal
ending of their specific narratives, which varies in each case. At the level of
discourse, each film flows into the other. Thus, each film is an aperture, a point to be
continued and an episode loosely knit within the broader framework of Ghatak’s
epic structure.
Further, the book elaborates how the discourse related to the epic form, of Ghatak’s
cinema, attempts to focus on two planes simultaneously: the development of thematic
and formal motifs, across his films. The motifs in his films develop through the
principle of repetition and variation. The presence of the same motifs across several
films transforms the individual film texts into an epic construct. On another plane, some
of the cinematic signifiers purely at the level of form and technique are formulated as
abstractions that metaphorically constitute the varied states of exile. The construction of
the metaphor in Ghatak involves juxtaposition and assimilation both at the level of
theme and form. It is by juxtaposing pure cinematic signs which are constituted through
the varied combinations of light, sound and image with highly charged thematic codes,
that Ghatak constructs a condensed metaphor, a nuclei of dialectics. The work when
seen as a whole emerges as an archi-tale of which the individual films are but variants.
It is this aspect which is developed across many of the chapters, especially in the
second and third sections of the book.
The book is divided into five sections. Part I, “The Making of an Artist”, con-
tains two chapters. The first chapter in this section, Chap. 2: “An Overview:
Resonances, Influences and Moorings”, delves chronologically into the making of
Ghatak as an artist and briefly discusses his numerous works. It delineates his
search for a new kind of a cinematic form and the influences that shaped his work.
It goes on to trace his artistic resonances with other artists and thinkers. The chapter
situates Ghatak within the context of the emerging ideas around cinema in the early
to mid-decades of the twentieth century in India and several countries across the
4 1 Introduction

world, in particular, the Soviet School of Cinema and the conception of cinema as
evolved by the Japanese film-makers especially Kenji Mizoguchi. The chapter
foregrounds Ghatak’s insights regarding films directed by film-makers such as
Sergei Eisenstein, Mizoguchi, Luis Bunuel, Fellini, Bimal Roy and Satyajit Ray.
Similarly, it traces the influence of Erich Neumann, Jung, Frazer, Bibhutibhushan
Bandyopadhyay and Rabindranath Tagore on the emergence of his philosophical
treatise of art, as it traces his admiration for Bertolt Brecht and Bijon Bhattacharya
in the arena of theatre.
Chapter 3, “A Search for a Personal Vision of Cinema”, attempts to depict the
surfacing of Ghatak as a cine artist who understood the ideas of film making from
various schools but evolved his own conception of cinema. The chapter discusses
Ghatak’s basic notions around art, his preoccupation with the principle of
abstraction, and the significance that he placed on the unconscious spark of cre-
ativity. It also discusses the interconnections between the principle of abstraction
and the subjectivity of an artist. It foregrounds Ghatak’s belief in rooting con-
temporary reality within folk forms and the interrelationship between form and
content. The chapter is one of the most significant statements on Ghatak’s personal
vision of cinema as it, at length culls out Ghatak’s views on art, the creative process
and cinema, from his numerous writings and interviews. It focuses on his creativity
as a visionary film-maker who believed that creation constantly is in a state of flux.
The chapter further attempts to situate Ghatak as an artist working within the
crippling and devastating consequences of the partition which destroyed his world
of childhood fantasy, the most significant ingredient for an artist. It briefly offers his
critical insights related to the independence of the nation and the trauma of the
partition of Bengal and the division of the nation.
Chapter 3 is followed by an introduction to Parts II and III, titled: “Introduction
to Part II, Ritwik Ghatak and the Epic Tradition: Themes, Form and Mythic
Interventions and Part III, Ritwik Ghatak and the Epic Tradition: Cinematography,
Movement, Lighting, Sound and Music-‘Epic a Form of Multiple Apertures and
Spaces’”, which elaborates on the form of an epic. Belonging to the prehistoric, oral
narrative traditions, epic as a form is fluid, as it is based on an episodic structure.
Therefore, it is a form of endless apertures and spaces, where different bards, at
different points in time, can add several narrative strands and can offer endless
interpretations. The “Introduction” thus delineates the notion of the epic, before
further applying it in the context of Ghatak. It introduces the way, in which Ghatak
works through the epic form in his cinema and develops it at multiple levels. This
combined introduction to the second and the third Part focuses on Ghatak’s
structure which is based on the epic structure, both at the level of thematic as well
as cinematic motifs.
Part II: “Ritwik Ghatak and the Epic Tradition: Themes, Form and Mythic
Interventions” is divided into four chapters. It demonstrates his homage to the epic
form as he strives to create his cinema within its structure as well as in particular
reflects his trauma related to the holocaust of the partition of the Indian subconti-
nent. It depicts the various ways in which Ghatak represents the devastation caused
by the partition, as it affects the lived lives and experiences of people, at political,
1 Introduction 5

economic, existential and psychic levels. The section further focuses on Ghatak’s
intervention within the mythic domain.
The first chapter in this section, Chap. 4: “An Embrace with the Epic Form”,
illustrates how many of Ghatak’s films follow the episodic structure which is an
inherent part of the epic form. A significant aspect related to the epic structure is the
notion of distanciation which breaks narrative continuity and diegesis. This is
incorporated in his cinema through the self-conscious, self-reflexive and
self-referential method that includes several inter-texts and operates implicitly
through the principle of a framed narrative. Further, he also uses several devices
which are related to the concept of authorial intrusion or introduces characters who
are artists themselves and who, self-consciously are grappling with issues related to
formal experimentation in the field of art and creativity. Another significant
alienation device that Ghatak employs at times is the violation of the dominant
cinematic code of continuity that creates the illusion of reality. Moreover, he
encodes his cinema within the melodramatic form which is closely related to the
epic form, as the principle of coincidence is common to both. Ghatak thus operates
within the epic structure, both in terms of the distanciating devices that are central
to the epic as a form as well as works within the tradition of the mahakavya, as he
constantly adds new narrative strands. It is all these aspects in their layered
dimensions that this chapter attempts to develop.
Chapter 5, “The Magnum Opus of the Bengal Partition and Its Aftermath: Motifs
and Antinomies”, further examines the structure of Ghatak’s oeuvre that follows the
structure of an epic. The argument that the chapter formulates is that Ghatak’s entire
work can be perceived as an epic, and each film as an episode within this vast epic
of the exodus that is constantly on the move, in search for a praxis which will bring
about a new existence based on an egalitarian world view. The chapter traces
themes related to the grand betrayal of India’s independence which resulted in the
partition of India. It explores themes of exile, homelessness, dereliction, displace-
ment, recession of space, loss, unemployment, class deterioration, political unrest,
struggle, survival, mourning and nostalgia, sightlessness and insight, memory and
amnesia. These themes are developed across motifs and antinomies in Ghatak’s
cinema. The chapter also discusses the manner in which the notion of exile is
conceived within the structural discursivities of language itself. The chapter ends
with depicting the movement of the exodus in Ghatak’s cinema that is perennially
in motion.
Chapter 6, “The Angst of Exile: Being and Non-Being”, continues the discourse
of the previous chapter and further encapsulates the notion of exile as infiltrating
into the being of an exiled person. It specifically develops the discourse of Subarna
Rekha and Meghe Dhaka Tara related to the angst of exile. It depicts how the
metaphor of exile is further condensed and philosophised at a deeper, existential
level in many of Ghatak’s films. Thus, Subarna Rekha while extending the notion
of exile offers an argument at an altogether different level, through the journalist
who questions “Who is not a refugee?” Meghe Dhaka Tara explores the psychic
dimensions related to the human condition of a refugee. It depicts the various
aspects of the disintegrating refugee psyche without directly delving into the direct
6 1 Introduction

violence of partition. The chapter further delineates the ultimate reduction of an

exiled person into a nomad, uprooted from one’s personal and political moorings by
analysing Jukti Takko Ar Gappo. Thus, the chapter establishes itself on an exis-
tential axis, depicting the manner in which the self itself can be eroded due to the
experience of being uprooted. The chapter explores themes specifically related to
the refugee psyche such as survival, individualism, alienation, betrayal and the
eventual loss of self.
Chapter 7, “Recasting the Contemporary in the Crucible of the Myth:
Interventions and Interpretations”, further highlights Ghatak’s cinematic interven-
tion within the epic and the mythic space. For this purpose, this chapter traces the
mythic context of many of his films. For instance, Komal Gandhar constantly refers
to Kālidāsa’s Abhijñānaśākuntalam (The Recognition of Shakuntala), the
Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Subarna Rekha refers to the legend of Nachiketa
as presented in the Katha Upanishad. Meghe Dhaka Tara conceptualises the dis-
course of its central character Nita, in the context of the Durga myth, especially
through its soundtrack. Jukti Takko Ar Gappo refers to the Shiva Purana. Titas Ekti
Nadir Nam incorporates the structure related to the legend of Lakhinder and
Behula. The screenplay of Kumara Sambhavam refers to Kālidāsa’s Kumara
Sambhavam as the screenplay of Shey Bishnupriya refers to the times of
Bishnupriya, the wife of Chaitanya Dev. Ghatak’s aim was to recast the contem-
porary in the mould of the myth, in order to conceptualise a popular people’s mode
of expression and simultaneously also in the process to demystify the mythic arena.
Thus, it is through developing a dialogue with the latent interpretations encom-
passed within the myths, that Ghatak recasts and demystifies the mythic domain. In
this manner, he develops a contemporary discourse through the psychic intercession
of the spectators and is able to speak to them through their own cultural codes and
collective inherited memory within the conscious and unconscious cultural psychic
configurations.
Part III, “Ritwik Ghatak and the Epic Tradition: Cinematography, Movement,
Lighting, Sound and Music”, embodies the cinematic aesthetics of Ghatak’s cinema
as it further develops his cinema on the epic plane. It consists of four chapters
related to the techniques of lighting, sound and cinematography and culminates in
demonstrating Ghatak’s ability to synthesise and develop his cinema at the level of
abstractions and metaphors.
The first chapter in this section, Chap. 8: “Lighting: A Self-reflexive Discourse”,
discusses Ghatak’s intervention in the arena of lighting, besides working on the epic
dimension of his oeuvre in relation to the techniques of lighting. It demonstrates the
numerous ways in which Ghatak uses light and challenges the conventions of
classical Hollywood cinema, as well as how his oeuvre is connected through a few
major visual motifs that are developed on the plane of lighting. The chapter focuses
on a few taxonomies of lighting, conceived by Ghatak, such as masking, blurring,
silhouettes and long shadows, chiaroscuro, the development of light as movement
and, most important of all, the way in which lighting enters the subjective plane.
Ghatak thus reformulates the real as he works against the codes of realism.
1 Introduction 7

Chapter 9, “Sound: A Contrapuntal Melody”, discusses the multiple ways in

which Ghatak conceives sound and image as counterpoints in his cinema and thus
juxtaposes the historical with the contemporary. The chapter aims at exploring this
aspect, as well as the numerous creative methods in which Ghatak uses sound,
especially the formation of sound as a relay, a highly innovative mode of sound
experimentation. The technique of sound relay connects diverse sequences. Sound
thus in his cinema enters the domain of editing. Through this particular technique,
he is able to develop his films at a paradigmatic level as different syntagmas of a
film are joined together in paradigmatic units through specific sound signs or
musical notations spread elsewhere. This chapter thus attempts to demonstrate the
way in which Ghatak through these various methods orients his entire creative
endeavour along the channel of an epic mentality. This he does, especially in the
context of creating a persistent pattern of sound signs which operate throughout his
cinema through the principle of repetition and variations.
Chapter 10, “Cinematography: A Search for a New Cinematic Aesthetics”, like
the previous two chapters, attempts to trace patterns across Ghatak’s cinematog-
raphy and the constitution of visual motifs. The mise-en-scène and the visual motifs
are developed through the movement, the distance, the angle, the duration and the
lens of the camera, combined with the placement and the movement of the character
and through the varying tonalities of light and shade. The chapter exemplifies
Ghatak as an auteur who conceived specific visual markers like the upturned gaze,
the characteristic slow turns and movements, the use of below the knee shots, the
placement of objects and characters to the extreme corners of the frame, the for-
mation of multiple spatial zones and of contrary movements within a single shot
composition to name a few. Like the previous two chapters, this chapter also
attempts to trace views of Ghatak’s technicians on his cinematography. The chapter
establishes the fact that though Ghatak valued spontaneity and deeply believed in
the unconscious spark in the domain of creativity, yet he also worked meticulously
and planned in great detail the shots that he constructed. The chapter once again
ascertains the epic structure of his oeuvre in terms of developing visual motifs that
with variations run across his cinema.
Chapter 11, “Metaphor: The Abstract Conceptual Domain”, depicts how cine-
matic technique is finally transformed into the domain of metaphor in Ghatak’s
cinema as at times, some of the pure cinematic signs are juxtaposed with highly
charged thematic codes. The metaphors thus are developed through the use of pure
cinematic codes that encompass the juxtaposition of history, myth and the con-
temporary. Further, this chapter also discusses the manner in which Ghatak
develops metaphors, purely at the level of concept, i.e. without the intervention of
technique. The chapter illustrates Ghatak’s belief in the principle of abstraction as
the highest form of art.
Part IV, “Film and Praxis: Countering the Orgiastic Dance of Vested Interests”,
contains three chapters related to the political vision of Ghatak’s cinema. Ghatak’s
cinema challenges the conventional understanding of independence and nationalism
as it enters into various polemical arguments with several ideological positions. The
8 1 Introduction

section also focuses on Ghatak’s search for praxis as embodied in the thematic as
well as in the subversive language of his cinema.
The first chapter in this section, Chap. 12: “Marxism and the National
Question”, examines the national question in Ghatak’s cinema as one of the most
significant thematic concerns. His cinema develops a polemic around the issue of
nationalism, its formation, significance and aftermath, as he problematises it from a
Marxist–Leninist perspective. The chapter depicts the manner in which Ghatak,
while analysing the formation and the aftermath of Indian nationalism, questions its
development. Thus, Ghatak centralises his cinema, around three basic questions
related to nationalism in India: the construction of nationalism by the dominant
streams of Indian national movements; the partition of India, which resulted in the
formation of the independent Indian state; and the plight of Indian citizens in
post-independence India. Ghatak through his cinema makes a strong statement
when he upholds that the formation of the Indian state betrayed the people. It ends
by depicting the rising protest of the people in unison against the State as embodied
in his cinema.
Chapter 13, “In Search of Praxis: A Political Odyssey”, takes up Ghatak’s
preoccupation with the Left ideology right from his early IPTA days and presents
the changing perceptions of the Left in his cinema over the course of several years.
The chapter offers a detailed analysis of all his films in a chronological manner from
this perspective. An analysis of his cinema not only reveals Ghatak’s response to
the implementation of this ideology but also brings to the fore his critique of the
Party (CPI) and its organisational functioning. Ghatak thus towards the end of his
life through his 1974 film Jukti Takko Ar Gappo calls forth for a praxis and states
that the Left ideology must acquire a form which is rooted in the culture and the
context of a people, for only then will a movement be a people’s movement.
Further, the chapter implicitly states and exemplifies that despite the fact that
Ghatak situates his characters within this ever degenerating system; he strongly
maintains that an incessant struggle will enable the characters to survive the system,
though not as individuals, for most of his films end in the death of the protagonists
but as a collective movement.
Chapter 14: “Film and Praxis: A Search for a Subversive Language of Cinema”,
illustrates how the search for a praxis of cinema was established by Ghatak at
multiple levels simultaneously, related to themes, form and cinematic language: a
language that constantly violated the codes and conventions of classical narrative
cinema. It is through the development of several subversive cinematic techniques
that the form of Ghatak’s cinema implicates the spectators within the film space and
forces them to face up to their share, equally in the formation of this rotten system
as well as in the reworking of this system. Cinematic technique in his cinema enters
the arena of praxis and moves towards the domain of social, political and psychic
transformations.
Part V: “Angst, Resilience and Survival: Who is it who thus Lives and Dies?”
contains three chapters associated with Ghatak’s struggle with the Communist
movement and its’ notion of art as an ideological tool. Contesting these dominant
notions, Ghatak offers directions related to Marxism, art and culture. The section
1 Introduction 9

focuses on the angst of this artist and the anguish that he suffered as a consequence
of resisting the all domineering control of the Communist Party of India (CPI). The
section and the book culminate with upholding struggle and survival in Ghatak’s
cinema.
The first chapter in this section, Chap. 15: “Marxism, Art, Culture and Praxis”,
offers a detailed analysis of two very significant documents written by Ghatak. The
“Draft of the Policy Principles of Indian People’s Theatre Association” (1951) was
drafted by Ritwik Ghatak and Surapati Nandi. In this Draft, Ghatak presents his
understanding of both national and international culture. The Draft is written within
the context of IPTA’s concern with the past cultural heritage as well as the rela-
tionship between IPTA and the humanist current in national and international
progressive cultural movements. In the second document, On The Cultural
“Front”: A thesis submitted by Ritwik Ghatak to the Communist Party of India in
1954, Ghatak formulates his basic thinking around Communist art and the need for
the Party to become more open. He explores the experimental possibilities of art
practices within the Communist groups, so that the art emerging from the
Communist movements may be more mature and inclusive of diverse forms. He
argues that it is only when, the Communist artists will learn from other humani-
tarian artists, who work with a high sense of quality, that the art of the Communist
artists will develop, as they too will then help in radicalising other art practices
prevalent in India. It is through this dialogue between the Communist artists and
other artists that the art practice in India will lead towards praxis. The task of the
Party therefore in his perspective is to develop a repository of people’s art practices.
Further, he states that there is a need to build a democratic front in the arena of
culture. Finally, the chapter situates these two documents, within the context of
similar debates existing within the Marxist circles in other parts of the world.
Chapter 16, “The Angst of an Artist: In the Shadow of Death”, continues the
discussion of the previous chapter, as it depicts Ghatak’s interventions in the arena
of culture as perceived from a Marxist paradigm. The chapter takes the discussion
forward and further situates Ghatak within the scenario of the Left politics of the
late 1940s and early 1950s in India. It highlights Ghatak’s relationship and dif-
ferences with both the CPI and the IPTA leadership. It discusses Ghatak’s subse-
quent expulsion from the Party and IPTA. The chapter also attempts to analyse the
psycho-social dynamics of Ghatak, as it traverses through the life journey of this
very creative and committed film-maker who encountered endless failures and yet
did not allow these failures to make a dent in his commitment to his people. The
chapter attempts to delve deeper into the angst of this film-maker, who despite
everything, kept his struggle alive, both with the Party and with the failures he
encountered vis-à-vis the commercial art scene in India, as he struggled to live
despite the looming shadow of death within him. The chapter offers critical insights
into some of the issues developed in the initial few chapters.
Chapter 17, “Resilience and Survival”, serves as the final statement on Ghatak’s
cinema. It brings to the fore the motif of the “Survivor”. No matter how difficult the
path is, in the ultimate analysis, despite all hurdles, the characters survive or even if
they die, in death too they leave the space for something new to take birth, a new
10 1 Introduction

birth that becomes the harbinger of new life, metaphorically celebrating the
emergence of the new harvest, the ultimate symbol of life and fertility.
As the book constantly reconfigures and synthesis the arguments developed
across chapters, therefore some repetition is intrinsic to the structure of the book.
This work develops Ghatak’s oeuvre simultaneously at several levels, whether these
are related to thematic motifs or to the political discourse of his cinema or to his
cinematic language. Many a time, the same motif or a cinematographic device is
developed at multiple levels within different contexts and configurations of the
book across diverse chapters. For instance, the motif of the home and its eventual
loss is contextually and historically developed in some chapters. In others, it is
developed on the plane of sound. In some others, it is established through the
thematic of the recession of space, which is also developed at the cinematographic
level in another chapter, through a detailed study of his visual shot compositions.
Similarly, his intervention within the mythic domain is developed at the narrative
level in some chapters. In others, it is developed at the structural level, for instance,
the manner in which he incorporates myths inter-textually. In another chapter, it is
developed at the level of sound signs, in yet another, the mythic domain is con-
ceptualised through varied philosophical discourses. Therefore, the book constantly
synthesises, develops and reformulates the same motifs in their diverse configu-
rations across chapters simultaneously, making repetition inherent to its very
structure, as narrative and cinematic motifs constantly move within several per-
mutations and combinations.
Moreover, certain chapters are intrinsically connected to each other, beyond the
given structure of the book, divided as it is across five sections. For instance,
Chap. 3: “A Search for a Personal Vision of Cinema” and Chap. 16: “The Angst of
an Artist: In the Shadow of Death” are deeply connected as both these chapters
develop dimensions related to the artist that Ghatak is. Similarly, Chap. 16 is
deeply connected with Chap. 15: “Marxism, Art, Culture and Praxis” as these two
chapters develop the polemic around radical art practices in India and Ghatak’s
intervention within these practices. Further, Chap. 4: “An Embrace with the Epic
Form” and Chap. 14: “Film and Praxis: A Search for a Subversive Language of
Cinema” are connected as both these chapters are related to the formal structure of
his work. Chapter 5: “The Magnum Opus of the Bengal Partition and Its Aftermath:
Motifs and Antinomies” and Chap. 13: “In Search of Praxis: A Political Odyssey”
are interconnected as both of them offer critical insights into themes related to
partition, the independence of the nation and the uprise of the people. The book
offers multiple ways of reading it, across diverse combinations which may defy its
given chapterisation and structure. The book thus has multiple intrinsic patterns
inherent in its structure and offers numerous points of entry.
 Part I
The Making of an Artist

Hello strange world

How do I wonder at you.
Amazing world!
You have amazed me!

On my birth, I saw my country

Fuming in rage.
Amazing world we are slaves.

The book of accounts

As I pick I find
Bloodshed debited therein

I was born into this land to be kicked around.

O’strange world, I come,
I salute you!
Rebellions everywhere,
Revolution, revolution,
Ranging all around.

Tides of defiance
Rising from every corner!
And I am here to
Write down its chronicle.

(Sukanta Bhattacharya’ song incorporated in Komal Gandhar)1

1
Ghatak, R. (Dir.). (1961). Komal Gandhar (E-flat motion picture). Production: Chitrakalpah.
Chapter 2
An Overview: Resonances, Influences
and Moorings

Abstract This chapter delves chronologically into the making of Ghatak as an artist
and briefly discusses his numerous works. It delineates his search for a film form in
alignment with his specific vision of cinema and the influences that shaped his work. It
goes on to trace his artistic resonances with other artists and thinkers. The chapter thus
situates Ghatak within the context of the emerging ideas around cinema in the early to
mid-decades of the twentieth century in India and several countries across the world, in
particular, the Soviet School of Cinema and the conception of cinema as evolved by the
Japanese film-makers especially Kenji Mizoguchi. The chapter foregrounds Ghatak’s
insights regarding films directed by film-makers such as Sergei Eisenstein, Mizoguchi,
Luis Bunuel, Fellini, Bimal Roy and Satyajit Ray. Similarly, it traces the influence of
Erich Neumann, Jung, Frazer, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay and Rabindranath
Tagore on the emergence of his philosophical treatise of art, as it traces his admiration
for Bertolt Brecht and Bijon Bhattacharya in the arena of theatre.

Keywords Quest
Influences
Resonances

Another thing, just by studying one does not become Rabindranath, one can become a
school teacher. There is something else, because of this something else, a real artist is born.
I have a desire to write about this special something else in the future, which is essential for
the birth of an artist. (Ghatak 2001c, p. 21)

1 Quest

Born in 1925, a time of upheaval and colonisation, Ghatak grew up amidst political
awakening and Marxist uprising. His family atmosphere and the surroundings
around charged him with a consciousness that was deeply political. In the aftermath
of Japanese onslaught, British retreat, famine and communal riots in 1946, Ghatak
became a part of active Marxist politics. Beginning as a short story writer, he
published several of his short stories in Agrani, Galpabharati, Desh, Parichey,
Shanibarer Chitti and other leading magazines of Bengal. He then became a

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 13

D. O. Vahali, Ritwik Ghatak and the Cinema of Praxis,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1197-4_2
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
away on a stretcher. Too soon it comes out, between the routine
faces, the dark uniforms of the attendants.
“Was she terribly burned?” somehow she manages to ask under
the policeman’s arm.
“She wont die ... but it’s tough on a girl.” Ellen elbows her way
through the crowd and hurries towards Fifth Avenue. It’s almost dark.
Lights swim brightly in night clear blue like the deep sea.
Why should I be so excited? she keeps asking herself. Just
somebody’s bad luck, the sort of thing that happens every day. The
moaning turmoil and the clanging of the fireengines wont seem to
fade away inside her. She stands irresolutely on a corner while cars,
faces, flicker clatteringly past her. A young man in a new straw hat is
looking at her out of the corners of his eyes, trying to pick her up.
She stares him blankly in the face. He has on a red, green, and blue
striped necktie. She walks past him fast, crosses to the other side of
the avenue, and turns uptown. Seven thirty. She’s got to meet some
one somewhere, she cant think where. There’s a horrible tired
blankness inside her. O dear what shall I do? she whimpers to
herself. At the next corner she hails a taxi. “Go to the Algonquin
please.”
She remembers it all now, at eight o’clock she’s going to have
dinner with Judge Shammeyer and his wife. Ought to have gone
home to dress. George’ll be mad when he sees me come breezing in
like this. Likes to show me off all dressed up like a Christmas tree,
like an Effenbee walking talking doll, damn him.
She sits back in the corner of the taxi with her eyes closed. Relax,
she must let herself relax more. Ridiculous to go round always keyed
up so that everything is like chalk shrieking on a blackboard.
Suppose I’d been horribly burned, like that girl, disfigured for life.
Probably she can get a lot of money out of old Soubrine, the
beginning of a career. Suppose I’d gone with that young man with
the ugly necktie who tried to pick me up.... Kidding over a banana
split in a soda fountain, riding uptown and then down again on the
bus, with his knee pressing my knee and his arm round my waist, a
little heavy petting in a doorway.... There are lives to be lived if only
you didn’t care. Care for what, for what; the opinion of mankind,
money, success, hotel lobbies, health, umbrellas, Uneeda biscuits...?
It’s like a busted mechanical toy the way my mind goes brrr all the
time. I hope they havent ordered dinner. I’ll make them go
somewhere else if they havent. She opens her vanity case and
begins to powder her nose.
When the taxi stops and the tall doorman opens the door, she
steps out with dancing pointed girlish steps, pays, and turns, her
cheeks a little flushed, her eyes sparkling with the glinting seablue
night of deep streets, into the revolving doors.
As she goes through the shining soundless revolving doors, that
spin before her gloved hand touches the glass, there shoots through
her a sudden pang of something forgotten. Gloves, purse, vanity
case, handkerchief, I have them all. Didn’t have an umbrella. What
did I forget in the taxicab? But already she is advancing smiling
towards two gray men in black with white shirtfronts getting to their
feet, smiling, holding out their hands.

Bob Hildebrand in dressing gown and pyjamas walked up and

down in front of the long windows smoking a pipe. Through the
sliding doors into the front came a sound of glasses tinkling and
shuffling feet and laughing and Running Wild grating hazily out of a
blunt needle on the phonograph.
“Why dont you park here for the night?” Hildebrand was saying in
his deep serious voice. “Those people’ll fade out gradually.... We can
put you up on the couch.”
“No thanks,” said Jimmy. “They’ll start talking psychoanalysis in a
minute and they’ll be here till dawn.”
“But you’d much better take a morning train.”
“I’m not going to take any kind of a train.”
 “Say Herf did you read about the man in Philadelphia who was
killed because he wore his straw hat on the fourteenth of May?”
“By God if I was starting a new religion he’d be made a saint.”
“Didnt you read about it? It was funny as a crutch.... This man had
the temerity to defend his straw hat. Somebody had busted it and he
started to fight, and in the middle of it one of these streetcorner
heroes came up behind him and brained him with a piece of lead
pipe. They picked him up with a cracked skull and he died in the
hospital.”
“Bob what was his name?”
“I didnt notice.”
“Talk about the Unknown Soldier.... That’s a real hero for you; the
golden legend of the man who would wear a straw hat out of
season.”
A head was stuck between the double doors. A flushfaced man
with his hair over his eyes looked in. “Cant I bring you fellers a shot
of gin.... Whose funeral is being celebrated anyway?”
“I’m going to bed, no gin for me,” said Hildebrand grouchily.
“It’s the funeral of Saint Aloysius of Philadelphia, virgin and
martyr, the man who would wear a straw hat out of season,” said
Herf. “I might sniff a little gin. I’ve got to run in a minute.... So long
Bob.”
“So long you mysterious traveler.... Let us have your address, do
you hear?”
The long front room was full of ginbottles, gingerale bottles,
ashtrays crowded with half smoked cigarettes, couples dancing,
people sprawled on sofas. Endlessly the phonograph played Lady ...
lady be good. A glass of gin was pushed into Herf’s hand. A girl
came up to him.
“We’ve been talking about you.... Did you know you were a man
of mystery?”
 “Jimmy,” came a shrill drunken voice, “you’re suspected of being
the bobhaired bandit.”
“Why dont you take up a career of crime, Jimmy?” said the girl
putting her arm round his waist. “I’ll come to your trial, honest I will.”
“How do you know I’m not?”
“You see,” said Frances Hildebrand, who was bringing a bowl of
cracked ice in from the kitchenette, “there is something mysterious
going on.”
Herf took the hand of the girl beside him and made her dance with
him. She kept stumbling over his feet. He danced her round until he
was opposite to the halldoor; he opened the door and foxtrotted her
out into the hall. Mechanically she put up her mouth to be kissed. He
kissed her quickly and reached for his hat. “Good night,” he said.
The girl started to cry.
Out in the street he took a deep breath. He felt happy, much more
happy than Greenwich Village kisses. He was reaching for his watch
when he remembered he had pawned it.
The golden legend of the man who would wear a straw hat out of
season. Jimmy Herf is walking west along Twentythird Street,
laughing to himself. Give me liberty, said Patrick Henry, putting on
his straw hat on the first of May, or give me death. And he got it.
There are no trollycars, occasionally a milkwagon clatters by, the
heartbroken brick houses of Chelsea are dark.... A taxi passes
trailing a confused noise of singing. At the corner of Ninth Avenue he
notices two eyes like holes in a trianglewhite of paper, a woman in a
raincoat beckons to him from a doorway. Further on two English
sailors are arguing in drunken cockney. The air becomes milky with
fog as he nears the river. He can hear the great soft distant lowing of
steamboats.
He sits a long time waiting for a ferry in the seedy ruddy-lighted
waiting room. He sits smoking happily. He cant seem to remember
anything, there is no future but the foggy river and the ferry looming
big with its lights in a row like a darky’s smile. He stands with his hat
off at the rail and feels the riverwind in his hair. Perhaps he’s gone
crazy, perhaps this is amnesia, some disease with a long Greek
name, perhaps they’ll find him picking dewberries in the Hoboken
Tube. He laughs aloud so that the old man who came to open the
gates gave him a sudden sidelong look. Cookoo, bats in the belfry,
that’s what he’s saying to himself. Maybe he’s right. By gum if I were
a painter, maybe they’ll let me paint in the nuthouse, I’d do Saint
Aloysius of Philadelphia with a straw hat on his head instead of a
halo and in his hand the lead pipe, instrument of his martyrdom, and
a little me praying at his feet. The only passenger on the ferry, he
roams round as if he owned it. My temporary yacht. By Jove these
are the doldrums of the night all right, he mutters. He keeps trying to
explain his gayety to himself. It’s not that I’m drunk. I may be crazy,
but I dont think so....
Before the ferry leaves a horse and wagon comes aboard, a
brokendown springwagon loaded with flowers, driven by a little
brown man with high cheekbones. Jimmy Herf walks round it; behind
the drooping horse with haunches like a hatrack the little warped
wagon is unexpectedly merry, stacked with pots of scarlet and pink
geraniums, carnations, alyssum, forced roses, blue lobelia. A rich
smell of maytime earth comes from it, of wet flowerpots and
greenhouses. The driver sits hunched with his hat over his eyes.
Jimmy has an impulse to ask him where he is going with all those
flowers, but he stifles it and walks to the front of the ferry.
Out of the empty dark fog of the river, the ferryslip yawns all of a
sudden, a black mouth with a throat of light. Herf hurries through
cavernous gloom and out to a fog-blurred street. Then he is walking
up an incline. There are tracks below him and the slow clatter of a
freight, the hiss of an engine. At the top of a hill he stops to look
back. He can see nothing but fog spaced with a file of blurred
arclights. Then he walks on, taking pleasure in breathing, in the beat
of his blood, in the tread of his feet on the pavement, between rows
of otherworldly frame houses. Gradually the fog thins, a morning
pearliness is seeping in from somewhere.
Sunrise finds him walking along a cement road between dumping
grounds full of smoking rubbishpiles. The sun shines redly through
the mist on rusty donkeyengines, skeleton trucks, wishbones of
Fords, shapeless masses of corroding metal. Jimmy walks fast to get
out of the smell. He is hungry; his shoes are beginning to raise
blisters on his big toes. At a cross-road where the warning light still
winks and winks, is a gasoline station, opposite it the Lightning Bug
lunchwagon. Carefully he spends his last quarter on breakfast. That
leaves him three cents for good luck, or bad for that matter. A huge
furniture truck, shiny and yellow, has drawn up outside.
“Say will you give me a lift?” he asks the redhaired man at the
wheel.
“How fur ye goin?”
“I dunno.... Pretty far.”
THE END
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