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The Cloud-Capped Star film image; woman pressing her face against a fence

“Ritwik Ghatak was one of the few truly original talents in the cinema this country has produced. Nearly all his films are marked by an intensity of feeling coupled with an imaginative grasp of the technique of film making. As a creator of powerful images in an epic style he was virtually unsurpassed in Indian cinema. He also had full command over the all-important aspect of editing: long passages abound in his films which are strikingly original in the way they are put together.” Satyajit Ray

A searing melodrama about a refugee family in Calcutta, this is the story of Nita, the oldest daughter, whose self-sacrifices fail to forestall tragedy. Her fatal flaw, the sin of omission: she fails to protest at injustice to herself and her dreams, and at the hands of those she loves most dearly. Melding popular idioms (Bollywood melodrama, song, myth and folk tale) with an expressionist, modernist aesthetic – particularly in his use of non naturalistic sound – Ghatak forged a cinema that was unique and unsettling, critically engaged with socio-economic and historical realities but never in thrall to realism. Most commentators consider this his masterpiece.

Ghatak’s best-known film is a a brilliantly structured melodrama about the terrible demands of poverty and family on the prospects of a young woman. Her tragic flaw, the sin of omission: she fails to protest at injustice to herself and her dreams, and at the hands of those she loves most dearly.

Sunday’s Pantheon screening will feature a 20-minute introduction and talkback.

Director

Ritwak Ghatak

Cast

Supriya Choudhury, Anil Chatterjee

Credits
Country of Origin

India

Year

1960

Language

In Bengali with English subtitles

19+
127 min

Book Tickets

Sunday July 20

11:00 am
Guests/Q&As Hearing Assistance Subtitles
VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre
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Tuesday July 22

6:20 pm
Hearing Assistance Subtitles
VIFF Centre - Vancity Theatre
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Credits

Screenwriter

Ritwik Ghatak

Cinematography

Dinen Gupta

Editor

Ramesh Joshi

Art Director

Ravi Chatterjee

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