“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.
Jul 20: Intro by Kiran K. Sunar, Department of Asian Studies, UBC
Ritwak Ghatak
Supriya Choudhury, Anil Chatterjee
India
1960
In Bengali with English subtitles
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Credits
Screenwriter
Ritwik Ghatak
Cinematography
Dinen Gupta
Editor
Ramesh Joshi
Art Director
Ravi Chatterjee
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