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Building conceptual frameworks for understanding Ghataks cinema

----------Gopalan Mullik It is perhaps apt to begin our thoughts on Ritwik Ghatak with what Derek Malcolm (1991), a British film critic, has to say on him: If a solid, logically, developed body of work signals a great director, Ritwik Ghatak could hardly claim to be more than an exceptional talent capable of greatness but unable, ultimately, to grasp it. But it is certainly too easy to regard him romantically as a flawed genius who has come to mean something acutely personal to almost every Indian filmmaker a traditionalist and a radical in one, a teacher who refused the rule book, a Bengali patriot who fought against the destruction of his culture by colonialism and partition, a man who drank himself to death because of the pressures which bore in upon him. This is the stuff of which myths are made and it is not too difficult to partake of the legend. But we should see him for what he was, not what we would like him to be. (Italics mine). Ghataks creative period in cinema his completed films range from his first film Nagarik (The Citizen) in 1952-3 to his last film Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (Arguments and a Story or Reason, Debate and a Tale) in 1974 - is of immense importance for the evolution of Indian cinema. With Indian independence in 1947, Indian cinema was in search of a language which would go with this new found status. Along with Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen, Ghatak helped Indian cinema gain a new identity, a re-cognition which is likely to last for a long time to come. Our effort here is to tangibly quantify, as far as quantification is possible in such a subjective field, Ghataks contributions to the world of cinema. Cinema as Melodrama True to his radical self, Ghatak had once said: I am not afraid of melodrama. To use melodrama is ones birthright, it is a form. Indeed, if one is asked to name just one distinctive mark of Ghatak, it would be the use of melodrama in his films a taboo for serious filmmakers. Thus, it would perhaps be appropriate to begin our discussions there. According to Oxford English Reference Dictionary, melodrama means any of the following interchangeable things: an extravagantly sensational dramatic piece with stock heroes and villains and a strong sentimental appeal, exaggerated language, behaviour, or an occurrence suggestive of this or a play interspersed with songs with orchestral music accompanying the action. All this is captured in the original Greek meaning of mels which signifies music and drama which signifies deed or action. Prior to the 18th century, melodramatic tales usually occurred in epic form where epic means a long poem narrating the adventures or deeds of one or more heroic or legendary figures or an imaginative work of any form, embodying a nations conception of its past history (O.E.R.D). These epics derive from long-established orally transmitted tales of a culture. In this context, the epics always pertained to events happening in the lives of kings & queens or princes & princesses, under the strict supervision of Gods and Goddesses, even though these are invariably written by ordinary people for the consumption of the ordinary people as well (Nowell-Smith, p. 191). However with the progress of science

2 and the consequent coming into being of the Industrial phase a period typically distinguished by the rise of Capitalism in the West kings and queens, and along with them, many gods and goddesses, were toppled from their seats. This period is further distinguished by the rise of the bourgeoisie (bourgeois means conventionally middle class O.E.R.D) as one of the dominant forces of history. Tales now start being written for, of, and by the ordinary people. In other words, the address is from one bourgeois to another bourgeois, and the subject matter is the life of the bourgeoisie (Nowell-Smith, 191). These put the author, the audience, and the subject on a footing of equality. As one can easily understand, this is a form of realism where no supernatural forces intervene. Particular aspects of this realism now start impinging on the traditional form of melodrama as well. Melodramas now pertained to bourgeois characters and assume two distinct forms: psycho-centric and epic forms (since both realism and melodrama now pertain to bourgeois life, they could perhaps be termed as bourgeois realism and bourgeois melodrama respectively). In this altered situation, evolution of the epic tales of the earlier times could now be graphically represented as follows: Epic Tales

Bourgeois Realism

Bourgeois Melodrama

Psycho-centric Melodrama

Epic Melodrama

In psycho-centric melodrama, individuals are conceived as autonomous individuals who are distinct from the world. It is thus a case of the individual and the world, with the world, by and large, having no influence in shaping the inner state of the individual concerned. Rather, the world is now subjected to the psychology of the protagonist. In other words, in these tales, the protagonist shapes the events after an adversary perhaps has set the ball rolling in a particular way. Here the central conflicts are externalized and projected onto direct action outside. The tales thereafter move in a linear cause-andeffect trajectory. Thus we have various types of action films like those dealing with urban crimes, adventures, thrillers, etc., with their concomitant external actions like car chases, etc. Here the main motive is to reestablish law & order, an aspect of civilized life that has been threatened by evil characters (Elsaesser, p.167). Since the individuals here need to stand out from the world, Hollywood cinema acknowledged masters of action cinema had devised cinematic techniques like the 3-point lighting a combination of Key, Fill, and Back lights and their higher denominations - to extract the individuals from their surroundings.

3 Ex: A classic example is that of the lone gunman in Hollywood Westerns who usually helps in establishing law & order in a particular locality or region, while he himself forever remains separate from it. In non-psychocentric or epic melodramas, individuals are not autonomous individuals; rather they are comprehensively defined by characters and situations around them. In other words, they are pinned down by social relationships that leave little room for their own maneuverability. In fact, they are links in a long chain of relationships that makes them more a passive recipient of events than being active agents of their own destiny. In other words, events happen here on an epic scale a scale much larger than what an ordinary individual can usually handle. Talking about a non-psychological conception of the dramatic personae, Elsaesser (167) says: [Characters] figure less as autonomous individuals than transmit the action and link the various locales within a total constellation. In this respect, melodramas have a myth-making function, in so far as their significance lies in the structure and articulation of the action, not in any psychologically motivated correspondence with individualized experience. Such are the films of Carl Dreyer, Jean Renoir or Guru Dutt where individuals are embedded in a much larger causal system. Talking about Dreyers films, Bordwell (The Films of Carl Dreyer, 30-32) says: The goal-orientation of the Hollywood hero springs from a desire to remake circumstances, and the development of this desire, the move toward the goal, constitutes the primary line of action. But since Dreyers characters are enclosed within larger causal systems, the protagonists become more passive. Things happen to them; they register effects more than they create causes. Thus, in these films, actions of individuals arent determined by their inner states; rather, more often, they are suppressed by the individuals themselves in order to survive. There is thus a kind of in-built determinism here - an epic hero acts out of necessity of the system rather than of his or her own choice. The consequent conflict between ones desires and external social pressures are often internalized. Thus epic melodramas are all about a crisis of living within a particular law & order situation rather than reestablishing one as in the case of psycho-centric melodramas. In view of such a drastic change in the conception of an individual and his/her relationships with the sorroundings, cinematic techniques also undergo a change. Rather than extracting individuals from their backgrounds, they are now shown as inalienably embedded in their surroundings. Consequently one needs to light up for space rather than for individuals. This is exactly what happens in Renoirs films an acknowledged master of this genre of films representing a harmonization between man and nature in which individuals arent only shown as an inalienable part of their sorroundings but also determined by them. Ritwik Ghataks films broadly fall within this category of epic melodramas.

Cinema of Excess In many respects, epic melodramas are considered as a cinema of excess. What does the word excess signify here? Epic melodramas represent a state of affairs where excess of emotions accumulate. They portray a sequence of events that keeps generating emotions from which there is no escape. While psycho-centric action films absorb these excesses by throwing them off the system through extraordinary feats, epic melodramas do not have any such outlets. Consequently, emotional excesses keep piling up within the system giving rise to a pressure-cooker situation. Deprived of any legitimate means of sublimation, the system lets off steam in the form of excessive emotions some of which manifest in the form of a periodic break-down of its characters. We may now retrace our steps in history to get to the bottom of the emergence of epic melodramas in our contemporary times. 16th century onwards, Western history has been synonymous with the drive towards industrialization, urbanization, and capitalism. This drive essentially represents a process of uprooting people from their lands i.e. their natural homes, relocating them in urban ghettos, and then putting them in assembly-line productions that has no scope for any kind of mental satisfaction whatsoever. The whole system is thus fraught with unfulfilled desires and their consequent emotional upheavals. The situation is further compounded by the inherent uncertainty of the capitalist system its periodic cycles of excess of production and suspension of production - recurring like a constant ebb-and-flow in the system. This in-built uncertainty of the system is anathema to the people who have so far been used to a more stable life-style in the villages. By the 18th century, the capitalist system of production has taken firm roots. The massive dislocation it causes to the traditional life style start getting reflected in artworks, mainly literature. Earlier use of tropes such as chance, coincidence, etc., in artworks often occurred as divine interventions to reward the faithful and punish the evil; in the changed circumstances, they represented, one may argue, the uncertainty of the system that breeds an unstable and anxiety-ridden psychological condition of the period. The result is an allround alienation of the people. The capitalist answer to this problem is to reinforce the habit of more and more material consumption among the people to off-set their immediate anxieties. This escalating process of material consumption really sets people up on an un-fulfilled trajectory of ever increasing desires. While, on the one hand, it helps capitalism through greater production, on the other, it makes people run after a mirage of an ever proliferating desire! Sandwitched between this ever increasing demand on the workers to meet production targets and chasing after an illusive mirage of desires, ordinary people have no other option but to suppress their emotions within themselves! The resulting accumulation of emotions has no legitimate outlets they keep rechociating off the four walls of their homes! In a slightly different context, Tagore captures this situation beautifully in his short story Kshudita Pashan (Hungry Stones) where desires have remained unfulfilled making even the stones of the kings palace hungry! The ageing Meher Ali, an earlier Chowkidar of the palace who has now become mentally unstable, keeps circling the palace, shouting: Taphat jao, taphat jao, sab jhut hai, sab jhut hai! (Move off, move off, all are lies, all are lies!).

5 Elsaesser (174) notes that in the context of these repressed desires and the consequent bottling-up of emotions, claustrophobia rules the roost. Ritwik Ghataks epic tales are ideal examples of such a claustrophobic situation. The question is how does a film show this excess of emotions? In a perceptive observation, Geoffrey Nowell-Smith (193-4) compares this with the process of siphoning off the excess in hysteria patients: The mechanism here is strikingly similar to that of the psychopathology of hysteria. In hysteria (and specifically in what Freud has designated as conversion hysteria), the energy attached to an idea that has been repressed returns converted into a bodily symptom. The return of the repressed takes place, not in conscious discourse, but is displaced onto the body of the patient. In the melodrama, where there is always material which cannot be expressed in discourse or in the actions of the characters furthering the designs of the plot, a conversion can take into the body of the text. He (193) further elaborates this comparison: What is characteristic of the melodrama, both in its original sense and the modern one, is the way the excess is siphoned off. The undischarged emotion which cannot be accommodated within the action, subordinated as it is to the demands of family/lineage/inheritance, is traditionally expressed in the music, and, in the case of film, in certain elements of the mise-en-scne. That is to say, music and miseen-scne do not just heighten the emotionality of an element of the action; to some extent, they substitute for it. (Italics mine) In other words, the emotional excess in a film returns as the repressed and works out through music, mise-en-scne, and excessive behaviour, resulting in what Nowell-Smith (194) calls the hysteric moments of outburst of its characters. We will examine below the marks of such emotional excesses in the mise-en-scne, music, and moments of hysterical break-down of characters in Ghataks films. Ritwik Ghataks Epic Melodrama Even though the Indian situation is different from the Western history of capitalism, yet, because of certain unhappy circumstances, ill effects of capitalism not only recurred here but also were compounded manifold! For instance, partition of Bengal (also Punjab where, however, exchange of land was permitted by the Indian government, which considerably mitigated the problem) consequent on Indian independence not only uprooted people from their own lands, but also forced them into urban ghettos, often worst than European labour ghettos. What these refugees needed were some decent means of survival. However since Indias industrialization was still in its nascent stage, jobs were still hard to come by. This unhealthy economic situation, together with its still dominant feudalism and patriarchal systems made for a lethal cocktail of disaster in the country. Its effects were more acutely felt in partitioned Bengal. For sometimes at least, India in general and Bengal in particular inherited the worst of both the capitalist and feudal worlds! All these, together with Ghataks separation from his own land, left a traumatic effect on his psyche. It is in this context that Ghatak fully identified with the multitude of unhappy refugees coming from the other side of Bengal. Displacement, thus, forms a bleak backdrop for most of Ghataks films. Like the sled Rosebud represented

6 Citizen Kanes life-long search for his lost childhood, similarly the search for the lost land of Bengal represented for Ghatak a life-long search for an illusive happiness. Jagged and Shifting Rhythm If one is to describe the chief characteristics of Ghataks films, these would inevitably be displacement, discontinuity, instability, and the unfulfilled desires of his characters. Anup Singh (1991), the documentary filmmaker, says that Ghatak deliberately replaced the smooth Hollywood style with a jagged and shifting rhythm to represent the disjointed narratives of his characters: [He questioned] the Hollywood law that cinematic space and timepreexists that which is going to be set within it. This law demands that performance, camerawork, mise-en-scne, and editing all work together to establish a self-enclosed seamless flow. All discontinuities are rationally denied. In Ghatak, the jagged rhythm denies the camera movement its classical, realist destiny of doggedly following the character or coming to rest on some narratively potent object. The shifting rhythm shakes the [very] continuity [of a film] and enters the discourse of time. This kind of rhythm can effectively happen when one separates the elements of cinema and uses them in opposition to each other. In this respect, he has an illustrious predecessor in Eisenstein whose concept of collision montage and vertical montage are ultimately based on the idea of separation of elements and use them in the oppositional mode. In this respect, Eisenstein (Eisenstein Volume.2: Towards a theory of montage, p.341-3) approvingly quotes the art critic, Ren Guiller as follows: In the past, conventional aesthetics rested on a merging of structural elements. In music, on a line of unbroken melody which pervaded the chords of harmony; in literature, on joining together of the elements of a sentence with conjunctions and linking phases; in painting, on a seamless structural design which ordered the parts into a whole. Modern aesthetics is based instead on the separation of elements which contrast with each other; the repetition of the same element is only a reinforcement, to lend greater intensity to the contrast[In the modern aesthetics], everything is brought into the foreground. This is an important principle. It applies equally to pictures, to stage sets, to films, to poetry: a total rejection of conventional perspective, with its single fixed viewpoint and its converging lines This separation of elements and using them in opposition to each other is one of Ghataks important innovations for Indian cinema. What this does is to seriously destabilize the normal perspective of a viewer thereby making him or her think anew. In this context, Jump Cut (2005) mentions some of the signature details of his technique as follows: The technical details of Ghataks melodramatic style include the following stylistic traits: frequent use of wide angle lens, placement of the camera at very high, low, and irregular angles, dramatic lighting compositions, expressionistic acting style, and experimentation with songs and sound effects.

Signifiers in Ghatak Films His film signifiers can be profitably discussed under the following three categories: Unstable Signifiers, Contrapuntal Signifiers; and Stable Signfiers Unstable Signifiers His unstable signifiers mirror the instability of his characters. This sense of instability comes out through shots whose balance has been disturbed. These displacements from the normal mode are brought about by many of the stylistic tropes mentioned in the Jump Cut issue above. Some examples of the use of unstable signifiers in Ghataks films: i) Opening sequence in Meghe Dhaka Tara (Cloud-capped Star, 1960)): Raymond Bellour, the noted French Film Critic, in his article The film we accompany (www.rouge.com.au/3/film.html), notes the following oppositional use of elements in the first three shots of the sequence: From the beginning, everything here plays on the near and the farThere are leaps from wide shot to close-up (from 1 to 2, 2 to 3), according to unexpected axesAdd to this the oblique angle of trees, river banks, the train (the oblique angles of the riverbank and the train are exaggerated in shot 3) which seem to tilt under the tensionAdd to this the song, its upward surges, its well-held range, its fall and sudden rises, and this train noise which cuts across the song, doubling it and harshening its rhythm. Add Shankars spasmodic gestures as well as the slow variation of Nitas movements. Then you have an image of the way in which, in three very simple shots, Ghatak establishes in his film a modulation fed by collisions and conflicts inducing a formal disequilibrium at each instant, like an echo of the historical and personal disequilibrium which creates the pathetic basis of all his films: the partition of Bengal. ii) Station sequence in Ajantrik (The Unmechanical/ Pathetic Fallacy, 1957-8): Bimal, the driver of his unmechanical motor car, picks up a lady, now abandoned by her lover (he had driven them earlier to their destination), sitting vacantly atop a stone ledge. As he drives her to the nearest station, Bimal purchases a ticket for her for Calcutta. But she says she doesnt know where to go! As she gets on the train, Bimal runs alongside it to hand her the ticket which she fails to take. She also says something which Bimal fails to catch. Thus, communication, either way, remains interrupted and incomplete. This strongly reminds one of the tragic loss of identity and communication in the aftermath of the partition. In a series of striking shots when Bimal is left waiting on the empty platform, he is framed in the lower 1/4th of the frame while the rest 3/4th shows the skies. Since conventional balance calls for a 1/3rd-2/3rd division of the frame, this framing of Bimals head at the bottommost part of the frame seriously destabilizes our viewing perspective. Called dynamic construction by Megan Carrigy (p. 7), this unusual angle of framing Bimals floating head actually operates as a kind of de-framing for

8 these shots: Bimals face, extracted from its spatio-temporal coordinates, carries its own space-time. (Carrigy, p. 7-8). Carrigy (http://archive.senseofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/ghatak.html). iii) Sitas suicide sequence in Subarnarekha (The Golden Line, 1962): Sita is in love with Abhiram, a boy of lower caste. As her brother, Iswar, objects to this relationship and settles her marriage elsewhere, Sita elopes with her lover and comes to Calcutta. Sita ultimately marries Abhiram who secures the job of a bus driver. As things start looking up, he dies in a freak accident. After a few days of hardship, Sitas landlady coaxes her to start entertaining rich clients. This is going to be Sitas first day as a prostitute. She is nervous and afraid as to what to expect. On the other hand, her elopement has completely shattered Iswar, who leaves his job and comes to Calcutta in search of her. After a futile search, he has a drunken orgy at a city restaurant. He is then coaxed to go to a prostitute. This is also going to be his first day with a prostitute. There is a double coincidence here as Iswar lands at Sitas door. The jagged rhythm of his entry into Sitas room, her pain stricken numb stare at her brother, finally ending in Sita chopping off her head, his belated recognition of Sita from the blank stare of her severed head, and his extremely unsteady movements with the chopper, ending finally in a frenzied, anguished cry are outstanding pieces of cinematic work. As unstable signifiers, these are of exceptional quality signifying the instability and uncertainty of the life of these two extremely unhappy characters. Ghatak also profusely uses chiaroscuro lighting in scenes where characters seem to be losing their grip over reality. This happens progressively in Meghe Dhaka Tara as Nita starts losing her hold over her surroundings. This happens in the fateful scene in Subarnarekha described above. This also happens in Titus Ekti Nadir Naam when Basanti starts losing her grip over things. Such striking uses of chiaroscuro lighting in typical situations in Ghataks films reflect the psychological state of his characters: one starts losing control over a space where, from a state of uniform illumination, lighting is chopped into pieces forming fine ribbons of light and shade in the region. Contrapuntal Signifiers: Eisensteins influence on Ghatak Ghatak is celebrated for his use of contrapuntal signifiers. The word contrapuntal, primarily used in the domain of music, is the adjective of the word counterpoint which means saying two things simultaneously, the two together making a meaningful whole. Originally derived from the Latin punctus contra punctum or point against point, it ultimately leads to the idea of countersubject which means that a subject or an idea being projected in one voice is accompanied by a different idea in another voice, the two together making an overall meaning (Michael Kennedy, Ox. Concise Dictionary of Music, 165-6, Roger Kamien, Music: An Appreciation, 66, 141). Eisenstein is one filmmaker who has been consistently using this idea of contrapuntality in cinema. Eisensteins main concern throughout his life has been to portray events where the outer form of a phenomenon collides with its inner reality. His idea of collision montage during the silent period of cinema is based on this notion. When sound came to cinema,

9 Eisenstein, Pudovkin, and Alexandrov issued a celebrated Statement on Sound in 1928 which urgently requested filmmakers to use sound contrapuntally to the visuas in films. They (Eisenstein: Writings 1922-1934, V 1, 113-4) say: only the contrapuntal use of sound vis--vis the visual fragment of montage will open up new possibilities for the development and perfection of montage the first experiments with sound must aim at a sharp discord with the visual images. Only such a hammer and tongs approach will produce the necessary sensation that will consequently result in the creation of a new orchestral counterpoint of visual and sound images (Italics mine) During the 40s, he moved away from his theory of collision montage, represented by non-typical combinations (1994a, p. 297) of elements, to a harmonious counterpointing of narrative elements that generated a fused structure of contrapuntal elements (1994b, xviii). This was his notion of vertical montage (1994, p. 296 326), where he theorizes and practices a harmonious counter-pointing of two or more contrapuntal images of narration generating a synthesis at a higher level. In elaborating this notion, Eisenstein(1994, p. xv, xviii, xix xx) mentions that in a scene or a sequence, there could be two or more independent lines of development which, however, should result in a systematic unity at a higher level of feeling and thought. Eisensteins ideas of contra-puntality, however, rest on a deeper basis which can be explained as follows: Eisenstein (Montage 1937, Eisenstein Volume 2: Towards a Theory of Montage, V 2, Pps 11 - 58) says that an image contains the following two elements: Depiction (izobrazhenie) and Image (obraz) (where depiction represents peoples normal, accepted behaviour and image means the psychological content of the scene and the interaction of the characters). Eisenstein (20) says: We may formulate the following proposition as the essential condition for a mise-en-scne: the mise-en-scne must act as a graphic generalization of the action. When this occurs, conviction and expressiveness emerge, because only when they do will the construct be truly realistic, showing both the everyday behaviour of a particular group of people in a particular dramatic situation and, simultaneously, these same relationships reduced to their most generalized form. Elsewhere he (20) explains this most generalized form as the scheme [that] has captured the fundamental relationship, beyond all the particular representational and concrete meanings of its separate elements. Since inner psychology of characters or scene is important for this kind of generalization, we may write it in the form of a formula as follows IMAGE = Depiction + Generalization of Inner Psychology of Characters/Scene

10 Eisenstein gives some interesting examples of his line of thought: i) Construction of a Barricade Barricades can be put up by both the Police and the Agitators. While the psychological essence of the first is order, that of the second is struggle. These differing psychological essences call for radically different constructions of the two barricades. Thus while the nature of the first would involve a neat and trim barricading, that of the second would be a haphazard blocking of the road with hastily gathered items, like broken chairs, etc (-do-, p. 24-6). ii) Maupassants Bel-Ami Writing about a particular scene in Bel-Ami, Eisenstein (-do-, p 303-4) says: In a scene, Georges Duroy, is sitting in a cab waiting for Suzanne, who has agreed to elope with him at midnightThis is how Maupassant engraves the [psychological] significance of that hour in the readers mind as distinct from a straightforward description of the time of night: He left home at 11 oclock, wandered for a while, then took a cab to the Palace de la Concorde. From time to time, he lit a match and looked at his watch. Around 12, he was seized by a feverish anxiety. Every minute he put his head out of the window to see whether she was coming. Somewhere far away a clock struck 12, then again nearer, then two other clocks struck at once, followed by another at a considerable distance. When the last stroke had died away, he thought: It is over. All is ruined. She is not coming. We see that when Maupassant needed to impress on his readers minds the emotional significance of midnight, he didnt simply let the clocks strike 12. He made us experience this perception of midnight by having 12 oclock struck in various places by several clocksWhat is more by the striking itself the uncoordinated instances of bells striking on different notes Maupassant is creating an image of midnight, the hour of decision, not simply informing us of time. Ghataks use of contrapuntal signifiers can be effectively explained on the basis of formula given by Eisenstein: Image = Depiction + Inner Generalization of Psychology of Characters The following examples may be cited as effective illustrations of the above formula: a) Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star, 1960) Nita is coming down the stairs after feeling betrayed by Sanat: Nita is unsteadily coming down the stairs + Sound of whiplash While her unsteady climb down depicts the normal behaviour of a person who has received an unexpected shock, the sound of whiplash depict the inner generalization of Nitas psychology.

11 b) Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star, 1960) On hearing the news of Nitas TB, her father reacts: He stands on the verandah and raises his finger + Says I accuse Here depiction represents the utter shock of the father when he hears the news; the words I accuse represents the inner generalization of his psychology of everybody having betrayed Nita. c) Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star, 1960) Sanat talks to Nita regarding financial help required by her to treat her brother who has met with an accident: Nita leaves while Sanat keeps staring at her + Sound of whiplash Apart from the usual depiction of the scene, the sound of whiplash here Represents the inner generalization of Sanats psychology of guilt in having betrayed Nita. d) Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star, 1960) In the sanatorium, Nita cries out Dada, Ami Banchte Chai: Nitas cry Dada ami banchte chai + 360 Degree Pan of Nature

While the depiction portrays the helplessness of Nitas situation, the inner generalization of her psychology is represented by the 360 pan that indicates her feeling of everybody being indifferent towards her. e) Titus Ekti Nadir Naam (A River Named Titus, 1973) As the young woman is married to the young man inside the hut: A young woman and a man exchange garlands + Heavy breathing sound While the depictions involve the just married couple, the inner generalization of their psychology of being sexually excited is represented by the heavy breathing sound.. Some of the above signifying moments in Ghataks film may also be considered in terms of Nowell-Smiths theorization about the identifying mark of a melodrama: hysterical moments of break-down of characters, through which these characters render asunder the realist surface of a scene. Nowell-Smith (194) goes on to say: It should be stressed that the basic conventions of the melodrama are those of realism i.e. what is represented consists of supposedly real events, seen either objectively or as the summation of various individual points of view. Often the hysterical moment of the text can be identified as the point at which the realist convention breaks down.

12 Stabilizing Signifiers In midst of an all-pervading uncertainty, captured in Ghataks evocative words Biswa Bramhanda Purchhe (the whole universe is burning) in his film Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (Argments and a Story, 1974), he tries to clutch at certain stabilizing icons to get back his bearings. Holding dearly onto the life-line offered by these icons, he can then survey the chaos surrounding him from a relatively firmer ground. This would not only offer him a life-belt but also provide him with a reference point to measure the catastrophic changes occurring all around him. Such stabilizing icons in the form of an image of the Mother keep recurring at periodic intervals in his films. These act as a kind of leit-motif which Ghatak mentions as being similar to the notion of the Mother Archetype of the Swiss Psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung. Jungs theory holds that memories of certain archetypes, which keep recurring in a culture, ultimately get ingrained in the collective unconscious of those races. Prof. Anindya Sengupta (Dessertation Paper, Jadavpur University, p 3) opines that these female archetypes should rather be understood in the known cultural terms of the state of Bengal: A comparison between the ancient Goddesses and the nationalistic iconography yields interesting insights regarding these historical processes of iconisation of the land as the Mother. Sengupta undertakes an elaborate investigation of the origin of the Mother icon in Bengali culture and its transmutation over time. He finally concludes that Ghataks Mother is really the pristine face of an undivided Bengal. ________________________ References: 1. Bordwell, D. The Films of Carl Dreyer 2. Conley, T. (2006). Landscape and perception: on Anthony Mann. Lefebvre, M. (Ed.). (2006). Landscape and film. New York: Routledge. 3. Eisenstein, S. (1994). Nonindifferent nature: Film and structure of things. Tr. Herbert Marshall. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 4. Glenny, M. and Taylor, R. (Ed.). 1991. Eisenstein Volume 2: Towards a theory of montage. London: BFI. 5. Ghatak, R. (1987). Cinema and I. Calcutta: Ritwik Memorial Trust. 6. Lefebre, M. (Ed.). (2006). Landscape and film. New York: Routledge. 7. Raychaudhuri, S. (2000). The cinematic will of Ritwik Kumar Ghatak. Calcutta: Papyrus. 8. Dasgupta, S. and Bhattacharya, S. (Ed.). (2000). Sakshat Ritwik (in Bengali). Calcutta: Dipayan: It gives 18 interviews of Ritwik Ghatak: All his important interviews are here. 9. Sinha, S. (2003). YuktiTakkoRitwik: A critique on Ritwik Kumar Ghatak. Calcutta: Yugapat: A stringent critic of Ghatak, particularly of his Mother Archetypes 10. Elsaesser, T. Tales of sound and fury: How to make stones weep, published in Genre Criticism 11. Malcolm, D. (1991). Sight and Sound, 1991, V 1 Issue 5. 12. Matilal, B. K. & Panda, J. C. Sign conceptions in India in Geshichte der

13 Nichtabendlndischen Semiotik Nowell-Smith, Minnelli and melodrama, published in Genre Criticism Singh, A. (1991). Sight and Sound, 1991, V 1 Issue 5. Taylor, R. (Ed.). (1988). Eisenstein: Writings 1922 1934. London: BFI. Wollen, P. (1991). Sight and Sound, 1991, V 1 Issue 5. http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/ghatak.html http://www.rouge.com.au/3/film.html : This will surprise you, a very sensitive talk given by Raymond Bellour on Meghe Dhaka Tara! Don't expect cultural readings, but very good for undergrads. http://www.rouge.com.au/3/ghatak.html : A tough one by Prof. Moinak Biswas, H O D, MA Film Studies, Jadavpur Univ. http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc47.2005/ghatak/index.html : it is academically sincere (if you press the print button, you get the entire essay in one page) http://lovesragpicker.wordpress.com/2007/07/07/look-at-my-eyes-girlyou-will-see-your-mothers-son/: this is on one of the blogs of a Film Studies teacher at Jadavpur Univ., Anindya Sengupta, which I find quite interesting! In fact, it is great for his ideas on Ritwiks Mother Archetypes!

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21.