Ritwik Ghatak: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox person

| image = Ritwik Ghatak 2007.jpg

| caption =  

| pseudonym =  

| occupation = {{hlist|Director|writer}}

| years_active = 1952–1976

| education = [[Ballygunge Government High School]], Rajsahi Collegiate School

| alma_mater = Presidency College, Calcutta University

| works = {{plainlist|

* [[List of works by Ritwik Ghatak#Filmography|Filmography]]

* [[List of works by Ritwik Ghatak#Bibliography|Bibliography]]

* [[List of works by Ritwik Ghatak#Theatre|Theatrical Works]]}}

| spouse = Surama Ghatak<ref name="toi17Nov2009" />

| children = 3<ref name="Jinxed legacy">{{cite web|title=Jinxed legacy |url=http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2420/stories/20071019507309300.htm |publisher=Frontline |access-date=4 November 2012 |author=Partha Chatterjee |date=19 October 2007 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080502222425/http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2420/stories/20071019507309300.htm |archivedate= 2 May 2008 }}</ref>

| relatives = [[Manish Ghatak]] (brother)<br />[[Mahasweta Devi]] (niece)<br />[[Parambrata Chatterjee]] (grandnephew)

| awards = [[Padma Shri]] (1970)<br />[[National Film Award for Best Story]] (1974)

| signature =  

| signature_alt =  

| website =

| portaldisp =  

'''Ritwik Kumar Ghatak''' ({{Audio|Ritwik_Ghatak.ogg|listen}}; 4 November 1925{{spaced ndash}}6 February 1976)<ref name="Carrigy2003">{{cite journal |last=Carrigy |first=Megan |date=December 2003 |title=Ritwik Ghatak – Great Director Profile |url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2003/great-directors/ghatak/ |journal=[[Senses of Cinema]] |issn=1443-4059 |access-date=24 June 2012}}</ref> was a noted Indian film director, screenwriter, and playwright.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ritwik Ghatak s Lesser Known Prowess of Writing Plays|url=https://thewire.in/books/ritwik-ghatak-playwright-bengal-famine-partition|access-date=22 July 2020|website=The Wire}}</ref> Along with prominent contemporary Bengali filmmakers [[Satyajit Ray]], [[Tapan Sinha]] and [[Mrinal Sen]], his cinema is primarily remembered for its meticulous depiction of social reality, partition and feminism. He won the [[National Film Award for Best Story|National Film Award's Rajat Kamal Award]] for Best Story in 1974 for his ''[[Jukti Takko Aar Gappo]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://iffi.nic.in/Dff2011/Frm22ndNFAAward.aspx?PdfName=22NFA.pdf |title=Na22nd National Film Awards |publisher=Iffi.nic.in |access-date=30 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928072522/http://iffi.nic.in/Dff2011/Frm22ndNFAAward.aspx?PdfName=22NFA.pdf |archivedate=28 September 2011 }}</ref> and Best Director's Award from Bangladesh Cine Journalist's Association for ''[[Titash Ekti Nadir Naam]]''. The Government of India honoured him with the [[Padma Shri]] for Arts in 1970.<ref name="india1990">{{cite web |url= http://www.mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/YearWiseListOfRecipientsBharatRatnaPadmaAwards-1954-2014.pdf |title=Padma Awards Directory (1954–2014) |website=Ministry of Home Affairs (India)|date=21 May 2014 |page=39 |access-date=22 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170914220252/http://www.mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/YearWiseListOfRecipientsBharatRatnaPadmaAwards-1954-2014.pdf |archive-date=14 September 2017}}</ref><ref name="ramachandraguha1">{{cite web|url=http://ramachandraguha.in/archives/ghatak-and-the-government-the-telegraph.html |title=Controversy |publisher=Ramachandraguha.in |access-date=30 July 2012}}</ref>

 

Ritaban Ghatak is also a filmmaker<ref name="Ritaban Ghatak">{{cite web|title=Ritaban Ghatak |url=http://www.biff.kr/eng/html/archive/arc_search_view.asp?idx=265&target=search&c_idx=16&m_entry_year=1996 |publisher=Biff.kr/ |access-date=2 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615031332/http://www.biff.kr/eng/html/archive/arc_search_view.asp?idx=265&target=search&c_idx=16&m_entry_year=1996 |archive-date=15 June 2013 }}</ref> and is involved in the Ritwik Memorial Trust. He has restored Ritwik's ''Bagalar Banga Darshan'', ''Ronger Golam'' and completed his unfinished documentary on Ramkinkar. He made a film titled ''Unfinished Ritwik''. He is working on adapting [[Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay]]'s novel ''Ichhamati''. Ritwik's elder daughter Samhita, made a docufeature titled ''Nobo Nagarik''. His younger daughter died in 2009.<ref name="toi17Nov2009" >{{cite news |title=My husband as I saw him |url=http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JS00vMjAwOS8xMi8xNyNBcjAyNjAw |newspaper=Times of India |date= 17 November 2009 |access-date=8 March 2012}}</ref>

 

In 1948, Ghatak wrote his first play ''Kalo sayar'' (The Dark Lake) and participated in a revival of the landmark play ''[[Nabanna (play)|Nabanna]]''.<ref name="JamesonMiyoshi1998">{{cite book|author1=Fredric Jameson|author2=Masao Miyoshi |title=The Cultures of Globalization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fsQOE03q4I0C&pg=PA195|access-date=5 October 2012 |date=30 June 1998|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-2169-9|pages=195–}}</ref> Ghatak, who was a member of the [[Communist Party of India]] till he was expelled in 1955, was one of the main leaders behind the party’s cultural wing, the [[Indian People’s Theatre Association]].<ref name="dhaka_tribune" /> He was renowned for his [[Partition of Bengal (1947)|partition trilogy]] Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-capped Star), 1960; Komal Gandhar (E Flat), 1961; and Subarnarekha (The Golden Thread), 1962.<ref name="dhaka_tribune" >{{cite news |title=Ritwik Ghatak's family issues statements against BJP's use of his films to promote CAA|url=https://www.dhakatribune.com/world/south-asia/2019/12/24/ritwik-ghatak-s-family-issues-statements-against-bjp-s-use-of-his-films-to-promote-caa |newspaper=Dhaka Tribune |date= 24 December 2019 |access-date=24 December 2019}}</ref>

 

Ghatak entered the film industry with Nimai Ghosh's ''[[Chinnamul]]'' (1950) as actor and assistant director. ''Chinnamul'' was followed in two years by Ghatak's first completed film ''[[Nagarik]]'' (1952), both major breakthroughs for the [[Cinema of India|Indian cinema]].<ref name="Ghatak">{{cite book | author = Ritwik Ghatak | year = 2000 | title = Rows and Rows of Fences: Ritwik Ghatak on Cinema | publisher = Ritwik Memorial & Trust Seagull Books | isbn = 81-7046-178-2 | pages= ix & 134–36}}</ref><ref name="Hood">Hood, pp. 21–24</ref> Ghatak's early work sought theatrical and literary precedent in bringing together a documentary realism, a stylised performance often drawn from the folk theatre, and a Brechtian use of the filmic apparatus.

 

Ghatak moved briefly to [[Pune]] in 1966, where he taught at the [[Film and Television Institute of India]] (FTII). His students included film makers [[Mani Kaul]], [[Kumar Shahani]], [[Adoor Gopalakrishnan|Adoor Gopalkrishnan]], [[Saeed Akhtar Mirza]], [[John Abraham (director)|John Abraham]]. During his year at [[Film and Television Institute of India|FTII]], he was involved in the making of two student films: ''Fear'' and ''[[Rendezvous]]''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ritwik Ghatak's Lesser Known Prowess of Writing Plays |url=https://thewire.in/books/ritwik-ghatak-playwright-bengal-famine-partition |access-date=5 June 2018 |publisher=The Wire |date=4 June 2018}}</ref>

 

 

At the time of his death in February 1976, Ghatak's primary influence seemed to have been through former students. Although his stint teaching film at FTII was brief, one-time students [[Mani Kaul]], [[John Abraham (director)|John Abraham]], and especially [[Kumar Shahani]],<ref name="Heide2006">{{cite book|author=William van der Heide|title=Bollywood Babylon: Interviews with Shyam Benegal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_3fi_o1JzY4C&pg=PA44|access-date=5 October 2012 |date=12 June 2006|publisher=Berg|isbn=978-1-84520-405-1|pages=44–}}</ref> carried Ghatak's ideas and theories, which were elaborated upon in his book ''Cinema and I'', into the mainstream of [[Parallel Cinema|Indian art film]]. ''Cinema and I'' was called by [[Satyajit Ray]]  as a book that covers all aspects of filmmaking. Other students of his at the FTII included [[Saeed Akhtar Mirza]], [[Subhash Ghai]] and [[Adoor Gopalakrishnan]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Summer Viewing&nbsp;— The Brilliance of Ritwik Ghatak|author=Chitra Parayath|publisher=Lokvani |date=8 November 2004 |url=http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=1899|access-date=30 May 2009}}</ref>

 

While other filmmakers like [[Satyajit Ray]] succeeded in creating an audience outside India during their lifetime, Ghatak and his films were appreciated primarily within India. Satyajit Ray did what he could to promote his colleague, but Ray's generous praise did not translate into international fame for Ghatak. For example, Ghatak's ''[[Nagarik]]'' (1952) was perhaps the earliest example of a Bengali art film, preceding Ray's ''[[Pather Panchali (film)|Pather Panchali]]'' by three years but was not released until after his death in 1977.<ref name="Ghatak" /><ref name="Hood" /> His first commercial release ''[[Ajantrik]]'' (1955) was one of the early Indian films to portray an inanimate object, an [[automobile]], as a character in the story, many years before the [[Herbie]] films.<ref name="Carrigy2003" /> Ghatak's ''[[Bari Theke Paliye]]'' (1958) had a similar plot to [[François Truffaut]]'s ''[[The 400 Blows]]'' (1959), but Ghatak's film remained obscure while Truffaut's went on to become one of the more famous of the [[French New Wave]]. One of Ghatak's later films, ''[[Titash Ekti Nadir Naam]]'' (1973), is one of the early to be told in a [[Hyperlink cinema|hyperlink format]], featuring multiple characters in a collection of interconnected stories, predating [[Robert Altman]]'s ''[[Nashville (film)|Nashville]]'' (1975) by two years.

 

Ghatak's only major commercial success was ''[[Madhumati]]'' (1958), a Hindi film which he wrote the screenplay for. It was one of the early ones to deal with the theme of [[reincarnation]] and is believed to have been the source of inspiration for many later works dealing with reincarnation in [[Cinema of India|Indian cinema]], [[Television in India|Indian television]], and perhaps [[world cinema]]. It may have been the source of inspiration for the American film ''[[The Reincarnation of Peter Proud]]'' (1975) and the Hindi film ''[[Karz (film)|Karz]]'' (1980), both of which dealt with reincarnation and have been influential in their respective cultures.<ref name="Doniger">{{cite book |last=Doniger |first=Wendy |date=2005 |title=The woman who pretended to be who she was: myths of self-imitation |chapter=Chapter 6: Reincarnation|pages=112–136 [135] |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-516016-9}}</ref> ''Karz'' in particular was remade several times: as the [[Cinema of Karnataka|Kannada film]] ''Yuga Purusha'' (1989), the [[Tamil cinema|Tamil film]] ''[[Enakkul Oruvan (1984 film)|Enakkul Oruvan]]'' (1984), and more recently the [[Bollywood]] ''[[Karzzzz (film)|Karzzzz]]'' (2008). ''Karz'' and ''The Reincarnation of Peter Proud'' may have inspired the American ''[[Chances Are (film)|Chances Are]]'' (1989).<ref name="Doniger" /> The most recent film to be directly inspired by ''Madhumati'' was the hit Bollywood film ''[[Om Shanti Om (film)|Om Shanti Om]]'' (2007), which led to the late [[Bimal Roy]]'s daughter [[Rinki Bhattacharya]] accusing it of plagiarism and threatening legal action against its producers.<ref name="mir">{{cite news |last=Vyas  |first=Hetal |date=7 August 2008 |title=Ashanti nags Om Shanti Om |url=http://www.mumbaimirror.com/entertainment/bollywood/Ashanti-nags-Om-Shanti-Om/articleshow/15839319.cms |newspaper=[[Mumbai Mirror]]}}</ref><ref name="hum">{{cite web |url=http://www.humsurfer.com/shah-rukh-farah-sued-writer-claims-srk-stole-his-script-for-om-shanti-om |title=Shah Rukh, Farah Sued: Writer Claims SRK stole his script for Om Shanti Om |website=Humsurfer.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090413205105/http://www.humsurfer.com/shah-rukh-farah-sued-writer-claims-srk-stole-his-script-for-om-shanti-om |archive-date=13 April 2009 |access-date=30 July 2012}}</ref>

[[File:Ritwik Ghatak 2007 stamp of India.jpg|thumb|Ghatak in a 2007 stamp of India.]]

Ghatak's work as a director influenced many later Indian filmmakers, including those from the [[Cinema of West Bengal|Bengali film industry]] and elsewhere. Ghatak is said to have influences on [[Kumar Shahani]], Mani Kaul, [[Ketan Mehta]], and [[Adoor Gopalakrishnan]]. For example, [[Mira Nair]] has cited Ghatak as well as Ray as the reasons she became a filmmaker.<ref>{{cite web|title=Why we admire Ray so much |publisher=Naachgana |date=14 April 2009 |url=http://www.naachgaana.com/2009/04/14/why-we-admire-satyajit-ray-so-much |access-date=6 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417042047/http://www.naachgaana.com/2009/04/14/why-we-admire-satyajit-ray-so-much/ |archivedate=17 April 2009 }}</ref> Ghatak's influence as a director began to spread beyond India much later; beginning in the 1990s, a project to restore Ghatak's films was undertaken, and international exhibitions (and subsequent DVD releases) have belatedly generated an increasingly global audience. In a critics' poll of [[Films considered the best ever|all-time greatest films]] conducted by the [[Cinema of Asia|Asian film]] magazine ''[[Cinemaya]]'' in 1998, ''[[Subarnarekha (film)|Subarnarekha]]'' was ranked at No. 11.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Totaro |first=Donato |date=31 January 2003 |title=The "Sight & Sound" of Canons |url=http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/canon.html |journal=Offscreen Journal |publisher=[[Canada Council|Canada Council for the Arts]] |access-date=19 April 2009}}</ref> In the 2002 ''[[Sight & Sound]]'' critics' and directors' poll for all-time greatest films, ''[[Meghe Dhaka Tara]]'' was ranked at No. 231 and ''Komal Gandhar'' at No. 346.<ref>{{cite web|title=2002 Sight & Sound Top Films Survey of 253 International Critics & Film Directors|publisher=Cinemacom|year=2002|url=http://www.cinemacom.com/2002-sight-sound.html|access-date=19 April 2009}}</ref> In 2007, ''A River Named Titas'' topped the list of 10 best [[Cinema of Bangladesh|Bangladeshi films]], as chosen in the audience and critics' polls conducted by the [[British Film Institute]].<ref name="bfi">{{cite web |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/imagineasia/guide/poll/bangladesh/index.html |title=Top 10 Bangladeshi Films |date=17 July 2007 |website=British Film Institute |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090527125002/http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/imagineasia/guide/poll/bangladesh/index.html |archive-date=27 May 2009 |access-date=11 December 2015}}</ref>

Russia-born German actress Elena Kazan once said Ghatak's ''Jukti Takko Gappo'' has the most profound influence on her view about world cinema.<ref>{{cite news |date=10 July 2013 |title=German actress says Ritwik Ghatak's films have profound impact |url=http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/german-actress-says-ritwik-ghataks-films-have-profound-impact/1140076/0 |newspaper=The Indian Express}}</ref>

 

 

 

 

* [[Madhumati]] Nominated for Filmfare Best Story Award.<ref name="GulzarNihalani2003">{{cite book|author1=Gulzar|author2=Govind Nihalani|author3=Saibal Chatterjee|title=Encyclopaedia of Hindi Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8y8vN9A14nkC&pg=PT639|access-date=4 November 2012|year=2003|publisher=Popular Prakashan|isbn=978-81-7991-066-5|pages=639–}}</ref>

* [[National Film Award for Best Story|National Film Award's Rajat Kamal Award]] for Best Story in 1974 for ''Jukti Takko Aar Gappo''.

 

 

 

* {{cite book|author=Ritwikkumar Ghatak|title=Ritwik Ghatak, face to face: conversations with the master, 1962–1977|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=86NmAAAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Cine Central}}

 

 

 

 

 

See [[Wikipedia:External links]] and [[Wikipedia:Spam]] for details.

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* {{Internet Archive author}}

* {{IMDb name|id=0315547|name=Ritwik Ghatak}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050207231709/http://filmref.com/directors/dirpages/ghatak.html Film Analysis] Acquarello

* [http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc47.2005/ghatak/ Ritwik Ghatak films reviews]

{{Padma Shri Award Recipients in Art}}

{{West Bengal}}

[[Category:Ritwik Ghatak| ]]

[[Category:1917 births]]

[[Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts]]

[[Category:20th-century Indian male actors]]

[[Category:20th-century Indian composers]]

[[Category:20th-century Indian screenwriters]]