How Ritwik Ghatak’s films showed Calcutta as a place of hope and refuge for migrants

There are 2 ways we get to spot — and cognize — a city: by mounting ft successful it, and done cinema. In the lawsuit of cinema too, determination are 2 ways to go acquainted with a place: done commercialized movies and done realistic portrayals. As acold arsenic realistic portrayal is concerned, determination are 3 well-known ways of looking astatine the metropolis of Kolkata: done the eyes of Satyajit Ray, of Mrinal Sen and of Ritwik Ghatak, the beatified trinity of Indian parallel cinema.

They changeable their films successful Kolkata — Calcutta backmost past — during the aforesaid clip when, dissimilar different cities that were opening to kindle dreams, Calcutta, having agelong reached the pinnacle of glory, was connected the decline. But adjacent then, the depictions were different. For Ray, Kolkata was much of a socio-political entity connected whose immense aboveground humanity played retired its part. For Sen, it was the ‘El Dorado’ — the magical, mystical metropolis helium adored.

Ghatak’s portrayal, however, was unique. To him, the metropolis itself was besides a character, giving refuge to the displaced. A place, itself devoid of emotions, similar a strict, non-demonstrative begetter oregon teacher, seemingly unsympathetic and uncaring, but which had hidden humane nerves.

City connected the move

Ghatak’s 1958 film Bari Theke Paliye opens with a mischievous boy, who has a dislike for his strict father, moving distant to Calcutta, which helium calls “El Dorado”, “where nighttime is arsenic agleam arsenic the day”. The metropolis is introduced with the prima rising implicit the Howrah Bridge. That’s precisely however Kolkata is introduced to hundreds of caller arrivals each greeting adjacent today. Not precisely a metropolis of opportunities oregon dreams, but inactive a metropolis wherever galore tally distant carrying hope, oregon for survival.

If you discount the lack of trams (almost extinct now) and if you disregard the phones successful people’s hands, 1 could inactive beryllium successful 1958: the span occupied with radical astatine the ace of dawn; workers carrying loads connected their heads, their question determination betwixt a locomotion and a jog; men pushing carts laden with a upland of sacks. Every labourer looks — and is — busier than a doc oregon a CEO: they person nary clip to lose; Kolkata moves due to the fact that they move.

If Howrah Bridge depicts arrival, hunt for opportunities happens successful places with gangly buildings. Much of those places basal adjacent today, truthful overmuch truthful that if Ghatak were to instrumentality with his camera, helium wouldn’t find overmuch missing but the trams and possibly telephone booths and bare radical connected the streets.

High-ceilinged bureau buildings with wide staircases and ample windows; a parallel ecosystem thriving connected the pavements close extracurricular — barbers, nutrient vendors, stationery sellers; and connected the wide roads a watercourse of humanity, each with a communicative that could beryllium another Meghe Dhaka Tara or Subarnarekha. Since Kolkata takes pridefulness successful being a once-upon-a-time city, it is improbable those watching Ghatak’s films, for astatine slightest different fewer decades, volition find overmuch of a quality betwixt past and now.

Meeting of 2 migrants

Yet, a batch of h2o has flown nether the Howrah Bridge since his time. Ghatak dwelt connected the taxable of Bengal’s partition, dedicating a trilogy to it successful the archetypal fractional of the 1960s. But those exile colonies his stories were acceptable successful are contiguous a happening of the past: they person evolved into neighbourhoods that beryllium to the City of Joy. In immoderate case, dissimilar successful Punjab, the exile question was not a one-time lawsuit successful Bengal: radical migrated implicit decades, the last monolithic exodus taking spot successful the aboriginal 1970s. Memories of atrocious days, therefore, are not confined to 1947 alone.

One of the organisations to archetypal clasp an lawsuit this twelvemonth to people Ghatak’s centenary was the West Bengal Hindi Speakers’ Society, which had a screening of Subarnarekha, the 3rd successful the filmmaker’s Partition trilogy, arsenic agelong backmost arsenic connected June 8. Ashok Singh, wide caput of the society, who is simply a erstwhile caput of the Hindi section astatine Surendranath Evening College, had said astatine the time, “He is my astir favourite filmmaker. If you spot Ray’s films oregon Mrinal Sen’s films, you volition find Hindi-speaking radical shown arsenic either drivers oregon doormen. Whereas if you ticker Ghatak’s Bari Theke Paliye, you volition spot a lad moving distant from his colony to the large metropolis of Calcutta being shown kindness by a Hindi-speaking antheral connected the roadworthy selling sattu. Such a humane portrayal of the gathering of 2 migrants!”

Every metropolis is simply a metropolis of migrants. Ritwik Ghatak, possibly the lone 1 to dwell connected the subject, showed that adjacent Kolkata is one.

bishwanath.ghosh@thehindu.co.in