Documentary on Ritwik Ghatak at next KIFF

KOLKATA: His films are a vivid depiction of the post-partition trauma that people went through on both sides of Bengal border. They were harsh, bold and often served up bitter truths. But the maverick film-maker, Ritwick Ghatak, himself remains an enigma. To mark his 90th birth anniversary on February 6 next year, two young film-makers - Sadeep Bhattacharjee and Subhabrata Ray - have come up with a documentary on the life the master.Delving into the yet unexplored facets of his life, the film will be screened at the KIFF next year.
Titled 'Ritwik Kabya', the 1 hour 24 minute film reveals how Ghatak was shunned by the film fraternity and had died a lonely man. It also reveals that a veteran film-maker had asked his wife Surama to desert Ghatak so that he was shaken out of his alcoholism.
The film has been shot at many of the places and buildings where Ghatak lived and shot his films. According to the documentary, Ghatak had lived on Kolkata's pavements, including one in Kalighat during the shooting of 'Jukti Tokko Aar Goppo' - his last film. He often shared the sidewalks with labourers and illicit liquor sellers. It also shows the houses in Bhawanipore and Golf Green where he resided and the room where he filmed a part of 'Jukti Tokko Aar Goppo', his last film.
"Apart from his actors, friends and colleagues, we have also spoken to some of those faceless people who played a significant part in his life. For instance, we have interviewed a crematorium worker who lived with him on the Kalighat pavement. This proves he belonged to the masses as well," said Bhattacharjee. He added that apart from actors Chitra Sen, Arun Mukhopadhyay and cinematograoher Ramananda Sengupta, Ghatak's wife Surama Ghatak, daughter Samhita, film-makers Gulzar and Vidhu Vinod Chopra have been interviewed for the film.
The documentary sticks to the conventional interview-format and avoids experimentation since the idea was to create an archival film, says Sangita Ghatak, who supervised the production. "We wanted to produce an authentic documentation of his life and not a dramatized depiction. As a result, the documentary explores his films as well as his personal life, especially the final years about which not much is known. My mother and I have spoken from our experiences," said Sangita, who has also narrated her recollections of the shooting of films like 'Meghe Dhaka Tara' and Komal Gandhar'..
Family members have shared several personal anecdotes that have made the film poignant, according to Bhattacharjee. "They reveal several aspects of Ghatak's personality that will help us see him in a new light. Even actors like Chitra Sen have recounted episodes that few know. For instance, the adverse audience reaction after the first screening of 'Komal Gandhar, that had left even the cast rattled. "Chitra Sen recalls that Ghatak was in the toilet of the theatre even as shoes were being hurled at the screen. She went up to him and dragged him out of the hall. But Ghatak was nonchalant. 'My films will be appreciated 30 years later,' he had told Chitra, who played a part in the film," he said.
His prediction had come true quite literally. When Nandan screened Komal Gandhar in the early Nineties, the queue for tickets had stretched up to the Exide crossing, Chitra di has recalled in the film," said Bhattacharjee. Apart from his turbulent last years during which Ghatak repeatedly fell ill, Samhita has recollected the round-the-clock discussions on films that would go on in the house. "He was immersed in cinema and never lived without it. Even when he was seriously ill and dying," she said.