EXCLUSIVE!!

GHATAK & TWO CONTRAST FILMS!

- Manoj Kulkarni

Filmmaker-Scriptwriter Ritwik Ghatak.

It's 42nd Death Anniversary of our great Bengali Filmmaker and Scriptwriter Ritwik Ghatak..And he made our pioneering neo-realistic film 'Nagorik' (1952, released in 1977) crossed 40 years & he wrote popular classic Hindi movie 'Madhumati' (1958) completed 60 years!

Ritwik Ghatak's film 'Nagorik' (1952).

Intense scene from Ritwik Ghatak's film 'Nagorik' (1952).

Ghatak is remembered for his strong realistic & sensitive approach towards handling social subjects. In 1952 he wrote & directed first film 'Nagorik' depicted the suffering of citizens with unemployment & poverty..in post-partition Kolkota! Pioneering realistic cinematography of Ramananda Sengupta and natural performances of artists Satindra Bhattacharya, Prova Devi, Kali Banerjee, Sova Sen, Ketaki Dutta & Geeta Shome made this film impactful!..But unfortunately this film released in 1977 it's 25th year..after the death of Ghatak! So this film lost the honour of first neo-realistic Indian film which gained by 1955 made renowned filmmaker Satyajit Ray's 'Pather Panchali'!

Ghatak's entire directorial work known for such cinematic treatment to social reality! But during his film career in 1958 he also wrote one Hindi film with popular genre..'Madhumati' for renowned filmmaker Bimal Roy! 

Vyjayanthimala-Dilip Kumar in Ritwik Ghatak wrote Bimalda's 'Madhumati' (1958).

A paranormal kind romantic film 'Madhumati' (1958) dealt with reincarnation. With Bimal Roy & Ritwik Ghatak some other genius of Indian cinema also gathered in making this movie like..for screenplay-dialogues Rajinder Singh Bedi associated, Dilip Gupta cinematographed & Hrishikesh Mukherjee specially did Editing for it! And our acting king Dilip Kumar & beautiful Vyjayanthimala portrayed main roles in it. Then Shailendra wrote it's lyrics & Salil Choudhary composed the music..in which songs like Lata Mangeshkar & Mukesh sung "Dil tadap tadap ke kah raha.." and Mohammad Rafi sung "Toote hue khwabon ne..." still lingering in mind with intense romantic performances!

Great Bengali Filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak directing!

That was Ghatak's only one association with commercially big successful Hindi movie as writer. Then he concentrated on his neo-realistic kind of film making! He made only eight feature films (& in Bengali) up to his last 'Jukti Takko Aar Gappo' (1974) which won national award! He was also honoured with 'Padma Shri'!!


Humble Homage to this our master filmmaker!!

- Manoj Kulkarni
['Chitrasrushti', Pune, India]