Mar 18, 2014

23rd March 2014; A River Called Titas by Ritwik Ghatak


A River Called Titas
A film by Ritwik Ghatak


Bangladesh/ 1973/ 158 minutes, in Bengali with English subtitles, black and white.
Based on a novel by by Advaita Malla Burman.
Restored in 2010 by the World Cinema Foundation and Cineteca di Bologna.

Screening on 23rd March ; 5.45pm
Perks Mini Theater


Ritwik Ghatak adapts Advaita Malla Barman sweeping novel detailing the downfall of a once-thriving fishing village situated along the River Titas. The tale is set among the Malo fishermen who toil on the waters of the Titas. The community includes both Hindu and Muslim families, though Hindu characters dominate the narrative. The central figures are Basanti, a young girl: Kishore, a fisherman: Rajar Khi, Kishore’s bride; and Ananta, Rajar’s son. 
We first see Basanti as a young girl in the village. Kishore and his brother Subol go on a fishing trip. It is on this trip that Kishore meets Rajar, whom he rescues in a village conflict. He then marries her and takes her back to his village. However, river bandits abduct her and this drives Kishore crazy. Basanti, who envisaged marrying Kishore, marries Subol instead, but he is drowned on the day of the wedding. There is an ellipsis of ten years.
Rajar with her son Ananta arrives in the village seeking shelter. Neither she nor Kishore recognise each other. The situation creates conflicts over traditional values regarding marriage and child rearing. Kishore is attacked and dies, and Rajar drowns alongside him. Basanti now takes care of Ananta; a situation objected to by Basanti’s parents. More village and domestic feuding lead to Ananta leaving to live with another family. At the end the river dries up [partly due to a scheme engineered by the  landowners]. The village falls apart.

The film seems full of Bengali and Indian cultural references. There is a lot more complexity in the plot and characters of the film.. There is also a rich palette in the film’s visual and aural style. Ghatak has a great command of camera and mise en scène. There are numerous fine sequences. In particular late in the film there is a boat race on the river, which is enthralling in its presentation. This is a film which one should encourage local exhibitors to book and screen. (Excerpts from an article in  http://itpworld.wordpress.com )








RITWIK GHATAK
1925 – 1976

Ritwik Ghatak was born in Dhaka in East Bengal (now Bangladesh). He belonged to an illustrious family. His father Suresh Chandra Ghatak was a district magistrate and also a poet and playwright, mother's name was Indubala Devi. He and his family moved to Kolkata just before millions of other refugees from East Bengal began to flood into the city, fleeing the catastrophic 1943 famine and the Partition of India in 1947. Identification with this tide of refugees was to define his practice, providing an overriding metaphor for cultural dismemberment and exile that unified his subsequent creative work.

In 1948, Ghatak wrote his first play Kalo sayar (The Dark Lake), and participated in a revival of the landmark play Nabanna. In 1951, Ghatak joined the Indian People's Theatre Association ( IPTA ). He wrote, directed and acted in plays and translated Bertolt Brecht and Gogol into Bengali. In 1957, he wrote and directed his last play Jwala (The Burning).
Ghatak entered film industry with Nemai Ghosh's Chinnamul (1950) as actor and assistant director. Chinnamul was followed two years later by Ghatak's first completed film Nagarik (1952), both major break-throughs for the Indian cinema. Ritwik Ghatak directed eight full-length films. Ghatak moved briefly to Pune in 1966, where he taught at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and John Abraham, Kumar Shahani and Mani Kaul were among  his students .



Ritwik Ghatak Filmography:
• Nagarik (The Citizen-1952)
• Ajantrik (Pathetic Fallacy-1958)
• Bari Theke Paliye (Runaway-1959)
• Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud Capped Star-1961)
• Komal Gandhar (1961)


• Subarnarekha (The Golden Line-1962)• Titas Ekti Nadir Naam (A River Named Titas-1973)

• Jukti Takko aar gappo (Arguments and a Story-1974)

Mar 5, 2014

9th March 2014; LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE - a film by Abbas Kiarostami



 LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE
a film by Abbas Kiarostami
2012/Japan/ Col/ 109 minutes
9th March 2014; 5.45pm
Perks Mini Theater


Iranian auteur  Abbas Kiarostami proves himself an astute observer of love and loneliness in the Japanese culture.In "Like Someone in Love" gives us people who are with someone but ultimately alone.


Akiko (Rin Takanashi) seems like a woman-child when we first seen her. Her makeup is lightly applied and she seems in serious need of advice. Her bangs help hide her and hang like a curtain as she looks down, modestly and reluctantly accepting all advice about her persona life. Her boyfriend is making obsessive demands,  Yet Kiarostami surprises us. This little willow of a girl isn't so innocent.Akiko is a call girl and her new client is an elderly well-educated man, Takashi (played by the 81-year-old Tadashi Okuno).

A young student cum call girl, her jealous boyfriend and a needy professor, three people of a totally different socio-economic class coming together under false assumptions. Kiarostami presents indefinite people with indefinite motivations and desires.

The way this film ends is perfect, because it's a bracing slap to the face of not just these characters who have been slumming, pretending and withholding, but to many of us who might be going through life on some kind of autopilot. The film's craziest, most easily mocked character emerges as the one most fully alive. Old Kiarostami, master of paradoxes, is set in his ways, but his ways are never set. (Source: Internet)







Abbas Kiarostami

Abbas Kiarostami was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1940. He graduated from university with a degree in fine arts before starting work as a graphic designer. He then joined the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where he started a film section, and this started his career as a filmmaker at the age of 30. Since then he has made many movies and has become one of the most important figures in contemporary Iranian film. He is also a major figure in the arts world, and has had numerous gallery exhibitions of his photography, short films and poetry. He is an iconic figure for what he has done, and he has achieved it all by believing in the arts and the creativity of his mind.

(Source:IMDB )