Meghe Dhaka Tara
A poster for Meghe Dhaka Tara
Directed byRitwik Ghatak
Written byRitwik Ghatak (screenplay), Shaktipada Rajguru (the original novel)
Produced byChitrakalpa
StarringSupriya Choudhury,
Anil Chatterjee,
Niranjan Ray,
Gita Ghatak,
Bijon Bhattacharya,
Gita Dey,
Dwiju Bhawal,
Gyanesh Mukherjee,
Ranen Ray Choudhury
Music byComposer:
Jyotirindra Moitra
Assistant:
Anil Chandra Sengupta
Release date
  • 14 April 1960 (1960-04-14)
Running time
127 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageBengali

Meghe Dhaka Tara (Bengali: মেঘে ঢাকা তারা Mēghē Ḍhākā Tārā, lit. The Cloud-Capped Star) is a 1960 film written and directed by Ritwik Ghatak, based on a social novel by Shaktipada Rajguru with the same title. It stars Supriya Choudhury, Anil Chatterjee, Gita Dey, Bijon Bhattacharya, Niranjan Roy, and Gyanesh Mukherjee.[1] It was part of a trilogy consisting of Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), Komal Gandhar (1961), and Subarnarekha (1962), all dealing with the aftermath of the Partition of Bengal during the Partition of India in 1947 and the refugees coping with it.[2]

Plot outline

The film revolves around Nita (played by Supriya Choudhury), a young girl who lives with her family, refugees from East Pakistan, in the suburbs of Calcutta. Nita is a self-sacrificing person who is constantly exploited by everyone around her, even her own family, who take her goodness for granted. Her father has met an accident and is unable to make a living. Her elder brother Shankar (played by Anil Chatterjee) believes that his craft (singing) needs to be perfected before he can make any income from it and therefore the burden of taking care of the family falls on Nita. Her life is ridden with personal tragedy: her lover Sanat leaves her for her sister Geeta, her younger brother is injured while working in a factory and finally she herself becomes a burden for her family when she contracts tuberculosis. Her mostly absent would-be singer brother is the only person who cares about her in the end. At the end of the film, she screams out her agony, throwing herself into her brother's arms. She utters her last words: "Brother, I want to survive (দাদা, আমি বাঁচতে চাই।)."

Cast

Production

This film was directed by independent filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak in Kolkata (then Calcutta). In contrast to many Bollywood films made in Mumbai, India's main film center, Ghatak's films are formally elaborate and somber, and often address issues related to the Partition of India. Although Partition is never explicitly mentioned in Meghe Dhaka Tara, the film takes place in a refugee camp in the outskirts of Calcutta, and concerns an impoverished genteel Hindu bhadralok family and the problems they face because of Partition.

The film is perhaps the most widely viewed film among Ghatak's works; it was his greatest commercial success at home, and coincided with an international film movement towards personal stories and innovative techniques (the so-called 'new wave'). After Ghatak's death, his work (and this film in particular) began to attract a more sizable global audience, via film festivals and the subsequent release of DVDs both in India and in Europe.

Meghe Dhaka Tara is strongly melodramatic in tone, especially as concerns the sufferings heaped on the protagonist. As in many of his other films, Ghatak also uses surrealistic sound effects, such as sounds of a lashing as the heroine suffers yet another tragic twist of fate.

Music

Jyotirindra Moitra composed the film score. He used classical Indian musical forms and included a song by Rabindranath Tagore, sung to Nita by her brother, Shankar.[3] Moitra also wrote the film music for Ritwik Ghatak's Komalgandhar.

Credits

Reception

Ghatak on the film

The title 'Meghe Dhaka Tara' was given by me, original story was published in a popular newspaper by the name of 'Chenamukh'. Something in this story stirred me. And that is why Shakespeare's 'The Cloud Capped Star' struck my mind and I decided to pen a new script all together. It could be a bit sentimental, but to throw overtones out of it came to mind gradually. Here I made use of Indian mythology which is a part of my life. 'Meghe Dhaka Tara' expressed my thoughts.

Screening of Meghe Dhaka Tara in different festivals

Legacy

Accolades

In 2012, Meghe Dhaka Tara was ranked at #235 and #322 on the Sight & Sound's critics' and directors' poll of "The Greatest Films of All Time" respectively.[8] In 2022, it was ranked #152 on the Sight & Sound's critics' poll of "The Greatest Films of All Time."[9] The movie is also listed in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, which praises "the grace of Ghatak's mise en scène, his expressionist sound design, and the enormous sense of loss."[10]

Releases

The Criterion Collection

The Criterion Collection released the latest and definitive restoration of the film on Blu-ray, DVD, and on their streaming platform the Criterion Channel in 2019.

Adaptations

In 2016, Bratya Basu made a Bengali drama based on the plot of this film. The drama was first staged on 2 January 2016 at University Institute Hall at Kolkata.[11][12]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Cloud Capped Star (1960)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2013. Archived from the original on 22 March 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  2. ^ Rosalind Galt; Karl Schoonover (2010). Global Art Cinema: New Theories and Histories. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-538562-5.
  3. ^ Dasgupta, Chidananda (1985). "Cinema, Marxism, and the Mother Goddess". India International Centre Quarterly. 12 (3): 260. JSTOR 23001400.
  4. ^ "Ritwik Ghatak's "Meghe Dhaka Tara" to screen at Toronto 2012". DearCinema.com. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  5. ^ "ಆದಿಮ ಬೆಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲಿ ಋತ್ವಿಕ್ ಘಟಕ್: ಪ್ರಕಾಶ್ ಬಾಬು ಬರಹ - ಪ್ರಕಾಶ್ ಬಾಬು - ಕೆಂಡಸಂಪಿಗೆ". Kendasampige.com. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  6. ^ PIFF Schedule Archived 31 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "What's on at DCA - Dundee Contemporary Arts". Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  8. ^ "Votes for Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960) | BFI". www.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 29 December 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  9. ^ "Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960)". www.bfi.org.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2023.[dead link]
  10. ^ Schneider, Steven Jay, ed. 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. New York: Quintessence, 2008. p. 378.
  11. ^ "Ididn't cast Poulomi as Neeta in 'Meghe Dhaka Tara' to take sweet revenge: BratyaBasu - The Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  12. ^ সিংহ, সঞ্জয়. "'মেঘে ঢাকা তারা'র সন্ধানে এক বিধায়ক এবং এক মন্ত্রী". Ananadabazar Patrika. Retrieved 3 January 2016.

External links

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