Atanu Ghosh pays tribute to Ritwik Ghatak

November 4 marked

filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak

’s 96th birth anniversary.

Director Atanu Ghosh

who is a die-hard fan of Ghatak said, “Anyone who has some interest towards the artistic exploration of

cinema

in the global perspective, or one who is even a little bit engaged and committed towards Indian tradition of art, culture and social realism, is bound to be influenced by the works of Ritwik Ghatak. I am no exception. Here is an artiste of boundless courage, whose career was one of a relentless struggle against an insensitive and undemanding audience who went on rejecting his films throughout his lifetime and ironically showered laurels on him after his death. Ghatak’s tryst with social realism emerged at a time when the country was losing out its moral vision wading through dark, disillusioned times and coping with incoherent modernisation. It was also the time when national cinema was either obsessed with entertainment or pretension, whose

grammar

and conventions Ghatak broke and reconstructed time and again,” said Atanu.
What did he like most in Ghatak’s films, we ask Atanu? “Coming at a phase when understated subtlety was termed the most important attribute of serious cinema, Ghatak's characters talk out loud with melodramatic undertones, which I like among many things of his.,” said the director.
What is his favourite Ritwik Ghatak film? “The film that leaves me mesmerised is Ajantrik, as Ghatak takes a uniquely intuitive and inventive stance to emphasize the contrast between nature and the mechanical world in this movie,” explained Atanu.