‘Deep voice & sensual yet soothing presence’ gave Ritwik’s rebel an edge

When Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen overlooked Supriya Devi, Ritwik Ghatak made an exception. He cast Supriya in two of his cult films — ‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’ and ‘Komal Gandhar’. Unlike her peers — Suchitra Sen, Lily Chakraborty, Sandhya Roy and Sabitri Chatterjee — it was Supriya’s role in Ghatak’s films and Madhabi Mukherjee in Ray’s cinema that triggered global cinematic discourses.
In 1960, Ghatak had cast Supriya as Neeta — a character that inspired Mira Nair in 2006 to cast her in ‘The Namesake’. The first day of shooting was in Shillong. Supriya had shot the “Dada… aami baanchte chai” scene in sync sound. But later, Ghatak made her dub her lines. His logic was —‘If we have a notation for songs, why shouldn’t there be one for cacophony?’ Among the various remembered dialogues of Supriya, this particular one has passed the test of time.
It was partly her long neck that Ghatak had first noticed when he decided to cast her. Ghatak was influenced by Carl Theodor Dreyer’s ‘The Passion of Joan of Arc’ where the director used closeups of the lead actress Renée Jeanne Falconetti. Film scholar Sanjoy Mukhopadhyay says, “Ghatak wanted an actress whose features could be choreographed to construct a national symbol of agony and resistance. He felt Supriya’s long neck and rough-edged face could be stripped of their lyrical hangover.”
In his writings on ‘Komal Gandhar’, Ghatak mentioned that he had used close-up shots of Supriya’s head and neck to portray her as a mother figure.
According to professor of film studies’ department of Jadavpur University Moinak Biswas, “Supriya Devi had a distinctive presence in relation to her peers. With a strongly-built body and a deep voice, she foregrounded a sensual yet soothing presence.” Biswas said a director of Ghatak’s calibre could use these aspects to great effect.
The first day Supriya went to meet Ghatak at his Bhowanipore residence, she was late for a commercial film shoot. To add to her worries, the strap of her slippers came off on the way to Ghatak’s house. Ghatak, who was standing outside his house, had watched this.
Of course, this wasn’t part of their conversation. But much later, when Ghatak went on to shoot ‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’, Supriya realised that the filmmaker had incorporated this episode in his film. Early on in the film after Neeta wards off the warnings of a local grocer unwilling to give credit, she walks down a potholed road of a refugee colony. Her ubiquitous ‘jhola’ bag hangs from her shoulder. Suddenly, the strap of her Kolhapuri slipper comes off. Neeta picks it up, looks at it for a second and then walks ahead bare feet. Though apparently disconnected, it required someone of Ghatak’s calibre to transport Supriya’s personal experience to emphasize Neeta’s struggle.