Film
Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (Reason, Argument, and Story)
1:00 pm, November 13, Castro Theatre
Admission $8
Director: Ritwik Gathak
Country: India (1974)
Running Time: 118min
B&W 35mm Print from British Film Institute
In Bengali w/English Subtitles
Since his untimely death in 1976, Ritwik Ghatak has come to be regarded as one of the greatest and most influential directors of Indian independent cinema. Satyajit Ray wrote, '"Ritwik was one of the few truly original talents of cinema…" Jukti Takko Aar Gappois is the most autobiographical and allegorical of all Ritwik's films. In it, Ghatak plays the lead role of Nilkantha Bagchi himself-an alcoholic intellectual nearing the end of his life who journeys forth through Bengal, deep into the fabric of his past life, loves, and friendships. Nilkantha, travels with a Bengali refugee, a once-respected writer who is now a literary hack, an unemployed trade unionist, and a penniless teacher of Sanskrit. The encounters and adventures that transpire during the pilgrims' painful progress, express the director's disillusionment with organized politics and the loss of his faith in everyday experiences.
The film delves into the lives of those in exile, scarred and scattered by 1947 partition of India. Ghatak's experimental style, manifests the deep emotional tensions weighing upon his characters and the trajectories of their lives. Ghatak's cinema asks us to contemplate deeply and to focus more intently. Since Ghatak's works are rarely screened in the U.S., this is an opportunity not to be missed.
Introduction by Professor Sudipto Chatterjee of UC Berkeley
Sponsors
Exclusively sponsored by Center for South Asian Studies at UC Berkeley
Co-presenters:
Progressive Bengali Network (PBN)