Every Film is Unique!

Every film comes with an enriching experiences. No film can be same. No crew can be same. With every film we learn or unlearn. We meet new people and build new relationships. In this space I share my personal experiences on different films. Some of the entries may just be informative, while some may give an overview or just give a record of what happened on a particular day of shoot.

A Paper on Ritwik Ghatak

I had written this during my college days. Found it on a CD. I thought it would be appropriate to put it here:

The objective of this paper is to give a brief description of Ritwik Ghatak’s life and draw a parallel between Ritwik Ghatak’s film Meghe Dhaka Tara (A Cloud Capped Star) and the political and social scenario in India and Bangladesh during that Period.

Ritwik Ghatak: The Legend

Ritwik Ghatak was born in 1925 in Dhaka, then a part of India, but in 1947, after the independence and partition of India, it became a part of East Pakistan and now it is the capital of Bangladesh (after the partition of Pakistan in 1972). Ghatak moved to Baharampur and then to Calcutta in the early fifties. Ritwik Ghatak was moved by this partition and this fact is quite evident in his films. He is amongst those directors in the world who have left a mark in the world cinema. Though he was an alcoholic and used to stay drunk even during work, he made all his films with a passion which is quite rare in today’s world. He made sure that he made his statement through his films.

He had a charm of getting the students he taught and the filmmakers he knew immediately on his side. This made him an admirable and an extraordinary man. And even though he was clearly an alcoholic, they seemed to try to protect him in every way.1

He started his career by joining the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) which was a communist group. He himself was a firm believer of Marxism. He directed and acted in plays. He also translated Brechtian2 plays and then directed them. He soon realized that he was not able to get his message through the masses, so he decided to make films.

He died in the year 1976, leaving many project unattended and incomplete.

Style of Filming:

Ghatak was influenced by the arguments that Sergie Eisenstein, the Russian filmmaker and Rabindranath Tagore, a poet and a Bengali writer put across. He was not influenced by Hollywood or the French New Wave Cinema but like Jean-Luc Godard, who was obsessed by the Vietnam War, Ghatak was obsessed with the Bengal Partition.1

Ghatak’s involvement with literature is also quite evident in his films. In Meghe Dhaka Tara (A Cloud Capped Star), he has referred to Tagore, Yeats, Keats and Wordsworth. In fact the title, ‘A Cloud Capped Star’, is taken from a speech by Prospero, a character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

He made some of his films under the influence of alcohol, but he made them with great passion. His films were sometimes overemphasized, sometimes melodramatic, sometimes unevenly edited, but there was an enormous power in his films which transcended everything else.1

He also tried new techniques which had never been used in the Indian cinema. Foe example the use natural sounds which are very prominent in the film, Meghe Dhaka Tara.

Statement through Films:

Ritwik Ghatak was deeply moved by the Partition of Bengal, and the statement that he tried to make through his films was about how terrible the process of partition was.

“Being a Bengali from East Pakistan I have seen the untold miseries inflicted on my people in the name of independence – which is a fake and shame. I have reacted violently to this and even in my last film, which is yet to be released (Jukti Takko O Gappo) I have tried to portray different aspects of this. I am also aware of a complete break-down of moral values around me especially among the younger generation of today.” 4.

He also believed that the bourgeoisies had done this to themselves. The British alone could not be blamed for the partition of India; the Indians themselves were at fault. This is one reason why we can see the main characters of his films as refugees belonging to the bourgeois class.

A Glimpse on Ghatak’s Works: 5

Bedeni, was Ghatak’s first directorial venture which he took over from another director, Nirmal Dev, but it remained unfinished. Ritwik’s first complete film was Nagarik. Shot and edited in 1952-53, the film was ultimately to be released in the late seventies. This film deals with the partition of Bengal and the life of the refugees. In the end of the film, Ramu, the protagonist, abandons his house and his individual aspirations to join a political struggle for equality between classes. It was during this period (1952 – 53) that the Language Movement was at its peak and that thousands of students had already laid down their life for getting Bangla approved as a state language. The movement continued till 1956.

The first of his films to be released was Ajantrik in 1957. The film was about the law of life and the life cycle. Bari thheke paliye was made in 1959, based on a children’s story about a little boy who runs away from home in search of adventure. In spite of its occasional brilliance (like the innovative use of low angle and ground shots; influenced by Ozu, a Japanese filmmaker)6. Ritwik does not appear very comfortable in his treatment of child psychology.

His fully developed style could be seen in 1960 with the release of his three films: Meghe Dhaka Tara, Komol Gandhar, and Subarnarekha. While Meghe Dhaka Tara was a success, the others were failures.

On December 16, 1971, Pakistani forces surrendered, and Bangladesh was finally established the following day. The new country changed its name to Bangladesh on January 11, 1972 and became a parliamentary democracy under a constitution.

The following statement made by Ritwik Ghatak, after he finished making Titas Ekti Nadir (1973), can give an overview of his life and his country. “I did not realize that whatever ideas I had about Bengal, the two Bengals together, were thirty years out of date”, he said. “My childhood and my early youth were spent in East Bengal. The memories of those days, the nostalgia maddened me and drew me towards Titash, to make a film on it. The period covered in the novel, Titash, is forty years old, a time I was familiar with…Consequently, Titash has become a kind of commemoration of the past that I left behind long ago…when I was making the film, it occured to me that nothing of the past survives today, nothing can survive. History is ruthless. No, it is all lost. Nothing remains”. In spite of this Ritwik worked passionately on the project struggling with tuberculosis along the way.5.

Meghe Dhaka Tara (A Cloud Capped Star)

At first sight, Meghe Dhaka Tara, is a traditional melodrama, even though the characters posses an intense psychological density and the film a realistic dimension.

The film was inspired by a girl on a bus stop. Ghatak looked at the girl and questioned himself about the state of the women in Bengal. How many such women exist in Bengal, who live an impoverished life and stand to support their family? This fact is emphasized many a time in the film. In the end, when it is revealed that Neeta, the heroine of the film, is going to die, another girl is shown whose circumstances match that of Neeta’s in the beginning of the film (i.e. she is poor and earns money to support and hold her family together). And this is the reason why the girl on the bus stand was the heroine of the film. The story is about the girl who sacrificed everything just to keep her family together. The greater effort the girl made to keep the family together that much more pain, lonely and isolated she got.

In the opening sequence, across a river, a train is shown moving from the right of the frame to the left. This sequence of the train is repeated many times during the film. This train is used to signify the distance in relationships and the distance between the two countries created by partition.

The landscapes also play an important role in the film. The other motifs of Nita are the tree and water, the ancient images for Prakriti. While tree provides shelter and refuge, water has been always been associated with the primal force of creation.7 The establishing shot of the film is that of a pond and a tree. It is interesting that whenever Shankar, Neeta’s brother, does his morning ‘riyaaz’ and sings to the Great Mother, Neeta passes by from below the tree.

One cannot overlook the technical aspect of the film. The use of natural sounds, like the chirping of the birds and crickets are exceptional. Special sound effects like the sounds of the whip, to depict uneasiness in the state of mind, create an entirely different aura about the situation Neeta is in. Certain sounds even hold metaphorical significances, like the sound of the boiling rice and the mother getting angry and jealous. The building up of the uncanny music and the use of non-diegetic sounds; be it the sound of the whip or the school children reciting their table, all of them, together, help to bring out the melodramatic feel of the film.

The characters in the film are refugees belonging to the bourgeois class. Education is the top priority at this period, this can be seen throughout the film. Factory jobs are looked down upon, this is quite evident by the reaction of the father when Montu, Neeta’s younger brother, gets a job in a factory because he is a sportsman. The father says, “See what the middle classes have sunk to.”

Ghatak always believed that the people of India were equally to be blamed for the partition and the effects of it. And he projects this by stating that the biggest sin is to not protest against any injustice. This comes out when Neeta makes a conversation with Sanat; Neeta says that I need to go in penance because I have not stood up against injustice.

Many references have been made regarding the cultural development and progress. People are making efforts to hold plays and spread messages. Moreover, there is also the depiction of partiality towards the sons. Neeta is the bread earner of the house. She earns money and spends it on her siblings. Her mother scolds her for wasting money. But after a few months, Montu starts earning money she allows him to live and eat in a hostel provided by the factory. Her mother is selfish, as she wants Neeta to sacrifice her needs and keep earning money to provide for the family. Neeta’s mother also encourages Gita, Neeta’s younger sister, to flirt with Sanat, Neeta’s lover. Eventually Sanat leaves his research, takes a job and marries Gita.

To depict the moral and social degradation of the post independent Bengal, Ghatak makes use of Indian myths and archetype. Neeta is not only emotionally and physically sacrificed by their families but are also symbolically sacrificed as goddesses. As symbolic goddesses, Neeta represents the land of Bengal and it is Bengali society that sacrifices Her with division and greed. In Meghe Dhaka Tara, the character Neeta is actually the manifestation of multiple goddesses: Durga as Jagadhatri, the benevolent image of the eternal giver and universal sustainer, and Uma, the Mother Goddess.

Ira Bhaskar represents the manifestation of Durga in her essay, ‘Myths & Ritual’: “A prevalent story about the genesis of Durga is the concept of Havyagni (oblation to the sacrificial fire). In the ritual of the Havan (the act of consigning the mortal offering to the sacrificial flames) is symbolized the surrender of human desires and aspirations which are carried to the heavens with the smoke. It is believed that Durga was born out of this smoke as a transmutation of human desires, taking the form of Jagadhatari, the universal sustainer. One of the central images associated with Nita is the courtyard wherein are centered the ambitions of the rest of the family… These selfish ambitions pour into the courtyard, the symbolic yagna mandapa, from which manifests Nita in the role of the Provider and Creator.” 7

This aspect is very clear through the lyrics of the song:

Come, my daughter Uma, to me.
Let me garland you with flowers.
You are the soul of my sad self, Mother, the deliverer.
Let me bid you farewell now, my daughter!
You are leaving my home desolate, for your husband’s place.
How do I endure your leaving, my daughter?

This song also emphasizes the fact that Neeta has been used merely as an object that earns money for the family, and after her utility is over, she is of no use and hence is sacrificed. Her father asks her to leave the house because she is going to become a burden for her siblings.

There are lines by Tagore which have been used to make a statement on the independence that was followed by the partition.

The night the storm blew open my door,

Little did I know that you would come in,

Everything went dark, the lamp dimmed,

I reached up to the heavens not knowing why,

In darkness I lay dreamy.

Could I know that the storm was the prurient of your triumph?

In the morning did I see: You standing there:

Standing in what was an empty room.

If one looks from a different angle, things may seem to become a bit clear. Neeta is the representation of our country, which is poor and trying to hold together but how hard it tries to keep things together (by partition and agreements), it isolates and causes pain to itself. India and Neeta both want to live as they are young and have a lot in store for the future, but then both of them have been poisoned, one by bloodshed, the other by tuberculosis.

Conclusion:

Though Ritwik Ghatak did not get his due recognition during his lifetime, the statements made by his films are so profound and his filmmaking style so unique, that he will be remembered by the generations to come.

References:

1. Derek Malcolm (film critique) on Ritwik Ghatak.
2. Brechtian: Bertolt Brecht, a famous German dramatist & stage director.
3. ‘Woman’ and ‘homeland’ in Ritwik Ghatak’s films: An Essay by Erin O’Donnell
4. Excerpt from Kalpana Biswas’ interview with Ritwik Ghatak.
5. Taken from http://www.onmag.com/ritwik.htm
6. Inputs by Dr. Madan Gopal Singh.
7. Journal of Arts & Ideas: Issue3, 1983: ‘Myth & Rituals’ by Ira Bhaskar
8. ‘The Cinemas of India’ by Yves Thoraval

A Paper on Ritwik Ghatak by Mukul Khattar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License. Based on a work at myfilmcareer.wordpress.com.

Poster & Trailer of Bardsongs

Never got the time to update my blog on Bardsongs. Time has passed by – the official trailer and the poster has been released. Working with the Dutch crew was fun. Nice people.

Poster of Dutch Feature Film Bardsongs

BARDSONGS trailer from Sander Francken on Vimeo.

Rehearsing with the Dzo

How I wish that the stuffed Dzo could walk. How I wish that the stuffed Dzo could carry a cart. How I wish that we could place a few humans inside the stuffed Dzo. How I wish we could use some kind of robotics on the stuffed Dzo.

Today was the first day with the real Dzo and I must say that a few things went well but something that didn’t go well was the injustice done to the poor animal. The animal is not used to carry a cart, specially a cart with 4 people and a few barrels and baskets.

We did extensively practice with the Dzo. First we put the cart on the Dzo. It did manage pulling the cart but the Dzo needed to be pulled by its nose in order to make him move. It went up and down a slope. There were 6 people holding onto the cart to keep it in balance. I wonder how we’ll manage a wide shot of the Dzo with the cart. Anyway, Digamber is going to come up with a solution.

Then the actor got onto the Dzo and rode it for a while, but again it needed to be pulled. The Dzo did try to retaliate at times and that did scare me a bit. I wonder how we’ll achieve the shots. I wonder how much time it would take. 3 days to shoot and I hope it’s enough for the practice.

Fairy Tales: a reality check

If we would have a giraffe with a cart. If we would have a flying girl. If we would have a talking Dzo. If we would have had a swimming elephant. If we would have a stuffed human. If we would have blue bees. If we would have had red grass – we would not be shooting this film but a Science Fiction Fairy Tale.

Most often things are convenience based. Sometime the film lacks reality and sometimes it becomes a fairy tale. Sometimes we need a stuffed dzo and sometimes we need a walking dzo. Sometimes we need a girl and sometimes we need a superwoman. Sometimes we need a 14 year old but we land up with a 22 year old. Sometimes we call it reality and sometimes we call it a fairy tale.

But where we stand is something to consider. We need a Dzo as our main lead. We need a horse for a return journey. We need a cattle market for the climax. But we have 16 days to shoot. One thing is for sure that some of us are aware of the reality, that’s why we changed the horse to a truck without affecting the story. What is to come, no one knows. But one thing is for sure – no horse is one headache less and some valuable time saved.

The art department is doing fine. They have the vodafone board ready and they have a stuffed Dzo. My friends, we are almost there. The fairy tale is about to begin.

Chilled in Chilling

Today we chilled out in Chilling. An ideal Sunday. We shut shop at 2pm and then decided to go for a drive to an isolated scenic spot. I prepared a revised schedule and gave out the Day out of days to the concerned departments. My work for the day was done.

After lunch Karin, Kawal and I left for Sangam point. This is a place where the Indus river and Zanskar river merge into one – into Indus. We hanged around there for a while and decided to have a cup of tea in a village close by. We drove to Chilling, about 30Km from Sangam Point. In stead of tea, we had some beer.

While we were chilling in chilling, Sander was trying to figure out his way to finish his shooting script. He had borrow Kawal’s laptop for his work. There was a screening of the first part of ‘Bardsongs’ at 7:30pm. We missed it as we were under the impression that the film was at 8:00pm.

Turn off the lights

Before even Sander began to start typing his shooting script, the entire crew understood what was in store for them. On the very third day Sander lost his iBook charger to the unpredictable electricity fluctuation. Fortunately for me, he informed me about it, else my Macbook charger would have also met the same fate.

The news spread like fire. Every crew member went out shopping for spike guards. Now each one has a spike guard to himself. But this does not solve Sander’s problem. How does he write his shooting script without a Laptop or a Computer? I thought of helping him. I called the Apple Helpline and then a few dealers in Delhi. No one had an Apple iBook charger – it was out of stock since Apple has stopped manufacturing the iBook.

The next step was taken. We borrowed a laptop for Sander from Tstenzin. Sander spent 5 days preparing his shooting script. The shooting script was almost ready. Everything was fine till this evening, when suddenly the hard disk of the laptop stopped responding. The only noise that came from the laptop was ‘tick… tick… tick’. That was the end of the shooting script. There was no backup taken. Tomorrow we live in hope – hope that we find someone in Ladakh to recover data from a corrupt hard disk.

I can feel Sander’s frustration. I would have gone half mad if this would have happened to me, but Sander remained composed.

Tanglang La

We have decided to have fun on the sets of SF Film’s Production of Bardsongs Part 2. Last night Kawal, Karin and I mutually agreed to shoot a Side Story of the film. We’ll do this in under the banner of Taglangla Pictures ( Tanglang La – the pass at which everone fell sick). We are going to form a script around what the areas we will be shooting. We have selected a few characters around which we will base our story – they may be crew members or actors or just any interesting person on the street.

The toughest part will be to keep this undercover.

To start with, I just met Digamber, our art director and animal cart making expert. For the Jodhpur shoot he had made two camel carts and for this shoot he again going to make two carts. One for the Dzo and one for the horse. What’s going to be interesting for the Side Story is the making of a stuffed Dzo. I just had a word with him and he says he will need to a hunt a Dzo soon for it’s skin. Beware no one needs to know, specially Sander. I think it’s gonna be an adventure.

Karin and I went in the evening to order 3 T-shirts with for a newly formed Tanglang La Films. We will get them on Monday. We are busy with the prep work for both Bardsongs and the Side Story. We expect to begin start shooting the Side Story on the 6th of August ’09. We have also started an official blog for Tanglang La Films. Once we have a few posts we shall publish it for the public.

Measuring Up

Things have picked up. Everyone is getting busier by the day. Digamber our art director is having a time of his life – he has some difficult tasks to meet. He has to create a cart, a stuffed Dzo and a hand made Vodafone billboard – like I told you, there are no printing facilities available here. There is also no Vodafone connection here but since it is a network that’s available in both in Netherlands and India, Sander feels that there is some possibility of getting some sponsorship from them.

Moreover, on the face of it, our film is about a man who wishes to procure a mobile phone by selling his Dzo. On a deeper level it is about the importance of having one owns mind.

Costume Department at Work

Measuring up

We had a small production meeting today. Communication is a barrier with the local production. They also seem a bit slow and a bit inexperienced. The positive is that they are hard working and willing. Hope they are able to pull it off – a lot depends on them. We are really on a tight schedule. Permissions, transport and accommodation is the backbone of this production. We will be shooting in and around Leh for the first few days, then moving to Liker for 5 days and then to Lamayuru for the rest of the schedule.

Bardsongs Part 3: The Beginning

Note: This is the Third Part of a Dutch Feature Film – Bardsongs. This part is called the ‘Father, Daughter & Dzo’. The First Part was shot in Africa and the Second Part was shot in Jodhpur – Bardsongs, ‘The Plastic Collector.’ We were the part of the Indian Crew for the Second Part as well.

It’s almost been 2 weeks in Leh. We have the first version of the schedule, a location report and the cast in place. We start shoot on the 10th of August. We were scheduled o shoot on the 9th of August but had to push it by a day as the Dalai Lama is visiting the city then.

It has been the most visually exciting 2 weeks of my life. Within a few miles you get to see a vast variety of landscape. One moment you have yellow desert like landscape and in the other you have the green-yellow farm lands with maroon mountains set as the backdrop. You have purple rocks capped with white snow. Mountains decorated as if a giant zebra is lying on its belly. Rocks projecting as if lost township is hidden under it. Crystal clear blue water bodies as if only Gods were allowed to touch it. The feeling is overwhelming and there aren’t words to describe it.

My grandmother once did tell me – “You must travel India first and then the world.” – now I understand her.

Kawal and I decided to travel to Leh by car, thinking that it would help to acclimatize. We took it easy and took 4 days to reach Leh. Aditya, the musician for the film also accompanied us. The first night we stayed in Manali. All went well – everything normal.

The second night we stayed in Jispa. Some of us did start feeling the lack of oxygen but stayed calm without complaining. We were suppose to travel 320 Km the next day for Leh, crossing Taglangla, the second highest pass in the world (17582 feet above sea level), but we got a call from Karin (Line Producer) who warned us about the drive and suggested to break our journey and spend a night in a camp. Thanks to Karin’s warning we reached Leh acclimatized. [ Karin, herself had to pay a price for her 2 day roadtrip. She is still recovering, though she is much better now ]. The 3rd night wasn’t easy. We spent the night in a camp in Tsokar, 16000 feet above sea level. All of us including our driver felt dizzy. Some threw up and some needed oxygen. Luckily, we did carry 3 cans of oxygen with us. The next day we left for Leh, passing Taglangla on our way. Sander Francken (Director), Joost (PA to Director), Karin S.de Boer (Line Producer), Dechean & Stanzin (Local Fixers) awaited our arrival. We were in Leh for lunch.

It is a bit difficult to work here and things take time to get processed. I haven’t read a newspaper in days. The newspaper comes after 3 days. You can’t find a printer cartridge. Printing a 4×6 inches picture costs Rs.20 when it costs Rs.4 in Delhi – there are no digital printing machines. Everything here is double the MRP, but that’s what happens when you live for 6 months in a year. You have to pay the price for the scenic beauty and the hospitality of the people which lives in isolation from the rest of the world.

A week and a half has been spent on finding actors and locations. This is the first time that I enjoyed location recce. We went West of Leh, East of Leh as well as North of Leh and voila we have all the locations for the film. Now its time for Dechean and Stanzin to get permissions for the locations. Hope its not as complicated and confusing as it was in Jodhpur for Bardsongs – ‘The Plastic Collector’.

Today we had a meeting on the schedule. The director is still working on the shooting script and has agreed to adapt the prepared schedule. We have a few issues with the script though:

1. we need to change the script in order to get an approval from the Hemis Monastery. We cannot suggest that a girl stays in a monastery. We’ll change the script for them.
2. we need to work out a way, how we can attach a cart to a Dzo. Never in the history of Leh, has a cart been attached to a Dzo.
3. we also changed the title of this part of the film from ‘Father, Daughter & Yak’ to ‘Father, Daughter & Dzo’ as we realised that Dzos are more timid and humble than Yaks. A Dzo is a cross between a Yak and a Cow.

There have been some heated arguments between the Line Producer & the Director / Producer regarding the payment schedule and the budget, but everything seems calm today. Hope they have sorted out their issues and the production goes on fine.

Heart Land: It’s all over.

Finally, the shoot went off well despite all the problems. When I look back at it, it was a party with a few spoilers. Moreover, I made new friends and got to learn a lot. And that’s the most important thing.

The last few days were hectic enough for me not to get time to write my posts. Eventually, things went off well. The end result was good. There was a bit of confusion and fights regarding the payments. We were not paid 2 days before the shoot, but after the complete shoot – the day we were suppose to leave for Delhi. The money was transferred to our bank accounts and a confirmation code was given.

By the end of the shoot there was a bond between the American Crew and the Indian Crew. There was a party everyday, thanks to Siddharth, Urvashi & Vincent.

Things started badly and everything looked messed up. Some of us had problems with Sunny but even that got sorted. He was just misunderstood by almost everyone. What is most important is that by the end everyone was happy and content with the work done. There were no hard feelings for anyone. And, I got a 50% bonus.

The objective of me writing this blog is to share my experiences with my family and friends. After all I hardly get to see them. These posts potray my feelings and my conclusions at the time of writing. I do not intend to praise or condemn anyone. And, if I have, I am sorry but that’s how I feel and communicate.

Some working stills from the production:

Sound Department at Work

Pretending to Work: Aakriti & Paul

Vincent behind the Screen

Close to Vincent’s Special Place

Crowd management

Serious Discussion

What’s the next shot?