Subarnarekha

This last movie of Ghatak's "Partition" duels into the organic narrative of an uprooted family, their life in refugee camps, their exodus to far west of bengal, the migration of the next generation to the city and the most dramatic last act of moving to urban life and back to country once again. This might sound confusing enough, but those are the charming little artistic things which would eventually blame societal acts in the backdrop of political tragedy and their results. Having the music of Ustad Bahadur Khan again, I always felt this can be considered as a modern epic on celluloid. And partition is not just a mere recurring theme here, but literally the driving force when the virtuoso was at its prime. Personally a fond of the semi-tabooed love story and climatic, nocturnal hopping between the bars and brothels.

A golden thread of life passes through the experiences of refugees over two decades following WWII and also refers to a beautiful Bengali river.

Haraprasad and Ishwar are two moralistic men who attempt to scrape out some semblance of a dignified life for themselves and their dependents in the aftermath of Partition, where the subcontinent was split into two countries (later three), and the crisis that this caused to people who found themselves on the wrong side of borders where different theocratic ideals were playing out. The movie is set in Bengal (Bengal and Punjab were the two provinces that ended up with pieces on either side of the border).

Haraprasad is more of a believer in communal living, whereas Ishwar compromises and becomes a creature of the system. The main issue is that it didn't really matter what you did, leading a dignified and happy life weren't really possible. Human wellbeing is very fragile and our characters here suffer try as they might to readjust to their uprooting.

Director Ghatak tends to follow the stories of the middle classes, perhaps the worse route through life is a downwards one, and many middle class folk simply had their lives destroyed by Partition. The working classes are relatively ignored, although Ghatak is not blind to this: Ishwar can be complacent and there's a scene in a factory where he ignores the important request for leave from an employee, rather absent-mindedly. He had a nickname of "Ocean of thought" at university, the problem here is that as long as we might like to spend time in the idealistic hinterlands of our own minds, this can lead to ignoring others.

Part of Ghatak's charm is that he is self-aware, he knows that long stories of woe are not what people tend to want to watch, and yet he points out that maybe people should be concerned with their conditions, not just trying to momentarily escape them.

The wonderful symbolic cinematography is the best thing about this movie, I would love to see it in the cinema one day. Ghatak is also sensitive to the plight of women and Ishwar tends to have selective hearing towards them or to treat them like children, however well intentioned he may be. Another skill is the ability to evoke with small brushstrokes, The complete injustice of the differential access to politics enjoyed by the rich over the poor, is portrayed in a flash, the character Rambilas casually and callously mentions running for office as he believes the sacred caste system is under threat (the system which keeps him rich and others in grinding poverty and disesteem).

So what exactly is the golden thread? I think the golden thread is hope, the characters live on their hopes, and in admiration of natural beauty. Maybe this is enough. Maybe this is all there is.

I've seen two of Ghatak's films, this and "Cloud-Capped Star". Ghatak creates a distinct and poignant mood of tragedy that is not entirely without redemption or promise. He also puts music to powerful effect; here the lead (Sita) sings so beautifully and sadly it will break your heart. The film has elements of a fairy tale - - I am thinking particularly of the way in which fateful forces separate and then reunite the long-lost characters. Ghatak handles the story in such a way that such elements feel entirely natural.

I cannot figure out why Ghatak is relatively unknown in the United States. He's at least as good as Ray. Both, though, are underrepresented, and their films are pitifully hard to find.

I thought this was one of the best films I've seen.

"Subarnarekha" means "Streak of Gold". Even for a layman like me this critically acclaimed film had brought along a golden treasure, in a sense that it makes a mind think about the duality of fiction and fact; of dream and void; and of course of the dilemma about truth and beauty in life. The film showcases outstanding acting performances,featuring some of the most brilliant actors/actresses(Abhi Bhattyacharya,Bijan Bhattacharya,Madhabi Mukhopadhyay)of our age. To me the greatest moment of this film appears when at the riverbank (subarnarekha) Sita's little son eventually asks his uncle Iswar the same questions which his mother had asked years ago when Iswar along with little Sita, had first come to Subarnarekha to settle for a job. The questions,wrapped with childish imaginations, were about their "new home", Iswar,who did not believe in telling fictions("lies" to Iswar) to amuse a child, when confronted with the same questions from Sita's son,stares at him, remaining baffled and speechless. He loses himself in a trans,perhaps in search of an answer, and finally protects the child's fantasies by giving an affirmative answer this time.

Watched at a retrospective event at NYC. A true masterpiece .... glad to add this missing gem in my collections of great movies by the great masters ...