Ritwik Ghatak’s films, especially his films of the Partition trilogy-Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star), Komol Gandhar (A Soft Note on a Sharp Scale) and Subarnarekha (Golden Lining), are great pieces of art pregnant with archetypal motives of immense depthWe look forward to watching it. Nevertheless, the first film on Partition was Chinnamul (The Uprooted) by Nemai Ghosh. Then came Ritwik Ghatak’s partition trilogy. How is your Chitra Nadir Pare both similar and dissimilar to those films by Ghosh and Ghatak?The films of Nemai Ghosh and Ritwik Ghatak are great cinematic arts. Nemai Ghosh’s Chinnamul successfully portrayed the trauma and pains of displacement of the millions of refugees. The raw reality documented in Chinnamul by Ghosh can be hardly surpassed. Ritwik Ghatak’s films, especially his films of the Partition trilogy-Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star), Komol Gandhar (A Soft Note on a Sharp Scale) and Subarnarekha (Golden Lining), are great pieces of art pregnant with archetypal motives of immense depth.Chitra Nadir Pare is a very modest low-budget film. Whereas Ghatak’s or Ghosh’s films depict the trauma and tragedy of the uprooted Hindu population from East Bengal struggling in their refugee existence in Kolkata, Chitra Nadir Pare mainly deals with a Hindu family which has chosen to stay back. Though the family finally has to leave East Bengal for India after the 1964 riot, the film unveils their epic endeavour to stay put in their motherland alongside their Muslim neighbours. The film ends with the final departure of Minoti and her aunt on the Jessore Road en route to Kolkata. I guess the main difference between Chitra Nadir Pare and those of Ghatak’s or Ghosh’s films is that my film ends with a family leaving East Bengal when their works show the struggling refugee families in the soil of India.Ghatak does not explicitly depict Partition in his films although it works as the biggest stimulus for him. Ghatak lived with the horrors of Partition all his life. How will you rate Ghatak as a maker of Partition films?The Partition of 1947 is a grand event. It had its build up, the actual events, and also its aftermath. True, Ghatak mainly deals with the after effects of Partition on the refugee families. It is, however, equally true that in so doing he was also narrating the story of the Partition itself. In fact, there is no other filmmaker in this subcontinent who was so emotionally moved and made so many films on the theme of Partition as Ghatak.The common thread that unites your Partition and liberation war films is the miseries of common masses. And of course there is this forced migration of thousands of Hindus. What particular point did you wish to stress in Jibondhuli (The Drummer)? How, in your opinion, is it different from our ‘mainstream’ liberation war films? Jibondhuli depicts the sufferings of a low-caste Hindu drummer and his family during the liberation war in 1971. Hindu community, especially the low-caste Hindu families, suffered terribly during the war. They were also the worst victims of the genocidal killing by the Pakistan army like the Chuknagar massacre. But as these low-caste Hindus are poor and have no representation in the state power or on the corporate media of Bangladesh, so their cries are hardly heard. Jibondhuli narrates the story of one such poor low-caste drummer Jibon Krisna Das and his family. It is history seen from below, a kind of worm’s view. As an artist I am committed to those human beings who are most exploited, most helpless and whose situation is most wretched. This perspective, seeing history from below, is what separates Jibondhuli from other mainstream films on our liberation war.How will you evaluate the songs and music in your films, especially in Jibondhuli?Music is an integral part of cinema’s aesthetics. I do not mind to use effect music in the soundtrack of my films to heighten emotion. Ghatak used it very successfully, not only in Komol Gandhar, but in his other films as well. In Jibondhuli, as the central protagonist is a drummer, so we had ample scope to use music pieces, especially folk music in the sound track. We used different variations of one musical instrument dhak (drum) particularly in this film, as it was played by Jibon the drummer. I think the last scene of the film is very symbolic so far as the use of music is concerned. Jibon, the poor low-caste drummer, who always remains timid and subdued, rises up to the occasion and begins to play his dhak in a frenzied way. Here the music becomes a symbol of his protest against all the atrocities around. The Jibondhuli soundtrack also has some songs. I do not like characters singing on the screen. That is a very crude idiom and the practice of the commercial film industry. So I loathe it. However, I see no problem in using songs, or part of it, in the soundtrack to induce the required emotion. Jibondhuli has quite a few songs in the soundtrack. I myself have composed some of these songs.In recent years there has been a renewed interest in the Partition. Scholars are also paying serious attention to Partition studies. How will you describe the phenomenon? The Partition is an epic event that artists, scholars, historians, social and political scientists are bound to fall back on. It is the root of most of our present social and political problems. The Partition destroyed and disrupted the lives of millions of people. As an artist I cannot remain oblivious of it. In my films and literary works, I have repeatedly tried to tell the stories about the Partition and the miseries it caused. Both Chitra Nadir Pare and the documentary Seemantorekha directly deal with the 1947 Partition. Some of my other films have also made references to it. In my literary works, Partition as a theme, has figured regularly, almost like a leitmotif. How much the Partition of 1947 haunts me can be understood from the fact that my two novels that I have written so far--Dui Nogor and Keertinasha, both have Partition at their centre.The Partition has been described as the greatest human tragedy. How far will you agree with it?I fully agree with it. It is one of the worst human tragedies that ever happened in this land and also to humankind. It is a colossal tragedy for which Bengalis, as a people, will have to suffer for generations to come.Could the Partition be avoided? Ghatak dreamt of a ‘culturally’ unified Bengal in the absence of a geographically and politically united Bengal. Do you believe in the existence of a culturally unified Bengal? Can there be ever a unity for that matter?There were definite socio-political, economic and cultural reasons, both objective and subjective, which caused the Partition. We cannot change the history now. Even God cannot change the past! So it is better to accept the reality and try to build a practical and humane relationship between the two halves of Bengal. Our language, and much of our culture, is the same. There are more factors present for unity than disunity between the two Bengals. We should build on that. A culturally unified Bengal? Sure. You can look at history from all different perspectives. You can see history by seeing 1971 as the starting point, one can see 1947 as the point of beginning, or even 1757, the year of the battle of Plassey, or when the Turks first came in the twelfth century. But as a Bengalee artist, I would like to see Bengali culture as a river which has been flowing for more than two thousand years. Indeed, I am proud and motivated to work for this ancient and rich culture. One political event, like the Partition in one particular year only, as the 1947, should under no circumstances stop or alter that flow. As an artist, I am always for cultural unity. But political unity? That is for the politicians to decide.Thank you.Thank you too.
Dr Ahmed Ahsanuzzaman is professor of English and the Director (in-charge), Fine Arts Institute of Khulna University. A theatre enthusiast, Ahsanuzzaman who obtained both his MPhil and PhD from Oslo University, Norway is interested in partition and cultural studies.
