Meghe Dhaka Tara: Ghatak’s exquisite melodrama
Here is another masterpiece in exquisite melodrama. An amazing performance from supriya choudhury as the sole bread-winner of a refugee family post partition.
The socio-economic crisis is also a metaphysical one, each informing the other in a slowly unfolding tragedy. The plot unravels and she unravels…and ghatak gives us a bitter critique of bourgeois aspirations, ruthless ambition and dehumanization. At the same time the film is also an exploration of innocence, other-worldliness.. Tagore, dreamy and haunting music that is mystical, sad and dark. Hope and happiness are ephemeral, enjoyed at a price, relief is momentary in this dark, sobering and visionary journey into mankind’s soul.
The film has layers upon layers…take for example the mythological use of ‘Uma’ and the songs dedicated to her, twisted to cruel irony or Tagore’s beautiful poems, politicized through visual subversion..to convey a socio-psychological commentary. Observe the dialogue, its ‘existential’ bent…there is so much in this film that is way ahead of its time. It’s penultimate scene with the 360 degree sweep of the hills of bengal, the echoing voice of nita, a tragic cry in the wilderness is haunting…Ghatak emerges a master of counter-point, subversion and sub-text. Contrast this with the fact that Ghatak loves traditional narrative devices like epic stylization, melodrama and expressionistic acting. All in all, this is a masterpiece of world cinema…wow!
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Welcome Zubin, Ghatak is the forgotten master of Indian cinema. His unique style of storytelling is deeply rooted in folk tradition and quite often his quest for Indian cinema produces miraculous results.
I like Megha Dhaka Tara because at one level it’s such a simple story of a refugee family, however Ghatak’s masterly touch elevates it into an epic. From a story of one family, Ghatak makes it the story of mankind and its suffering.
Thanks Zubin for reminding us of the great poet of cinema.
and also…the traingular composition…it is cinematically engaging…
Meghe Dhaka Tara is not only a masterpiece…..it tells about the innumerable toiling women sacrificing for the family’s cause for ages…..Nita’s are still there in our society……it’s one of the best humanist documentary of life