Jukti, Takko Aar Gappo

It is almost three decades since i saw the unforgettable film "Jukti Tako Aar Gappo". i saw it with subtitles since i do not know Bengali. It was being screened in a city that i lived and studied at that time. i saw the film four times, and i even knew many of the lines of the characters! The film is a journey. It is a journey of discovery for Neelkanta, the poet and two others who join him in his journey. The young man and woman. Together they traverse the countryside in Bengal.

The character Neelkanta is played by Ghatak himself. And how unforgettable is the man as "himself" in the film! And he does not forget to shoot down his great rival Satyajit Ray by presenting "Shatrujit Basu" (Utpal Dutt)whom he carefully presents almost in appearance, as Ray himself! Neelkanta accuses Shatrujit of short- changing the "cause" for fame and recognition.

The most interesting relationship is between the young lady whom Neelkanta calls "Bangabala" (girl- child of Bengal)and the young man who joins the journey. They perhaps a younger generation. Ghatak's films carry the separation theme. The river (Subarnarekha) that is symbolic of that separation; the agony of partition. The indescribable pain of a little boy whose parents happened to be on the wrong side of the river.

The river flows. Like Neelkanta's journey of discovery. He finally discovers the emerging spirit of Bengal in the forest surrounding his home in the village. He is at peace in the company of those youth who are waging a losing war against the status quo. He enters into arguments with all these characters. He goes to the forest to meet the youth fighting the police. Before going, he tells his wife to send his little son to see him the next morning early, at sunrise. "I want to see your face in against the rising sun," he says.

And he emerges from the forest in the morning, only to be shot down by the police.

i call this the most poignant film from an Indian film maker. The poetry of Death Vision. That is what it is.

And it has the intense, painful signature of Ghatak films: personal touch.

As i watched the film, i wept for Ghatak. Even today, after thirty years, i still weep. It is a pity that India never understood a genius.

Everything about this film is special: even the characters' names. Neelkanta is a synonym for God Siva. He is called Neelkanta because he has a blue patch on his neck (throat, actually). That was caused by the poison he volunteered to drink in order to save the universe from destruction (during the mythical churning of the "Ocean of Milk").

See the connection now? Neelkanta says, lifting the bottle to his lips, "This is nectar!"

Is it?

This is the best of him, and maybe the most post-modern bengali film of all the time. This is the most experimental and self aware movie of Ghatak. He made this after all the ups and downs, life from the Coffee House to Poona through Khalasitola and hence, being under heavy medication. Ghatak plays a semi-self version, comments on his artist and leftist friends and even, cites commentary on himself by the latter generation. I like this to be the final film, or maybe the magnum opus of his work. There is ensemble too, loudly does present. This is about the story of a journey of an urban artist to villages and suburb. In a way, he questions himself about his past work, his negligence to his family and the futileness of everything in front of the eternal sorrow of poor people. Surprisingly, he did not try to justify the long-done self-obstruction here, but wanted to know what others think about it. How many film-makers does have guts like this?!

This movie is really getting a lower rating by the people who really don't understand what is serious movie making. This must get a 10 out of 10. This is not only my opinion but opinion of many others who have seen this movie.

The director of this movie Rwittik Ghatak also acted in this movie and demonstrated how painful a life could be with lost direction. Not having direction seems to be a fundamental problem of life for many people who think seriously about it. The division of the country ( India and Pakistan ) has painfully rooted among many who really suffered; we just realize that how painful it can be through this movie.

For serious movie watchers this is a must see movie. For casual watchers, don't see it! There is no entertainment in this movie..entertainment in common sense , I mean..there is of course, intellectual entertainment.

This not a fiction. It is not a documentary. It is not 'experimental'. It is hard to categorize this film. It is definitely an attempted comment on worldly existence, an essay. Though wholly subjective and completely personal. The essay is 'written' with some fictional elements, some documentary evidence and some autobiographical sketches. It is a truthful and honest account of a man, from under whose feet the mother earth was pulled away as if it was a flimsy rag. He does not want to fall, but he is falling. He is perpetually drunk. His family has deserted him. His ideology is shattered. No one gives him the attention he deserves. He is not in full control of his senses. Everything that he can feel with his senses, seem to be out of control. He wipes his face with his large paws as if to wake up from a stupid nightmare. With supreme courage he attempts a heroic journey 'inwards', towards the womb.In the end ghosts come and dance. He is confused.

This is one of the classic Indian films of the period 1970-1980. In a time when West Bengal ( the Indian portion of Bengal after the Partition of India) was in the turmoil of Naxalite politics Ritwick Ghatak comes up with this masterpiece. It should be noted that he wrote the script, produced and directed "Jukti Takko Aar Gappo'. The film has long sequences (shorter though than Ghatak's other films) and is edited quite well. The music draws heavily on Tagore's compositions and Bengal folk music and also includes much instrumental music composed by Ghatak himself.

Ghatak was affected by the Indian Partition in his personnel life and which greatly moulded his outlook to the world. He leant heavily on leftist political themes in his work but he always manages to deliver a message. Nilkantha is a hopeless drunkard who cannot rid himself of his addiction. He eventually loses wife and son and is forced to set off on a road in search of food and shelter. He takes along with him a wretched homeless women who has crossed the border from Bangladesh and his younger relation of his. While on the road he meets many similar people out on the road with him. He likes those who find solace in the bottle like him, a theme which comes up in a repetitive way in the films. Ghatak manages to show many sights and sounds of rural Bengal. In this depiction he is a master and depicts his homeland with an expert eye. The song by the Bangamala sounds quite melodious while she's singing but reality for Nilkantha and his groups starts immediately when it stops. To use film as a medium to show this is quite Ghatak's achievement considering the long sequences that he uses. Ghatak is a master in showing the world of the alcoholic with its bouts of drinking, wandering and loitering. Eventually the aimless alcoholic meets his end by an arbitrary police bullet just when he is to be reunited with his son. The police carry his remains away and silence descends on the forest. Life goes as ever. Can an alcoholic, even after many failed attempts, be eventually cured by contact and love of his family? One cannot tell because the state intervenes with bullets intended to kill terrorists (the Naxalites were branded as such in the 1970s) and the wretched alcoholic is caught in the crossfire and dies.