Nagpur: Cine Montage, the oldest film society from Central India, celebrated its 48th foundation day recently at Chitnavis Centre, Civil lines. The event was the culmination of Cine Montage’s tribute to Ritwik Ghatak, one of the most influential filmmakers of India during his centenary year.Renowned writer, poet and editor from Bhopal, Udayan Vajpeyi, delivered the keynote address on the topic ‘Ritwik Ghatak: Transformations of the Myth’. Vajpeyi also interacted with the audience who sought clarity about the deeper issues and shared their interpretations of Ghatak’s movies. Vajpeyi drew parallels between the scripts of Ghatak’s films and the well-known mythical references on which they were founded and how they were transformed to fit into the modern narrative. He highlighted how Ghatak’s personal experience of the partition trauma influenced both the content and format of his movies. He underscored the fact that the apparent ‘over-the-top’ melodrama in Ghatak’s films was actually an anguished cry of an entire community. “Great filmmakers like Ghatak establish a rapport with an entire civilization, addressing broader issues on a wider horizon, while trying to create a healing undercurrent between the divided communities with the hope of uniting them through a shared culture,” said Vajpeyi. Ghatak’s partition trilogy, ‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’, ‘Komal Gandhar’ and ‘Subarnarekha’ were screened on three consecutive Sundays prior to the event. Supantha Bhattacharya shared his views on ‘Komal Gandhar’ before its screening while Prantik Banerjee engaged the audience on how to appreciate ‘Subarnarekha’. Cine Montage is affiliated to the Federation of Film Societies of India and has been screening films provided by them nearly every Sunday evening at Dinanath High School, Dhantoli and occasionally at Chitanavis Centre, Civil Lines.
