By Ashish Singh
(With Saharsh at his native village Aihar, Raebareli)
In Bangladesh’s Rajshahi district, miscreants vandalised the ancestral home of filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak soon after the change of government. A few days ago, musician Rahul Ananda’s home was also burned down. I am not very familiar with Rahul’s music; call it my fault, but I have read and tried to understand Ritwik Ghatak for over a decade. For those who do not know him, he may only be a famous filmmaker, but Ghatak does not stop there. His films are a part of society – the society that exists and the society that should exist. It is also worth noting that, compared to Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak could not be as successful as he should have been. Some call it his misfortune, and some call it the turn of fate.
Notable films made by Ghatak are: Ajantrik, Heerer Prajapati, Subarnarekha, Jukti Takko Aar Gappo, Madhumati, and Meghe Dhaka Tara.
For me, the attack and vandalism on Ghatak’s house are disappointing incidents, and such incidents cannot be condemned enough. Ghatak is a legend and a man of history. Ghatak himself is a message for the elite and the rest of the country and society. The fundamentalists have lost their minds. They have lost the ability to decide between right and wrong somewhere, or they do not allow it to develop.
The story starts with a student movement that wants a change in power after the demands of the movement are met but does not stop there. After the change, it terrorises every weak person, considers other ideas as enemies, and further destroys every memory that is the reason for the country’s birth. It seems foolish to think that the writers of such a story would be ordinary students.
Since newspapers convey things to the public, it also becomes their responsibility to present the right thing in the right manner. That is why I spoke with Saharsh Kumar Shukla, an emerging Bollywood actor and a native of the Aihar village of Raebareli district, on the phone about this subject. Saharsh was busy preparing for his next film, but he carefully listened to the whole issue. Saharsh says that, first of all, it is very painful that such incidents are happening in our neighbouring country. In Pune’s Film and Television Institute, not only Ritwik Ghatak’s films are shown, but books written by him are also present there. Therefore, it feels very wrong to hear that his house has been destroyed. Saharsh adds further “now being a human being, I also want to say that any kind of loss to anyone, whether it is an artist, a filmmaker, or a common man, is not right. Such incidents must stop”.
Wishing him the best for the future, I hang up the phone and again start thinking. For now, I stop here with an appeal to all of you that if you cannot do anything else, then definitely watch “Meghe Dhaka Tara”. Perhaps there can be no better atonement for our generation of humans than this…
(Ashish Singh is a social and political scientist.)
