Kolkata, Mar 22 (PTI) Paying his tribute to the director trio of Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak, Governor C V Ananda Bose on Saturday said Bengali films have been rooted in social consciousness and literature.
Addressing the ‘Purbo Bharat Big Picture Summit’ of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Bose said he hails from Kerala and heard a lot about Ray and other renowned filmmakers from Bengal at a very young age.
“I watched Ray, Ghatak and Sen’s films; these were great names that had inspired film lovers in Kerala besides Bengal,” he said.
The governor said he watched Ray’s Apu trilogy – ‘Pather Panchali’ (Song of the Road, 1955), ‘Aparajito’ (Unvanquished, 1956) and “Apur Sansar’ (The World of Apu, 1959), Sen’s ‘Ekdin Pratidin’ (And quiet rolls the dawn, 1979) and films made by Ghatak.
“Their works show how Bengali cinema is rooted in social consciousness and literature,” he said.
Referring to ‘Ekdin Pratidin’, Bose said, “I was struck by the storyline where the complexity of human mind comes to the fore in the wake of the return of a missing woman home in the morning as anxiety gives way to suspicion.” Noting that Bengali movies “seek truth” more in their narratives rather than going for spectacular effects, Bose said that in works of masters like Sen and Ghatak, “Cinema lies in the arena of radical ideas and social introspection.” He also dwelt on the rich literary tradition of Bengali cinema and the role of musical scores.
Bose referred to the rich tribute paid to Ray by filmmakers like Akira Kurosawa of Japan and Richard Attenborough of the UK.
“Remember what Kurosawa had said about Ray – not watching Ray’s cinema means living in a world where the sun or moon does not exist,” he said.
Bose said India boasts of one of the greatest soft powers – in culture and heritage – and the world of cinema, particularly of Bengal, has an important role in this regard.
Ace film director Goutam Ghosh, Bengali film superstars Prosenjit Chatterjee and Rituparna Sengupta attended the session organised by CII’s Forum for Films and Entertainment Industry. PTI SUS NN
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