Ritwik Ghatak Birth Centenary: How Nagarik Preceded Pather Panchali But Missed Its Moment

Hyderabad: In 2025, it will be 100 years since the birth of Ritwik Ghatak, one of the most imaginative filmmakers in the history of Indian cinema. His stories embody the agony of Partition, migration, and identity. Among his films, Nagarik stands tall as a remarkable debut (filmed in 1952, pre-dating Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali, which premiered in 1955); however, it was released to audiences in 1977, years after Ghatak's passing.

Nagarik could have rewritten the history of Indian cinema. Had it been released on time, it would have been recognised as the first true art film in Bengali cinema. Instead, the film remained unseen for twenty-four years, its reels lying forgotten until it finally premiered at Kolkata's New Empire Theatre on 20 September 1977. By that time, Ghatak had passed away, oblivious that his first feature would someday be regarded as one of the foundations of realsitic cinema.

The narrative depicts the trials of Ramu, a young man confronting unemployment, displacement, and moral collapse in post-Partition Kolkata. Through Ramu's experience, Ghatak detailed the refugee crisis and the disillusion of a generation detached from East Bengal. However, against dire consequences, Nagarik ends firmly on a note of optimism.

Much literature has claimed fully that the approach of Nagarik serves as a prototype for Ghatak's wider masterpiece in Meghe Dhaka Tara and Subarnarekha. The Marxist references to his work cannot be overlooked as it refers to his association with IPTA and importance of his ideology as art.

The aesthetic resonance of Nagarik is impressive. Ghatak's lens captured the chaos of the city along with the existential solitude of the individual. The legacy of French director Jean Renoir looms large, yet Nagarik does not lose its Indian soul. Also, film historians have drawn parallels to both Guru Dutt's Pyaasa and Kamal Amrohi's Mahal in Nagarik's use of music, narration, and stylised emotion.

It also seems that Nagarik may very well have been an influence upon Satyajit Ray's The World of Apu. Both films address similar themes of hope amidst disenchantment, the moral dilemmas of youth, and a search for belonging in a distorted society. Over many decades, Nagarik remains a staple in retrospect and academic footnotes. In 2017, it appeared again at the "Ritwik Ghatak Retrospective" in Dundee, Scotland avowing its evermore importance.

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