Komal Gandhar

1961 Indian film

31 March 1961 (1961-03-31)

CountryIndiaLanguageBengali

Komal Gandhar (Bengali: কোমল গান্ধার Kōmal Gāndhār),^[1] also known as A Soft Note on a Sharp Scale, is a 1961 Bengali film^[2] written and directed by legendary film maker Ritwik Ghatak.^[3]^[4]^[5] The title refers to the Hindustani equivalent of "E-flat". It was part of the trilogy composed of Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), Komal Gandhar and Subarnarekha (1962), all dealing with the aftermath of the Partition of India in 1947 and the refugees coping with it, though this was the most optimistic film of his oeuvre.^[6] The film explores three themes juxtaposed in the narrative: the dilemma of Anusuya, the lead character, the divided leadership of IPTA, and the fallout from the partition of India.^[7]

Overview

The film title was taken from the line of a poem^[a] by Rabindranath Tagore that meant a sur or note, E-flat. As in other films by Ghatak, music plays a pivotal role in the movie.

Through the microcosmic perspectivising of a group of devoted and uncompromising IPTA workers, Ghatak with his signature style touches on varied issues of partition, idealism, corruption, the interdependence of art and life, the scope of art, and class-struggle. Unlike his other films, this one runs along an upbeat mood with the lead pair of lovers (Vrigu and Anusua) being reunited.

Cast

Supriya Devi as Anusuya
Abanish Bannerjee as Bhrigu
Bijon Bhattacharya as Gagan
Satindra Bhattacharya as Shibnath
Debabrata Biswas
Chitra Sen as Jaya
Anil Chatterjee as Rishi
Gyanesh Mukherjee
Satyabrata Chattopadhyay
Gita Dey as Shanta

Soundtrack

Music was by Jyotirindra Moitra, from IPTA, and a noted Rabindra Sangeet exponent who had previously given music in Ghatak's Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), and had song by singers like, Bijon Bhattacharya, Debabrata Biswas, Hemanga Biswas. Bahadur Khan played sarod in the soundtrack. The film is noted for its wedding songs and also contrapuntal use of sound.^[8]

Screening of Komal Gandhar aka E-Flat in different festivals

2017: Ritwik Ghatak Retrospective UK, at Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland, UK, Programme curated by Sanghita Sen, Department of Film Studies, St Andrews University, UK [1]

References

Citation

^ Manju Jain (1 August 2009). Narratives Of Indian Cinema. Primus Books. pp. 81–. ISBN 978-81-908918-4-4. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
^ Robert Burgoyne (1 August 2009). The Epic Film. Taylor & Francis. pp. 394–. ISBN 978-0-415-99017-2. Retrieved 8 July 2012.
^ "E-Flat (1961)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2013. Archived from the original on 14 May 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
^ "Jinxed legacy". Hinduonnet.com. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ "Of Time And The River…". www.outlookindia.com. 21 July 2006. Archived from the original on 14 February 2010. Retrieved 6 March 2010.
^ Rosalind Galt; Karl Schoonover (2010). Global Art Cinema: New Theories and Histories. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-538562-5.
^ Haimanti Banerjee (1985). Ritwik Kumar Ghatak: a monograph. National Film Archive of India. pp. 62–3. ISBN 81-201-0001-8.
^ Indian horizons, Volume 44. Indian Council for Cultural Relations., 1995. p. 127.