Latest news with #Pratidwandi
The Wire
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Wire
Kolkata's Vietnam Connection: A Forgotten Chapter of Familiarity
Kolkata: For any city, the past is an echo of the times it has lived through. Fifty years ago, in 1975, May Day in Kolkata had transformed itself into a spontaneous and triumphant celebration of the defeat of US imperialism and Vietnam's victory, celebrated as the reunification of the two sundered parts of the country, was declared official. From a show of working class solidarity and strength, which is how Kolkata has always celebrated May Day, it became both, the city's salutation to the 'sheer human courage and resilience' of the people of Vietnam as in iconic director Satyajit Ray's Pratidwandi (The Adversary), 1970, and an occasion for yet another remarkable show of solidarity. On April 30, 1975, the day North Vietnam Army's troops and tanks rolled into Saigon – now Ho Chi Minh City – Kolkata, the only city that could, hit the streets as news spread of the US defeat. Veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Rabin Deb recalled he was also on the streets, participating in a rally of celebration. On May Day, apart from the Left trade union leadership, the CPI(M)'s leadership were at Sahid Minar, the favourite rally ground of the city; it was large, well-connected to public transport and accessible from both the railway stations – Howrah and Sealdah. It was not as challenging and vast as the sprawling Brigade Parade Grounds. The crowds spilled out of the Sahind Minar grounds and among them were students, like now-retired professor Pranab Basu; distinguished scholar of films, theatre and the performing arts like Samik Bandopadhyay, and Professor Tridib Chakraborti, an expert on Vietnam-India relations. There were thousands of others, those who were inspired by the slogan ' Tomar Naam, Amaar Naam, Vietnam, Vietnam, ' (Your name and my name is Vietnam, Vietnam). Or, they had read the poetry of Beerendra Chattopadhyaya, a fiery radical poet and Mangal Charan Chattopadhyaya and one of the foremost poets of the 20th century in India, Subhas Mukhopadyaya, also known as 'padatik kobi' (footsoldier of poetry). Or, they were people who probably watched the iconic theatre personality Shombhu Mitra's version of Badal Sircar's The Rest of History. Master of his craft, Mitra substituted Vietnam as an example of The Rest of History, because the name, place and the people and their heroic struggle were proximate, immediate, familiar and significant for Bengali alternative theatre goers. In the original version by Sircar – a pioneer of street theatre in India, an experimentalist and a legend – he had used Congo as the example. The substitution was striking because Vietnam had become an unmissable part of the public discourse. In the Bengali imagination, the war in Vietnam was the most important event of the 'past decade' – more important than Apollo 16 docking on the moon. The reason, as Dhritiman Chatterjee says in Pratidwand i, is that five years before Vietnam's liberation, it was so 'unpredictable.' Against US imperialism In the late 1960s, especially after 1968, Bengalis talked all the time about Vietnam and its 'heroic struggle' to defeat US Imperialism armed with inadequate fire power against B-52s flying carpet bombing missions, of helicopters with American soldiers armed with machine guns strafing the rice paddies, of the resilience and courage of the physically puny, rice-eating people who were fiercely waging war against a 'superpower'. In the Bengali imagination, there was a trace of identifying with the North Vietnam Army forces fighting, apparently, insuperable odds. A city and a polity that had coined ' Tomar Naam, Amar Naam, Vietnam, Vietnam ' as a war cry against 'US imperialism and neo capitalism,' where a street in 1969 was renamed Ho Chi Minh Sarani, only because the US Deputy Consulate Office was located on it, where a bust of Uncle Ho had been installed so that all manner of communists and emotionally connected individuals could garland the sculpture, made itself a distant outpost of a liberation movement in East Asia. Inside the National Library, India's largest library by volume and for public record, there is a small corner, dedicated to Vietnam. It opened in 2016, as the first country-specific section within the National Library. And then there is Ho Chi Minh. Like Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh's face is familiar; it is printed on T-shirts and is always included in the line up of legendary communist leaders. He remains an icon even today, though the details of what he did beyond fighting French and US imperialism have been forgotten. Not all the cadres of the dwindling CPI(M) and the CPI recall that 'Uncle Ho' visited Kolkata more than once; he made a halt in 1946 on his way to Paris to attend the preliminary round of negotiations for the peace accord, which incidentally collapsed. There is a plaque at the Great Eastern Hotel, described by Mark Twain as the 'Jewel of the East,' installed after the grand building was taken over and renovated by the Lalit Group. In 1958, Ho Chi Minh visited again, probably on a stop over on his way to Paris. That visit is significant; it explains why Ho Chi Minh is so much a part of the city's history and its imagination. In 1958, Ho Chi Minh went to the office of Swadhinata, the evening daily of then undivided Communist Party of India, to meet Dhiraranjan Sen, who was injured in a rally organised in support of Vietnam's struggle in January 1947. The British police had fired on rallyists and two people were killed. They were the first martyrs of the movement in India that supported Ho Chi Minh's fight to liberate Vietnam from French colonial rule. When Madam Nguyen Thi Binh visited Kolkata in 2007, the public welcomed her with a massive rally. This was not her first visit. She had come earlier, probably for the first time in 1973. However, this time the turnout was huge; the enormous Netaji Indoor Stadium with a seating capacity of 12,000, was packed. People also gathered outside the stadium just to be in the presence of the lady who stood up to Henry Kissinger and was part of Vietnam's negotiating team for the peace accord. She was inspiring. In 1989, Kolkata hosted General Vo Nguyen Giap, the man who defeated the French army and ended its colonial rule by winning the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. He paid his respects at the Ho Chi Minh statue, met the leaders of then ruling CPI(M)-led Left Front, including chief minister Jyoti Basu, attended a public reception and dominated the headlines the next day in the Bengali print media. Since 1947, when the first rallyists of the Vietnam liberation died in police action, Kolkata's relationship to Vietnam has been visceral. Samik Bandopadhyay is now 85 years old; his encyclopedic memory is awe inspiring. Even so, the vividness of his recall of the day Vietnam was liberated is remarkable. He says, 'We celebrated on the streets, joined the rally and celebrated at home, too.' Vietnam was a place not out there somewhere in the vast world; it was a place to which the Bandopadhyay family felt connected with, much like many other Bengalis. However, there was a key difference: Samik Bandopadhyay's eldest brother, Subrata Banerjee, was posted in Vietnam when he joined the British Army, post 1942, on directives issued by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that the world war had become a peoples' war. Serving in Vietnam, Banerjee made friends; these friends then made tracks to visit him in Kolkata. The distance was bridged by the emotional attachment between spirited Bengalis inspired by the courage and resilience of the Vietnamese people. Other notable visitors Kolkata has hosted many visitors. Back then, after Independence and before globalisation and the digital revolution, the city was a magnet for a particular kind of world leader. Writing for the New York Times in 1955, the day General Secretary of CPSU Nikita Krushchev, who was Stalin's successor, and Premier Nikolai Bulganin flew in, A.M, Rosenthal, who later became the newspapers managing editor, painted a picture of the city: 'Late into the night, the streets of India's largest city were jammed with people hoping to get a glimpse of the Russians. This was by far the largest crowd to greet the Soviet leaders. Oldtime residents of Calcutta said they had never seen anything like it, not for Mohandas Gandhi or Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, nor for Indian Independence day.' The reason why world leaders came to the city, then called Calcutta, was its 'reputation of being India's most leftist and turbulent city.' The turbulence was packed away when the city played host; the people took over and transformed a formal visit into, as Rosenthal wrote, 'the welcoming crush of one of the largest crowds in Indian history'. 'More than 2,000,000 Bengalis turned out to greet Soviet Premier Nikolai A. Bulganin and Communist party chief Nikita S. Khrushchev and turned a day of welcome into a security officer's nightmare,' he wrote. Calcutta-Kolkata's police experienced in managing huge shoving, pushing, excited and determined crowds had to rescue Krushchev and Bulganin from the car in which they were travelling and put them into a secure police van. The crowds remained an index of the size of mobilisations by political parties for decades to come. Nelson Mandela also visited the city. So did Yasser Arafat. The public receptions were exceptional. West Bengal and the city always converged at the reception venues, regardless of the effort it may have been to travel from other districts into Kolkata, on packed trains – even the 27 special trains that ran for the Krushchev-Bulganin visit. When the first democratic election, following the end of monarchy, in Nepal was won by the Left coalition headed by Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, a contingent of its leaders had arrived in Kolkata to receive a hero's welcome at Esplanade East on August 15, 2008. The victory was celebrated in Kathmandu and Kolkata, almost as though Esplanade East was a rally space in Nepal, except for the fact that the crowds who clogged the thoroughfare were Bengalis and resident Nepalese. Kolkata knew how to make itself a vibrant extension of whatever was happening in the world. It broke the tall window panes of the American Centre in 1968, as thousands of students and anti-American pro-Vietnam rallyists took to the streets, protesting the visit of Robert Mcnamara, then US Secretary of Defence, and a key figure in the decision to use Agent Orange, increase bombing and escalate the intensity of the war in Vietnam. It knew it had to make itself seen and heard when relief ships carrying wheat from Punjab – some donated and some purchased – were flagged off from Haldia port to Cuba after tougher US sanctions were imposed in 1992. Like the characters in Badal Sircar's play, the horizon of Kolkata, like that of its immensely aware, educated and conscientious middle class, seems to have closed in on itself. The tendency to behave like frogs in the well was always there. Vivekanda used the word Kupamanduka to describe the Indian condition, whereas conscience keeper and the voice of the Bengali spirit, Rabindranath Tagore lamented that Bengal as the mother had nurtured Bengalis, not humanity.
United News of India
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- United News of India
Indian cinema in Cannes Classics for fourth successive year
Cannes, May 19 (UNI) India's rich cinematic heritage is the focus of the Cannes Film Festival for the fourth successive year. Satyajit Ray's 1970 'Aranyer Din Ratri' (Days and Nights in the Forest), is a major highlight of the Cannes Classics section, which screens movies restored from ruins, at the festival this year. The restored version of 'Aranyer Din Ratri', the fifth Indian film to be screened in Cannes Classics in the past four years, will have its world premiere at the festival this evening. Actor Sharmila Tagore and American director Wes Anderson will present the Ray film at the Buñuel Theatre. Anderson is a member of the board of the Film Foundation, which has restored 'Aranyer Din Ratri' in collaboration with the Film Heritage Foundation from India. In 2022, India was the Country of Honour in the Cannes Classics section, which had two restored films from the country--- Ray's 1970 film 'Pratidwandi' (The Adversary) and Malayalam director G Aravindan's 'Thampu' (1978). In 2023, the Cannes Classics screened Manipuri director Aribam Syam Sharma's 1990 film, 'Ishanou' (The Chosen One), followed by the Hindi film, 'Manthan'(1976) directed by Shyam Benegal last year. 'Pratidwandi' was restored in 4K resolution by the National Film Archive of India (now merged with the National Film Development Corporation) while 'Thampu', 'Ishanou' and 'Manthan' were restored by the Film Heritage Foundation created by filmmaker and film conservationist Shivendra Singh Dungarpur. 'Working on the restoration of Satyajit Ray's 'Aranyer Din Ratri' has been an incredibly moving experience. Seeing the film's beauty and artistry revitalised after 56 years – from its haunting score and the captivating chemistry of its cast, to the unforgettable grace of Sharmila Tagore and Ray's sensitive portrayal of the Santhal tribals – has been a true privilege," says Dungarpur, who directed the 2012 documentary, 'Celluloid Man', on the life of film conservationist P K Nair. "I remember I was shooting for 'Aradhana' when Manikda (Satyajit Ray) approached me to shoot for this film for a month at a stretch. It was incredibly hot during the shoot and we could only shoot in the mornings and late afternoons. I have wonderful memories of the time spent with my co-actors and Manikda's precision," says Sharmila Tagore, one of the actors in 'Aranyer Din Ratri'. The 4K restoration of 'Aranyer Din Ratri' was completed using the original camera and sound negative preserved by the film's Kolkata-based producer. The Film Foundation was formed by celebrated American filmmaker Martin Scorsese in 1990 for preservation of cinematic heritage across the world. An introspective portrayal of post-colonial urban India, 'Aranyer Din Ratri' subtly unravels the complexities of class consciousness, gender relations, and the enduring weight of tradition in a rapidly changing Indian society. Besides Sharmila Tagore, the cast included Simi Garewal, Soumitra Chatterjee and Aparna Sen. "The restoration of 'Aranyer Din Ratri' is an extraordinary gift, not just to those of us who were part of the film, but to world cinema," says Simi Grewal. "To have it premiere at Cannes Film Festival is a beautiful tribute to Satyajit Ray's timeless brilliance," she adds. Among the restored films from around the world screened in Cannes Classic this year is Charlie Chaplin's 'Gold Rush' to mark the centenary of its release, and 'Amores Perros' by Mexican director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. UNI XC PRS
Indian Express
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Aranayer Din Ratri at Cannes: How Satyajit Ray broke down the hollowness of masculinity
When a film gets resurrected after 55 years, for all its contemporary resonance, it is a testament to its maker's vision. Aranayer Din Ratri (Days and Nights in the Forest) may have not been understood back in 1970 but the fact that it has been remastered and makes its debut at Cannes shows that filmmaker Satyajit Ray had a pulse on the more subtle conflicts of transition and change, whether civilisational, post-colonial, gendered or environmental. Often dismissed as a coming-of-age story of four big-city boys, its layered subtexts continue to be unpeeled. Ashim (played by Ray's favourite actor Soumitra Chatterjee) is a corporate slave, conscious of his affluence and intellectual elitism, who takes four of his friends to a forest in Palamau to take a break from the rigours of city life. His friends include a literature-loving labour welfare officer, a struggling sportsman and an unemployed and self-deprecatory jester. They may be a motley group, but they are united by their ego and the presumptuousness of their city-bred, brown sahib behaviour. When they illegally occupy a forest rest house, bribe the watchman, distrust the tribals, but fall for their hooch and women, Ray asks if their wild but hypocritical behaviour is the real fear in the wilderness. In fact, as the boys renegotiate their moral standards far away from the city (one of the characters actually says, 'Thank god for corruption'), little did we know that Ray would question and unpack them further in the city trilogy that was to follow — Seemabaddha, Jana Aranya and Pratidwandi. Cinematically, Ray holds up the unspoiled lives of Santhal tribals, giving them agency and the power of rebellion instead of just looking at their exploitation from a distant, sympathetic lens. Taken in today's context, and in times of climate change, the film could be a metaphor for urbanisation eating into our forest cover. In fact, with no technology and tools, Ray's sweeping panorama of the Palamau forests and languorous afternoons under sal trees can be a point of reference of what it was before deforestation. But the film will always be remembered for its loud female voice, with Ray allowing them complete command in the traditional battle of the sexes scenarios. Mini (Sharmila Tagore) and her widowed sister-in-law, who are on a break too, confront the men and expose their flimsy liberalism. The young widow, who is unabashed about vocalising her desire to one of the 'interested' men, debunks him when he fails to take so much as a first step. She laughs out loud, hollowing out his saviour complex. Many had even wondered why Ray had cast Simi Garewal in body paint as the tribal woman instead of casting a local or any other actor. Perhaps that was Ray's way of unmaking stereotypes, of showing that women were more malleable than men and that a cultured thoroughbred like Garewal could transform herself into a village girl and still not look out of place. It is Mini, though, who emerges as the film's conscience keeper. She is the one who asks how the men could be so lost in their hedonistic pursuits while being impervious to their caretaker's sick wife living in their backyard. During a memory game at a picnic, she chooses to let Asim win, exposing his childish competitiveness while resetting the rules of gender roles with her self-assured grace and maturity. But it is the scene when Asim asks her for her telephone number and she writes it on a rupee note that is the film's strongest punch. What's money to Asim is a useless piece of paper to her. What matters to her is the weight of character. This signoff, subtle and bold at the same time, is one of Ray's finest feminist statements questioning the maleness of power. Perhaps that's the reason why Tagore and Garewal will be introducing the film to the audience at Cannes. Normally, polarities — urban-rural, rich-poor, corrupt-idealistic, perfect-imperfect, materialistic-altruistic — were sharply etched out in the arthouse films of the 70s. But Aranyer Din Ratri hides them under the foliage of the Palamau forest, waiting to be found and understood. They collide but also, strangely, co-exist. It is because the characters are mimics of our own confused value systems that we do not condemn their failings. Instead, as they drive back to the city, they are uncomfortably self-aware. The director leaves us with a question: Will they be able to own their real identities? Isn't this also the post-millennial angst?
Time of India
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Aranyer Din Ratri to be screened in the Cannes Classics section
Satyajit Ray 's Aranyer Din Ratri (now restored in 4K), starring Soumitra Chatterjee , Sharmila Tagore , Simi Garewal, Samit Bhanja, Aparna Sen, and others in lead roles, is based on the novel of the same name by Sunil Gangopadhyay. The film will be screened in the Cannes Classics section. Sharmila Tagore, who played the cool and intellectual Aparna in the film, will attend the special screening at the French Riviera. Along with her, Purnima Dutta, the producer of the film, was initially expected to attend the festival. Previously, Ray's Pratidwandi , also produced by her, was screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022. Film Heritage Foundation's Shivendra Singh Dungarpur will also be joining the screening. 'I have known about this wonderful news for the past month, but the official announcement came on Wednesday. I had thought I would attend the festival, but given the current global situation, I am not in the mental state to participate in anything—it feels like a battlefield all around, and I've lost all interest. Still, I'm delighted by the news. Pratidwandi , our previous film, was screened at this prestigious festival, and now this. Our third film, Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne , has gone for restoration, and we are hopeful it will make it to Cannes next year—then the circle will be complete,' said Purnima with a smile. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Pernas e pés inchados: Isso ajuda a drenar o fluido do edema aartedoherbalismo Undo She added, 'Rinku (Sharmila Tagore) will be attending the festival, and I'm sure the audience will have many questions. Rinku will be able to answer them, as she was associated with the film from the beginning. I could have answered them too, but I'm not going. My daughter and daughter-in-law will be attending the festival on my behalf. The restored version of Aranyer Din Ratri is beautiful to watch, and I'm confident the audience will have a wonderful time. The film's theme is modern and layered, with rich details. Ray's masterful storytelling, subtle character development, and insightful exploration of human nature against the backdrop of nature will surely resonate with the audience when the film is screened on May 19.' Aranyer Din Ratri was also nominated for the Golden Bear at the 20th Berlin International Film Festival. Check out our list of the latest Hindi , English , Tamil , Telugu , Malayalam , and Kannada movies . And don't miss our picks for the best Hindi movies , best Tamil movies, and best Telugu films .
The Hindu
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Critical reengagement with his work will keep Ray relevant: Dhritiman Chaterji
Actor Dhritiman Chaterji, known for his powerful performances in several of Satyajit Ray's seminal films, on Friday (May 2, 2025) observed that the most meaningful tribute to the iconic filmmaker would be a critical re-engagement with his body of work - emphasis, he said, on the word 'critically'. Speaking to The Hindu on the occasion of Ray's birth anniversary, Mr. Chaterji, who starred in Pratidwandi, Ganashatru, and Agantuk, reflected on the complex legacy of a filmmaker widely regarded as one of the most influential voices in world cinema. Asked how he would assess Ray's stature among Indian filmmakers, Mr. Chaterji said he was cautious of evaluative rankings, particularly in the realm of art. 'I have always been wary of 'who-is-the-best' type of comparisons in the arts. It depends so much on the vision of the creator as well as the sensibility, ideology, and context of the viewer. That said, Ray's multidisciplinary capabilities - in literature, music, the visual arts, criticism - probably contributed to his extraordinary achievements in cinema,' he said. 'I would stop short of calling him the greatest filmmaker in India,' he added. 'To do so would be intellectually lazy and unfair to other brilliant directors. In any case, for me, such a term is somewhat meaningless. What I most enjoyed about my time with him were the long conversations - many of which extended far beyond cinema.' At a time when social media platforms were inundated with glowing tributes to the Oscar-honoured auteur, Mr. Chaterji struck a more reflective note. 'I don't know if turning his birthday into an annual ritual, almost a puja, marked by unquestioning adulation, truly helps in keeping his legacy alive. His relevance, to me, lies in two things: a consistent effort to place his work - directly or indirectly - within a broader social and political context; and a deep-seated respect for the intelligence of his audience.' Recalling a memorable moment from Ganashatru, in which he played a character with ambiguous moral shades - a departure from his earlier roles - Mr. Chaterji shared a quiet anecdote that offered insight into Ray's working style. 'Ray was not one to offer exuberant praise. A simple 'Fine, let's move on' was generally the highest compliment. During Ganashatru, I was unsure, and finally asked him, 'Manikda, is it going alright?' Without looking up from what he was reading, he replied, 'If it's not alright, I'll let you know'. That was praise enough, as far as I was concerned.' On a lighter note, Mr. Chaterji also recounted a moment of personal embarrassment from the set of their last film together. 'There was a mix-up with the call time, and I arrived late to find Ray, Utpal Dutt, and the crew waiting. Ray simply said, 'Late on the very first day?' That quiet reprimand was enough for me to want to disappear into the background,' he said, adding that he could not recall Ray ever losing his temper on set. 'He was, among other things, an excellent human resource manager. His sets functioned with calm and efficiency.' As Ray's legacy continues to inspire generations of filmmakers and cinephiles, Mr. Chaterji's reflections serve as a reminder of the importance of critical appreciation over rote reverence - of engaging with the filmmaker not just as a cultural icon, but as a thinker deeply rooted in his time and society.
