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Jukti Takko Aar Gappo

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Jukti Takko Aar Gappo
Jukti Takko Aar Gappo poster
Film poster
Directed byRitwik Ghatak
Written byRitwik Ghatak
Produced byRita Productions, Ritwik Ghatak
StarringSee below
CinematographyBaby Islam
Edited byAmalesh Sikdar
Music byUstad Bahadur Khan
Release date
  • 30 September 1977 (1977-09-30) (Kolkata)
Running time
120 mins[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageBengali
Jukti Takko Aar Gappo scene (1 min 28 secs)
Nilkantha Bagachi (character played by Ritwik Ghatak) is talking to Satyajit Basu (character played by Utpal Dutt). In this scene Bagchi is narrating that his life is wasted (like many others lives).
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (Jukti tôkko aːr gôppo, transl. Reason, Debate and a Story)[2] is a 1974 Bengali film directed by auteur of Indian cinema Ritwik Ghatak.[3] Jukti Takko Aar Gappo was Ritwik Ghatak's last film. The film was believed to have a cinematography way ahead of its time.[4] The film won National Film Award's Rajat Kamal Award for Best Story in 1974.[5]

Synopsis

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In this film Ghatak plays Nilkantha Bagchi, an alcoholic, disillusioned intellectual,[6] in the character's own words, "a broken intellectual". His wife leaves him, taking his books and records which were his only remaining property. When Bagchi objects, Durga replies that it is so that his son grows up with these books and music. However, he manages to keep a fan which he sells to buy country liquor to start his unusual and abstract journey.

His first companion is Nachiketa, a homeless woman who comes to his house just when he is about to leave. She is Bongobala, a woman who has lost her homeland, Bangladesh, and Bagchi describes himself as the spirit of Bangladesh, who was driven away from Bangladesh. He then comes across a band of artists drinking at a remote place where they discuss art. He meets Satyajit Basu, his friend who offers him Scotch, which he refuses. He asks for money to which Satyajit at once agrees and gives him a bunch of notes of which he took only one and then he said "Think Think practice thinking". He then meets Jagannath Bhattacharjee, a village school teacher of Sanskrit. Jagannath's school was closed after political killings and he came to Kolkata in search of a job. He was harassed by the kids, as they called him mad he was always getting into arguments. Then they came to a village where Panchanan Ustad lived. He received them and Ustad and Jaggannath had frequent arguments creating a contrast between Vedic and Folk perspectives after Nilkantha met his wife. He went into a forest where he met Naxalites, with whom he discussed Marxist history and he described them as the "cream of Bengal" misguided, successful and unsuccessful at the same time. Then the police come and a shootout begins. Bagchi, after taking a bullet dies, saying "Do you remember Madan the weaver he used to say will I buy raw stock from the bourgeoisie? Betray all of you? By not working, I have become stiff so I weave without cotton, something has to be done".

Themes

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The film deals with various ideas and themes. Set against the backdrop of the first Naxalite wave of rebellion in India,[7] the film is considered to be Ghatak's autobiographical film,[8] an anti-climax.[9] Ghatak himself explained, "In it [Jukti Takko Aar Gappo] the political backdrop of West Bengal from 1971 to 1972 as I saw it has been portrayed. There is no ideology. I saw it from a point of view of not a politician. I am not supposed to please a political ideology". Ghatak was aware of a complete breakdown of moral values around him, especially among the younger generation. He tried to portray these issues in this film (and also in his unfinished film Sei Vishnupriya).[10] Ghatak, both in real life and in this film, tried to find some meaning for the political and cultural turmoil overtaking his country.[4]

Imagery

In an interview Ghatak mentioned that "The Great Mother Image" in its duality exists in every aspects of our being, and he incorporated this image into films like Meghe Dhaka Tara and Jukti Takko Aar Gappo.[11]

Allegorical characters

The characters in this film have been portrayed allegorically.

  • Ghatak played the character of Nilkantha Bagchi, his alter ego. Nilkantha is the name of Hindu god Shiva, who drank poison that emerged from the oceans to prevent it from destroying everything in the world.
  • Tripti Mitra played the role of Nilkantha Bagchi's wife Durga (influenced by Hindu goddess Durga; also according to Hindu mythology, Durga is a consort of Shiva). In an interview Ghatak described his wife Surama Ghatak as a Sati (a very pious woman, and consort of Shiva).
  • Ritaban Ghatak (Ghatak's real life son) played the character of Nilkantha Bagchi's son Satya. In Sanskrit and Bengali the word Satya means "true" or "real".
  • The character Nachiketa is inspired by the Hindu mythological character Nachiketa.
  • The character Jagannath Bhattacharjee, a Sanskrit language teacher, has been depicted as a representative of ancient Vedic civilisation.
  • Panchanan Ustad is representative of rural people, not very educated, but very rich with their own (folk) culture and heritage.

Credits

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Cast

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Others
  • Satindra Bhattacharya
  • Tarak Chattopadhyay
  • Nani Chattpadhyay
  • Subrata Sensharma
  • Tapan Chattopadhyay
  • Munir Choudhury.

Technical team

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  • Direction: Ritwik Ghatak
  • Assistant directors: Deb Dutta, Ananya Roy, Nikhil Bhattacharya, Dilip Mukhopadhyay, Tapan Saha[13][14]
  • Story, screenplay, music and executive producer: Ritwik Ghatak
  • Cinematography: Baby Islam
  • Assistant cinematographer: Shankar Chattopadhyay, Dipak Das
  • Editorial team
    • Editor: Amalesh Sikdar
    • Assistant: Kali Prasad Roy
    • Supervisor: Ramesh Joshi
  • Art direction: Rabi Chattopdahyay
  • Assistant: Surath Das, Suresh Chandra Chanda, Somnath Chakraborty
  • Dance choreography: Shambhu Bhattacharya
  • Publicity layouts: Khaled Choudhury
  • Music: Ustad Bahadur Khan
  • Playback singers: Debabrata Biswas, Ranen Ray Choudhury, Arati Mukhopadhyay, Binpani Roy Choudhury
  • Sound recording: Shyam Sundar Ghosh

Soundtrack

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The following songs appear in the film's soundtrack, scored by Ustad Bahadur Khan:

  1. Keno cheye achho go Ma (singer Sushil Mallick and Debabrata Biswas)
  2. Amar onge onge ke bajaye banshi (Rabindra Sangeet)
  3. Namaz aamar hoilo na adaay
  4. Chhau dance
  5. Janti gachhe janti phal je

Reception

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  • "Jukti Takko Aar Gappo, a film so daring in its complete disregard of the very language and grammar of cinema he had mastered and developed that it is difficult to understand how it achieves its intense intimacy with the audience. It is as if the characters step out of the screen to talk to you and you are forced to respond to them, to react very sharply for or against them. The central character played by Ghatak himself parodies his real life in such a way that it compels the audience to reflect and criticise him. Perhaps this is just what Ritwik had been struggling to do through cinema all his life. Ironically, perhaps, he wanted to see that it could be achieved only through a conscious rejection of much of what has come to be accepted as the language of cinema." –Safdar Hashmi[citation needed]
  • "In Jukti Takko Aar Gappo, the elements were presented in their new raw form — reason, argument, story, song that hunger which is the basis of human creativity. So that Ritwik calls himself a humbug a civilisation sees how it is reduced to ashes. Yet there was no nihilism; he dies pleading with those who would annihilate their compassion along with their enemy. Our heroism will find itself trapped in mechanical crossfire of gunpowder, if it refuses to nourish itself on nature and history. For Ritwik, the heroic act the ultimate and the first sacrifice, has to be the act of union."– Kumar Shahani[citation needed]

Screenings in different festivals

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  • 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 [15]

Accolades

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In a 2012 poll conducted by Sight & Sound, 2 critics and 2 directors (including Amit Dutta) included the film on their respective lists of "The Greatest Films of All Time", hence making it the 322nd best film according to the Director's poll (a rank it shares with Subarnarekha).[16]

Sources

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  • Ghatak, Ritwik (17 January 1987). Cinema and I. Ritwik Memorial Trust.
  • Shampa Banerjee (1985). Profiles, five film-makers from India: V. Shantaram, Raj Kapoor, Mrinal Sen, Guru Dutt, Ritwik Ghatak. Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Development Corp. ISBN 978-81-201-0007-7.
  • "Jukti, Takko aar gappo". Trigon film.

References

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  1. ^ "Reason, Debate and a Story (Jukti Takko Ar Gappo)". harvard.edu. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 1 October 2012.
  2. ^ Peter Schepelern (2010). Filmleksikon. Gyldendal A/S. pp. 324–. ISBN 978-87-02-04523-9. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  3. ^ "Click here to find out more! Reason, Debate and a Story (1974)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  4. ^ a b Aristides Gazetas (9 April 2008). An Introduction to World Cinema. McFarland. pp. 326–. ISBN 978-0-7864-3907-2. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  5. ^ "Na22nd National Film Awards" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
  6. ^ "Reason, Debate and a Story (1974) Acting Credits". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 30 January 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  7. ^ "Stammer, Mumble, Sweat, Scrawl, and Tic" (PDF). Raqs Media Collective. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  8. ^ Bhaskar Sarkar (29 April 2009). Mourning the Nation: Indian Cinema in the Wake of Partition. Duke University Press. pp. 201–. ISBN 978-0-8223-4411-7. Retrieved 15 July 2012.
  9. ^ India International Centre (1 September 2010). Water: Culture, Politics and Management. Pearson Education India. pp. 44–. ISBN 978-81-317-2671-6. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  10. ^ Ghatak, Ritwik (1987). Cinema and I. Ritwik Memorial Trust.
  11. ^ Ghatak, Ritwik. Cinema and I. Ritwik Memorial Trust. p. 78.
  12. ^ "Shaoli Mitra: চিরবিদায় শাঁওলি মিত্রের, শেষ ইচ্ছাপত্র মেনে সবার আড়ালে তাঁর শেষকৃত্য". Anandabazar Patrika (in Bengali). Kolkata. 16 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  13. ^ Shampa Banerjee (1985). Profiles, five film-makers from India: V. Shantaram, Raj Kapoor, Mrinal Sen, Guru Dutt, Ritwik Ghatak. Directorate of Film Festivals, National Film Development Corp. ISBN 978-81-201-0007-7. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  14. ^ "After internship with Ghatak and flops with Prosenjit, Tapan Saha goes big with bilingual". Telegraph, Calcutta. 20 May 2009. Archived from the original on 24 May 2009. Retrieved 19 July 2012.
  15. ^ "What's on at DCA - Dundee Contemporary Arts". Archived from the original on 6 May 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  16. ^ "Votes for JUKTI TAKKO AR GAPPO (1974)". Archived from the original on 21 April 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
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