Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Ritwik Ghatak

Writers:

Ritwik Ghatak (scenario)
Shaktipada Rajguru (story)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

"Meghe Dhaka Tara" tells the tragic story of the beautiful daughter of a middle-class refugee family from East Pakistan...

Plot Keywords:

Sacrifice | Train | Tuberculosis | Sizzle | Mythological

Cast

Supriya Choudhury	...	Nita
Anil Chatterjee	...	Shankar
Niranjan Ray	...	Sanat (as Niranjan Roy)
Gita Ghatak	...	Gita
Bijon Bhattacharya	...	Father
Gita Dey	...	Mother (as Gita De)
Dwiju Bhawal	...	Mantu
Gyanesh Mukherjee	...	Banshi Dutta
Ranen Ray Choudhury	...	Baul singer (as Ranen Roy Choudhury)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Abhi Bhattacharya

Also Known As:

The Cloud-Capped Star (International: English title) (UK)
Hidden Star

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

India

Language:

Bengali

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

UK:PG

Company:

Chitrakalpa

Movie Connections:

Followed by Subarnarekha (1965)

one of the finest Indian films ever made

This year is the time of Ghataks 80th. anniversary. His films were discovered in the western world after Ghatak has died in the age of 50 worn through alcoholism and TB sheets. I have to admit that I didn't like his films at the first time. They seemed to overdone, too melodramatic. I saw them again 1 year later and my opinion changed radically. I felt his films and especially MEGHE DHAKA TARA as a very long sad ballad and I was touched and since that time this films belongs to my alltime favorits. Every emotion, even every seemingly overdone melodramatic moment has now an incredible truth for me. This film is like a blues where every emotion is true and felt from the bottom of Ghataks heart. Never before and never since Ritwik Ghatak was there such an authentic expression of human suffering in the history of cinema. Not to mention his deep impact on younger Indian filmmakers whom he taught at the famous film school in Poona like Mani Kaul and others. And not to mention that Gathaks refugee-trilogy (MEGHE DHAKA TARA, SUBARNAREKHA and KOMAL GANDER is together with Hou Hsiao Hsiens Taiwan-trilogy the greatest and most impressive one in the history of cinema. After watching his films since almost 10 years, I consider Ghatak not only as the master of Indian cinema but as well as one of the great film directors of world cinema. But I always feel bad while praising his films when I think about his incredible sad biography. His decease and his early death is as well one of the biggest tragedies in film history