Ajantrik (1958)

Bimal is a taxi-driver in a small town. His taxi is his only companion and, although very battered, it is the apple of Bimal's eye. The film shows the love of taxi driver Bimal and his pathetic vehicle Jagaddal.

Director:

Ritwik Ghatak

Writers:

Ritwik Ghatak (scenario), Subodh Ghosh (novel)

Stars:

Kali Bannerjee, Gangapada Basu, Satindra Bhattacharya

Cast

Credited cast:
Kali Bannerjee	...	Bimal
Gangapada Basu	...	Uncle
Satindra Bhattacharya
Tulsi Chakraborty
Anil Chatterjee	...	Groom
Shriman Deepak	...	Boy
Kajal Gupta	...	Young woman
Gyanesh Mukherjee	...	Mechanic
Keshto Mukherjee	...	Lunatic
Sita Mukherjee

Storyline

Bimal is a taxi-driver in a small town. His taxi is his only companion and, although very battered, it is the apple of Bimal's eye. The film shows the love of taxi driver Bimal and his pathetic vehicle Jagaddal.

---

Plot Keywords:

taxi driver | taxi | passenger | mockery | loneliness | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

India

Language:

Bengali

Release Date:

22 October 1987 (France)

Also Known As:

L'homme-auto

Company Credits

Production Co:

L.B.Films International

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in The Story of Film: An Odyssey: New Directors, New Form (2011)

User Reviews

15 years back, when mother died, Jaggadal came and is with me since then

"They call me a machine, they don't understand that Jaggadal is also a human". The complex interaction between nature, mankind and the machine in the backdrop of an harsh and rocky wasteland of Bihar comes the unique story of Jaggadal. Though the name is masculine but the car is definitely feminine as illuminated in the movie. This is the masterstroke of Ritwik and could well be his defining work. No other movie captured this relationship between a man and his machine as have been done here. All later movies based on such theme will be pale including the most recent AI. Only a vagabond and an insane be so ungrateful and unemotional to something which have been making a living for him for so many years. A point proved in Ajantrik. Machines are not just numbers like 571 on the rope-way bucket moving in an orchestrated fashion along a guided track doing a very mechanical thing. Machines, like humans also have the ability to grow affinity with their owner and show all the emotions even jealousy. Jaggdal for example, never gave up carrying impossible tasks one after another.

There were people in the movie who never believed in this extra-ordinary connection and ultimately they were proved right but only superficially. That's one of the reason Bimal laughed at the end.

If the true measure of all art is to evoke emotion and to create a lasting impression in the mind of the audience, then Ajantrik has indeed succeeded, in-spite of how awkward and outrageous the story could be. This would not have been possible without the brilliance of Kali Bannerjee and the supporting caste. Ajantrik would have been a great movie if it had just stopped there.

However, the movies doesn't stop there and it went on exploring many other things and there lies the greatness of Ritwik. Taking a subject which is almost impossible to render on screen e.g. to make he audience feel emotional to an inanimate object; something never attempted before in cinema and not only brilliantly executing it but ultimately delivering much more than that. His movie has many threads as it tells a multi-dimensional story where the actors and the surrounding often overlap and Ajantrik is no exception to this and yet it doesn't bore the audience, rather it keep the viewing much more intriguing with the seemingly discorded but ultimately very coherent perplexity of the sights and sounds.

The movie also has brilliant photography ever captured of a car in motion pictures. The ending is one of the finest and the looming close up says it all. The sound track as always impregnable.

A must watch for any true connoisseur of movie. Something is definitively wrong with the rating system in IMDb. Also disheartening to see so few reviews.