Legendary director Ritwick Ghatak’s centenary celebration begins with film festival
By Our Correspondent
Agartala, November 22, 2025
He had died a frustrated man, given to addiction, just as he had lived in glory in the exalted realm of film-making . Ritwick Ghatak (1925-1976), a man from Rajshahi district in present Bangladesh, had shaken the Bengali filmdom with his creativity in the early fifties when another icon Satyajit Roy had stormed the world of Bengali cinema with his mastery over simplicity. But unlike his more illustrious contemporary Ghatak never got the widespread recognition that he so richly deserved.
His masterpieces include ‘Komal Gandhar’, ‘Meghedhaka Tara’, ‘Subarna Rekha’ , ‘Ajantrik’ and four other films but he remained almost a figure in oblivion even though during lifetime he had won national and state awards for the new vistas he had reached in film making. Ritwick Ghatak’s birth centenary is now being celebrated by connoisseurs of art films in few selected places in India and abroad.
With joint collaboration of a film organisation ‘Parisar’ and the department of mass communication and journalism of Tripura Centra University (TCU) a three festival of Ritwick Ghatak’s films commenced yesterday in the evening the government run Sukanata Aacdemy auditorium. A sizable number of spectators-far beyond the capacity of the auditorium- including film buffs attended the inauguration of the three-day festival-a testimony to the artistry of the film maker.
Former chief justice of Orissa high court Subhasish Talapatra presided over the inaugural function with experts on the subject like the former professor of Jadavpur University and film critic Sanjay Mookherjee , assistant professor of TCU’s mass communication department Sunll Koloi and registrar of MBB university Sumanta Chakraborty. At the beginning a documentary produced by the mass communication department of TCU on the life and contribution of Ritwick Ghatak was shown to the audienc . This was followed by speeches of the guests of honour including chief justice (retired) Subhasish Talapatra . Talapatra said that along with Satyajit Roy, Ghata had practically revolutionised Bengali film making by focussing on subjects like impact of mechanisation on human life and environment and by bringing to light the larges realities of the working of human mind in inner recesses. The three-day festival will end tomorrow in the evening.
more news...