Subarnarekha (film)

Subarnarekha
File:Subarnarekha, 1962 film.jpg
Directed by	Ritwik Ghatak
Written by	Ritwik Ghatak (screenplay, story), Radheshyam Jhunjhunwala (story)
Starring	Abhi Bhattacharya, Madhabi Mukherjee, Satindra Bhattacharya, Bijon Bhattacharya, Pitambar, Indrani Chakrabarty, Sriman Tarun, Ritwik Ghatak
Music by	Ustad Bahadur Khan
Cinematography	Dilip Rajan Mukherjee
Edited by	Ramesh Joshi
Release dates	1 October 1965
Running time	143 min.
Language	Bengali

Subarnarekha (Bengali: সুবর্ণরেখা Subarṇarēkhā) is an Indian Bengali film directed by Ritwik Ghatak. It was produced in 1962 but was not released until 1965. It was part of the trilogy, Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), Komal Gandhar (1961), and Subarnarekha (1962), all dealing with the aftermath of the Partition of India in 1947 and the refugees coping with it.

In a critics' poll of all-time greatest films conducted by Asian film magazine Cinemaya in 1998, Subarnarekha was ranked at #11 on the list.

Plot summary

The film tells the story of Ishwar Chakraborty (Abhi Bhattacharya), a Hindu refugee from East Pakistan after the 1947 partition of India. He goes to West Bengal with his little sister Sita (Indrani Chakrabarty) where he tries to start a new life. In a refugee camp, they see the abduction of a low-caste woman and Ishwar takes her little son Abhiram (Sriman Tarun) with him. He gets a job at a factory in the province, near the river Subarnarekha.

After completing his study when Abhiram is asked to go to Germany for his studies, he (Satindra Bhattacharya) and Sita (Madhabi Mukherjee) discover that they are in love. But at this moment, Ishwar's fear of prejudice emerges, as he does not want his sister, a Brahmin, to marry a lower caste boy. During Sita's wedding with another man, the girl and Abhiram elope and go to Calcutta. Ishwar is angry and heartbroken.

Sita and Abhiram live in the slums of Calcutta and try to make ends meet. They have a little son (Sriman Ashok Bhattacharya). One day, Abhiram gets a new job as a bus driver, but this leads to tragedy: when he accidentally hits and kills a little girl, he is lynched by the crowd. In her desperate situation, Sita is forced to think about taking up prostitution.

In the meantime, Ishwar is living a lonely and sad life in the province. When his old time friend Haraprasad (Bijon Bhattacharya) comes to visit him, they decide to go to Calcutta on a binge-drinking tour. They finally end up in a brothel, both completely drunk. When Ishwar staggers into one of the bedchambers, he is faced... with his own sister, whose first "client" he should become. Sita immediately recognizes him and rather cuts her own throat than submit to incest. She dies. When Ishwar realizes what has happened, he breaks down.

At the end of the film, the now completely broken Ishwar meets Sita's little son, who is now his closest relative. He brightens up and decides to take the little boy into his house.

Credits

Cast

• Abhi Bhattacharya as Iswar Chakraborty
• Bijon Bhattacharya as Haraprasad
• Indrani Chakraborty as Little Sita
• Gita Dey as Koushalya (Bagdi Bou)
• Mater Tarun as Little Abhiram
• Ranen Roy Choudhury as Baul
• Abanish Bandopadhyay as Hari Babu
• Radha Govinda Ghosh as Manager
• Ritwik Ghatak as Music Teacher
• Madhabi Mukhopadhyay as Sita
• Satindra Bhattacharya as Abhiram
• Jahor Roy as Mukherjee (Foreman)
• Umanath Bhattacharya as Akhil Babu
• Sita Mukhopadhyay as Kajal Didi
• Pitambar as Rambilas

Crew

• Story: Ritwik Ghatak, Radheshyam Jhunjhunwala
• Screenplay: Ritwik Ghatak
• Cinematography: Dilip Rajan Mukherjee
• Editing: Ramesh Joshi
• Sound: Satyen Chatterjee
• Art Direction: Rabi Chatterjee
• Music: Ustad Bahadur Khan

Soundtracks

• Aaj dhaner khete roudro chhayay...
• Ali, dekh bhor bhai... kahan jage...
• Aaj ki ananda, aaj ki ananda, jhulat jhulane Shyamchanda...
• Mor dukhuya ka se kahun... aaj'
• Khelan aaye... kuhar phuhar

External links

• Subarnarekha at IMDb
• Subarnarekha: film analysis at Let's talk about Bollywood