Synopsis
Set during the period just before
World War II, Ganadevata, is the saga of
Shibkalipur, a small village on the banks
of the river Mayurakshi in the Birbhum district
of present West Bengal. Through the interactions
and conflicts between myriad range of characters
who stand as typical representatives of
their social class – Aniruddha (Samit
Bhanja), a rebellious blacksmith who along
with his carpenter friend Girish refuse
to continue under the traditional barter
system, Debu Pundit (Soumitra Chatterjee),
the much respected pillar of society who
gets radicalized and questions the system
for its injustices and prejudices, Chhiru
Pal (Ajitesh Bannerjee) the nouveau-riche
village strongman, Jatin (Debraj Roy) a
freedom fighter under house-arrest, Durga
(Sandhya Roy), a clever and free-spirited
prostititute and a host of characters including
the wives of the principals and other inhabitants
of the village – the film unravels
a slice in the history of a typical Bengal
village caught within the wheels of change.
The film:
 Portraying
the saga of a community or a village or
a particular group of people has been a
major theme of Bengali literature and many
of the major filmmakers of Bengal have attempted
to adapt many of these literary classics
into meaningful and sensitive cinema. Ritwik
Ghatak’s masterwork Titash
Ekti Nadir Naam, Rajen Tarafdar’s
Ganga, Barin Saha’s Tero Nadir
Paare and Tapan
Sinha’s Hasuli Baker Upakatha
are some of the major films that deal with
the trials and travails of a group of marginalized
rural people with the filmmaker’s
sympathies squarely on the poor and the
oppressed. Ganadevata, based on
a famous novel by Tarashankar Bandopadhyay
is
Tarun Majumdar’s sincere and dramatic
effort to capture the people of a small
village Shibkalipur and their conflicts
caught in the crossroads of time –
in a period where the age-old feudal traditions
and lifestyles are challenged by the social
forces of change and protest.
The title sequence of the film built around
of a montage sequence of the principal characters
and sweeping landscapes of the village and
its river overlaid with the traditional
folk song Bhor Hoilo Jagato Jagilo sung
by the wandering minstrel Tarini (Nilkantha
Sengupta) firmly establishes the milieu
of the narrative. From here on the film
goes into a series of high voltage episodes
starting with the refusal of the blacksmith
Aniruddha and his carpenter friend Girish’s
refusal to work for the farmers and other
genteel folks of the village under the barter
system sparks of the conflict between tradition
and forces of change. The film is sensitive
to point out the pros and cons of both the
arguments but Aniruddha’s accusation
at the panchayat sabha held at
the Chandimandap that the villagers
themselves led by the rich man Chhiru Pal
often renege on their payments in kind and
buy cheaper products at the market near
the railway station act as the pointer to
the inevitable pressure of the changing
economics on the once self-sufficient village
economy. This sabha also helps in identifying
the characters and the motives of the major
protagonists and the class-caste equations
that exist in the village. Debu Pundit is
established as the respected educated man
loved and respected by all while Aniruddha
and his working class friends are the rebels
and Chhiru Pal as the typical brutal and
rich villain. The minor characters like
Jagan Daktar (Santosh Dutta), Patu Bayen
(Anup Kumar), Debi Ghoshal (Rabi Ghosh)
also get introduced in this sequence.
Starting with this extremely tension filled
exposition the story of Ganadevata
moves forward in similarly emotionally charged
episodes that capture the key events and
the responses and actions of the major protagonists
who inhabit the village. Aniruddha’s
defiance of the wishes of the village elders
and his defilement of the sanctity of the
Chandimandap makes him an object
of hate and also mars his friendship with
Debu Pundit, who at this point of time still
sides with the traditionalists. However
this fracas at the panchayat sabha leads
to inexorable changes in the lives of both.
As Chhiru Pal wrecks vengeance for the insults
heaped on him by Aniruddha by destroying
the latter’s paddy crop Aniruddha’s
life goes into a downhill spin - he slowly
gets sucked into a life of booze and idleness
and finally into the alluring arms of Durga.
Debu Pundit on the other hand begins to
understand the exploitative relations inherent
in the traditional systems bound by caste
and class and the unfair advantages that
rapacious men like Chhiru reap due to such
inequities. Thus by the time the colonial
land surveyors arrive and start measuring
the land ruining ripe paddy crops in the
process, Debu’s radicalization is
complete and he leads an angry protest against
the cruel orders which lands him in jail
but also makes him an object of veneration
among most of his co-villagers. The scenes
of this turmoil and violence are inter-cut
with detailed shots the village women celebrating
the harvest festival of Nabanna
- the chorus of the traditional song Esho
Poush, Esho Poush Esho Aamar Ghare on
the audio track creates a fantastic sense
of irony, sadness and bitterness in one
of the most emotionally stimulating moments
of Ganadevata.
The other male characters of the film are
less interesting in terms of growth and
development but remain true examples of
the social types they represent. But it
must be admitted the screenplay attempts
to humanize some of them through back-stories
inserted often as flashbacks. It is from
such flashbacks that we learn about how
Aniruddha’s forefather had settled
in this village full of farmers, that the
poor minstrel Tarini was once a farmer who
lost his lands to Chhiru and Durga was a
farmer’s wife forced into selling
her body after being repeatedly raped by
the local zamindar. However others
especially Chhiru Pal, the local police
chief, the zamindar are portrayed
uniformly evil lusting for more power, money
and sexual gratifications, intensifying
the drama inherent in the narrative at the
cost of a deeper probe into the corrupting
influences of power and money.
If some of the major male characters of
Ganadevata are somewhat one-dimensional
the film paints rich portraits of its principal
women. In fact, the film brilliantly captures
the empathetic sisterhood cutting across
barriers borne out of necessity and adversity
that is the universal hallmark of rural
communities. This bestows the women –
Durga, Padma (Madhabi Mukherjee) Aniruddha’s
barren wife who becomes the mother figure
for Tarini’s neglected son Ucchingre
and Jatin the young swadedshibabu under
house-arrest whom she has taken in as a
lodger; Bilu (Sumitra Mukherjee), Debu’s
wife who is ready to sell of the last little
ornament of her infant for the sake of her
husband’s prestige – an unmatched
sense of dignity and grandeur. While Padma
and Bilu’s world and struggles are
confined more within their homes and families,
Durga by her very profession cuts across
all social and economic obstacles and uses
her innate wit and sensuality to make the
men dance to her tunes. She is the one who
points out Debu Pundit’s injustice
in not allowing Padma to worship at the
community festival and thus make him realize
his folly. It is Durga who discovers the
role of Chhiru Pal in setting the farmers’
bustee on fire and she uses her knowledge
to blackmail him and force him to provide
for the rebuilding of the huts. She also
uses her charms to prevent the local thanedaar
from arresting Jatin when he is giving a
political speech at the village’s
newly formed political unit –Praja
Samaj. Despite ample opportunities Durga
refuses to use her charms against Jatin,
the only man in her life who gives her respect
as a human being, and in another crucial
moment of the film she saves Jatin’s
fugitive friend from the clutches of the
law. This refusal adds another dimension
to her character otherwise portrayed to
be controlled by her basic physical instincts.
The manner in which the shots of Padma defending
herself from the advances of Chhiru with
a sickle are juxtaposed with shots of Goddesses
Durga and Kali is also another example of
the films attempt to posit the women of
Shibkalipur on a higher plane than their
male counterparts.
Ganadevata is also a fine example
of Majumdar’s knowledge and understanding
of the physical and psychological aspects
of life in a Bengal village. Shot mostly
on location, the lavish and panoramic camerawork
brilliantly captures the countryside –
the dry river bed in winter, the terrible
thunderstorm, the meandering dusty lanes
and by-lanes, the thatched huts, the details
of various rituals and daily life et al
– in all its pristine beauty. But
more than the physical aspects it is the
probing of the psyche of the village people
that gives the film its sense of authenticity.
This is best demonstrated in the manner
which the characters and hence the film
portrays sensuality and eroticism. There
is little sense of shame and prejudice –
so often the feature of city dwellers in
India steeped in Victorian morality. Aniruddha
and Durga’s relationship develops
purely on the basis of physical attraction,
Chhiru and the thanedaar are overt and unabashed
about their bodily desires – Chhiru
openly tries to molest Padma while the cop
wallops in his lust for Durga often neglecting
his official duties. The camera lingers
lovingly over the faces and bodies of the
women but it is to Majumdar’s great
restraint and control that the film never
sinks into vulgarity and crassness –
even Chhiru Pal’s fantasy of ravishing
the Padma with shots of Madhabi Mukherjee
bathing in the pond and a montage of limbs
and arms of her body superimposed on the
close-ups of the sexually charged Chhiru’s
face never crosses the limits of decency.
The scenes of Debi Ghoshal (Rabi Ghosh)
feasting on the soaked village women trying
to save their huts from the blazing inferno
and his buying of the services of one these
vulnerable woman serves as an indicator
of the sexual politics and exploitation
ingrained in feudal rural milieu.
Ganadevata despite its sincere
attempts to truthfully portray the saga
of a village caught in the whirlwinds of
change fails to become a multi-layered probe
into the dynamics of change. This is because
the screenplay emphasizes too much on the
external factors (both of the protagonists
and the historical times) – the stress
seems solely on dramatic incidents and behavioral
kinks and thus prevents it the film to become
a serious and deep exploration into the
cause and effects of exploitation and ensuing
resistance. However, it must be conceded
that the director is not really bothered
about the socio-political aspects –
though the film’s sympathies are overtly
on the side of the poor and the marginalized
– and the attempt is to create a perfect
entertainer with a strong social message
and understanding. It is in balancing the
demands of serious cinema and commerce that
the film sometimes falters – the script
rambles a bit trying to fit in too many
characters and incidents thus adding to
the length and disrupts the smooth flow
of the narrative and development of the
drama. A few comic scenes (Debi Ghoshal
being half-shaved by the barber and Padma’s
quarrel with an old crone of the Pal family)
and song and dance routines (the dance of
the nautch girls and song-dance during a
festival of lower castes) seem to be put
in solely for the purpose of entertainment
and thus are extraneous to the story. Some
of the characters who get emphasized in
the opening sequences – Girish, Debi
Ghoshal, the barber to name a few –
do not receive adequate attention at the
later stages of the film and hence feel
like under-developed and put in solely for
the purpose of gratifying the tastes and
expectations of the audience. These devices
and characters only add to the length of
the film without enriching the overall narrative.
Technically the film is extremely competent
and demonstrates Tarun Majumdar’s
adequate control over the various elements
of cinema. The cinematography is competent
and the long tracking shots and wide-angle
panoramic shots brilliantly capture the
breathtaking landscapes of the arid Rarh
region of Bengal. Mention must be made of
the film’s sumptuous sound design.
An immense variety of synch and non-synch
sounds – loud and frenetic beatings
of the traditional drums often juxtaposed
with the melodic charms of sarode solo,
amplified hissing of snakes (on Chhiru Pal
in his moments of lust and anger), blowing
conch-shells and women ululating –
add another dimension to the film and also
acts as signposts of the director’s
powers of imagination. The film is also
enhanced by some extremely melodious songs
– Olo Soi Dekhe Ja-re Dekhe Ja
and Bhalo Chhilo Chhelebela / Joubon Kene
Ashilo to name a few - based on folk
tunes composed by Hemanta Mukherjee and
sung by luminaries such as Manna De, Arati
Mukherjee and Hemanta himself. The performances
are uniformly brilliant – Soumitra
Chatterjee, Samit Bhanja, Anup Kumar,
Sumitra Mukherjee, Madhabi
Mukherjee and others of the huge ensemble
are well-nuanced and authentic. Ajitesh
Bannerjee gives an extremely powerful portrayal
of the villainous and evil Chhiru Pal but
it is Sandhya Roy as Durga who is absolutely
brilliant as the sensuous and clever fallen
woman. The author backed role gives her
ample opportunity to show her immense histrionic
abilities and Majumdar’s cinematic
vision deliciously espouses his wife and
muse’s immense acting talents and
corporeal charms.
Ganadevata is perhaps the best
exposition of Tarun Majumdar’s métier
as a filmmaker – creating films that
are strong on drama and characterization
and balancing the demands of commerce and
a strong politically charged social significance.
The film entertains and holds the attention
of the audience with its dramatic story-line
and competency in all departments of the
medium of cinema.
Ganadevata deservedly won the
National Award for Best Popular Film Providing
Wholesome Entertainment in the year 1979.
Monish K Das is an alumnus of the
Film and Television Institute of India (FTII),
Pune with specialization in Film Editing,
1992. He now lives and works as a documentary
filmmaker and social communication consultant
in Kolkata. |
