These two classic films directed by the supremely underrated filmmaker Ritwak Ghatak masterfully evoke his native East Bengal (now Bangladesh) landscape in stark but exquisite ways. He claimed to have been influenced by Sergei Eisenstein, and wanted to use film as a weapon, but did so using classic Indian cinematic elements - music, dance, and melodrama.

A River Called Titas (or, A River Named Titash, 1973) is particularly interesting when you consider that it was made in Bangladesh right after that nation formally became independent. As CalcuttaWeb states in their biography, "Ghatak was shattered by the partition, and his stories and images are permeated with the personal urgency he felt for the people whose lives and culture were irreparably ruptured." Based on a highly regarded novel by Advaita Mallaburman, A River Called Titas depicts the life of a fishing community in the early part of the 20th century, which serves as a backdrop for the story of a loving couple separated by the abduction of the wife. This was Ghatak's most troubled shoot as he was suffering from tuberculosis and some personal demons at the time.

The Cloud-Capped Star (1960), which may very well be his best film, is a melancholy but unforgettable story that for some will naturally evoke Satyajit Ray, but is provocative and aggressive in a way that was uniquely Ghatak. An earlier work, it, too, captures the effect of the partition of East Bengal on families and centers on the same theme inherent in most of his work: rootlessness.

Critic Jacob Levich said each of Ghatak's films "is a work of genuine distinction, marked by formal daring, intellectual vigor, and powerful emotional suasion." Ghatak was one of those artists whose importance sadly wasn't recognized until after his very untimely death in 1975. He's due for a new appreciation. -- by Craig Phillips

Rent A River Called Titas; rent The Cloud-Capped Star.

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