A River Called Titas

Fishing villages on the banks of the Titas. Life depends entirely on the river: livelihood, marriages, quarrels and seasons. On a wedding night a bride is abducted and a young man loses his wife. Years pass. The woman lives in another village, partly out of her mind, with a son. Their paths cross again but nobody recognises anybody. Meanwhile the river is slowly drying, and its drying means the end of the village. Ritwik Ghatak directs. The source is Advaita Malla Barman's novel. It was shot in Bangladesh. Ghatak had made films about the partition of India; this one was made in East Bengal itself, just after the war of independence, and is his only Bangladeshi production. The narrative follows no single hero; the village community is at the centre and characters come forward and withdraw in turn. The drying of the river is the real subject. Ghatak gives it not as a natural event but as the cause of a community coming apart, and ties it to his own theme of partition. The visual language is harsh: wide angles, theatrical framing and extreme use of sound. His manner is formal rather than realist. It was poorly received on release and reassessed years later; it now counts among the important works of South Asian cinema. Who it is for: viewers who follow the classics of Indian and Bangladeshi cinema. Who it is not for: it is long, the structure is scattered, there are many characters, and the style is demanding.