Cinemaazi remembers Ritwik Ghatak on his birth anniversary

A cornerstone of the Bengali cultural psyche, and arguably the most important Indian filmmaker of the twentieth century, Ritwik Ghatak’s story is often told as that of the tragic genius. His brilliance was always accompanied by erratic behaviour, a perennial restlessness and alcoholism, which resulted in his relatively sparse output over his two-and-a half decade-long film career. To be fair, it is as easy to paint Ghatak as the wastrel genius, as a story of what-could-have-been, as it is infinitely difficult to fathom the power of the few films he left behind which have become timeless classics.