RIFLE RANGE BOY: Go with the flow?

Subarnarekha (Bengali, 1965)
Story and Direction: Ritwik Ghatak

The world, they say, constantly evolves. Every civilisation has its norms and social mores that it holds close to its heart for its society to follow. Depending on how strongly one community sticks to its belief, sometimes death may seem the most appropriate punishment meted to shirkers.

The older generation thought they had seen it all. They know who is good and what brings destruction in the end. The young ones from all ages inherently have that rebel streak in them. They refuse to see eye-to-eye with their elders, no matter how well the latter proved themselves to be. This must be Nature's natural way to help the human race explore all avenues and choose the best way to propel forward.

It is no easy task to hang on to old traditions and values when the world is evolving, and it appears to be left behind. Even though we can see that their ways are decadent but why is everyone following them? Are we missing something?

This must be how the elders of Bharat must have felt when the East Indian Company was making inroads into India. With all the rich traditions and knowledge readily in their motherland, they cannot understand why the younger ones were fascinated with the self-defeating culture of the West.

'Subarnarekha' constitutes Ritwik Ghatak's third offering of the trilogy involving refugees during the Partition of Bengal in 1947. Ishvar Chakraborty leaves East Bengal with his sister Sita. Ishvar hangs around the refugee camp with nothing much to do. He takes in a young refugee boy, Abhiram, whose mother is taken away by zamindars.

A chance meeting with an old friend brought him a job elsewhere. Despite being labelled as a deserter, he jumps up on the opportunity for seeking greener pasture and leaving the rest. Ishvar's boss is a traditionalist, believing in caste and creed.

Years go on. Abhiram is sent to a boarding school, graduates and become a casual writer. Sita grows up pretty, is musically inclined and falls for Abhiram. Ishvar, by now, is a general manager and is earmarked to be a partner in the foundry he is working. When Sita and Abhiram bring up the idea of marrying, the boss brings up the question of Abhiram's caste. The young ones elope, starting from scratch and scraping the barrel. Ishvar turns out broken and spirals down the ladder of decadence. The end is devastating as both Abhiram and Sita die, and their son goes under the care of his uncle, Ishvar, to stay in his abode by the banks of River Subarnarekha.