Probashi- Cover Story
Probashi- Cover Story
Interview with
Goutam Ghose Goutam Ghose: Indian Cinema’ s“ Moner Manush”
Goutam Ghose, rated amongst India’ s most acclaimed film directors, has always heeded to the calling of his heart. In early seventies, just out of college, Goutam struck an un‐ family by trodden path for a boy belonging to middle class taking theatre and photojournalism as a career‐ an unconventional choice of profession for those times. Moved by issues plaguing the Country, he borrowed money to make documentaries on themes like power crisis and famine‐ this was his form of expression and protest, despite running up substantial personal debts. His documentaries didd some plain speak which unsettled the establishment and got him into trouble with the censor board. Subsequently he moved to Mumbai and became a very successful advertisement film maker. Financial success and fame both followed, which he was soon to give up to make his first feature film Ma Bhoomi on Telengana peasant uprising in Telegu on a shoe string budget Though Telegu language was unfamiliar terrain, the issue of peasant revolt was close to his heart. Ma Bhoomi went on to win him his first National
Award and was a major box office success. It is considered a major landmark film in Tl rejected i a slew Siki of financially h attractive movie i l offe G ers which followed because non gave him the scope to make a statement for people close to his heart- the oppressed and the down trodden. Inspired by greats like
Satyajit Ray, Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak, Goutam has never wavered from issue based films; bucking the view that realistic cinema cannot bring box office success. His Hindi films like Paar, Yatra, Patang with A‐ list actors like Naseeruddin Shah, Shababa Azmi, Nana Patekar, Rekha etc
, were well received by audiences nationally, earning him the epithet of“ a film maker with a cause”. His recent block buster in Bangla, Moner Manush, talks about Lalon Fakir, a baul in 19th Century Bengal, who talked about religious tolerance‐ a rare film in today’ s times of glitz and glamour. His current film running in cinema hails, Shunyo Awnko( the Zero Act), asks the question – the development journey of India, for whom, to where? Winner of 17 National Film
Awards and slew of International awards including Knighthood of the Star of the Italian Solidarity and special mention at Cannes, Goutam is one of the few film makers in this country who use cinema as a medium to express the issues plaguing the Country and allows the camera to speak the truth. Goutam is candid when he says that cinema cannot change the world, but contends it leaves a documentation of society of its times for the future generationn to learn from and judge objectively. And when we call Goutam
Ghose“ Indian Cinema’ s Moner
Manush”( A Man who listens to his heart) we are completely on target.
You had the benefit of a culturally |
vibrant family upbringing? Any |
childhood |
memories |
which |
influenced profession? |
your |
choice |
of |
My father’ s family originally hails from Faridpur in present
Bangladesh and crossed over to India at the time of Partition. My Mother’ s side belong to Dhaka Bikrampur in Bangladesh but had long moved to Burma and from there to Calcutta much before partition happened and were well settled.
What I missed in my childhood was a country home what in bangla you call adi bari. While boys in my class would go to their village homes during vacation, I and my siblings would stay put in
Calcutta. My father would tell about our home in Bangladesh with great nostalgia, but with a refrain would add that politics has traced a line on the map which we call border and thus robbed us access to our ancestral land. Even today I cringe at the fact as to why the Country had to be divided.
My maternal uncle’ s place was a hub for plays, magic shows and music recitals. At our house learning music was compulsory. Music was considered essential to become a good human being. When I was