Probashi- Cover Story
Probashi- Cover Story
Interview with Goutam Ghose all part of what we called our selves the“ Joris Ivens Collective” after the famous Dutch film maker, purchased a second hand 16mm camera and I shot the documentary Hungry Autumn in 1974 with it. Hungry autumn was based on Bengal food shortages in early seventies. The film was completed in 1976 and got itself into trouble with the Censor Board. It was the time of Emergency. The famous Indian documentary film maker and a great friend and mentor of mine, Sukhdev, suggested that the movie be sent for screening to the Oberhausen Short Film Festival in Germany. I won my first award there.
You mentioned about Sukhdev the celebrated documentary film maker as your mentor and guide. It is said that during filming of Nine Months to Freedom on Bangladesh freedom struggle, Sukhdev saw so much death and blood that he went into depression. You have also made documentaries on human suffering like the Hungry Autumn and Kalahandi. Do you get a similar feeling?
Yes it does effect, but I always have hope that change will happen. My camera honestly films the ground reality and then seeks a way out of the present situation. It is this hope which prevents me from taking an entire negative view of things. Even my feature films end with a sense of hope. However regarding the solution I do not have the last word and rather leave it for the audience to ponder on the solution.
You were doing very well financially as an advertisement film maker in Bombay? What made you give it all up and get into the risky business of feature film making?
Saying half truths to sell cigarettes and shampoo never appealed me. I never wanted to be a product, I always wanted to use camera as a means to pen my thoughts. However I do acknowledge ad films taught me the technical nuances of film making. As for documentaries there is very limited viewership, and it is only through feature films that my message could reach a large audience. I have no illusions that‘ Cinema can change the world’, a statement made by the famous filmmaker DW Griffith. I feel cinema leaves a documentation of society of its times for the future generation to learn from and judge objectively.
How did your first film Maa Bhoomi happen? A Telegu film by a Bengali first time film director without a clue of the language. Why would a producer risk such a venture?
Mrinal Sen arranged for a special screening of his film Mrigaya in New Theatres, Calcutta. He slotted screening of my documentary
Hungry Autumn before start of Mrigaya. In the audience was G. Ravindranath who approached me after the screening was over, and enquired whether I would like to do a Telegu feature film. The film was to be based on Kishan Chandar’ s Jaab Khet Jaagey on Telengana Peasant Movement. I could not believe my ears, obviously Hungry Autumn had impressed. I wrote the screen play in English for the film which underwent significant changes when I did recee of Telengana villages with Partho Banerjee, my script and dialogue collaborator, P Narsingh Rao and Pran Rao. I had the advantage of excellent interpreters which helped me overcome the language handicap. Most of the actors were amateurs and they acquitted themselves very well. We were like children painting on a large canvas with a limited budget. My wife Nilanjana who had accompanied me to Hyderabad was the costume Designer. Nilanjana is from a family of desiners from Shanti Niketan. She
Still from film Ma Bhoomi: A protest against injustice, a trademark of Goutam