T. C.
FEN- MALTEPE FEF JOURNAL
Fen-
YAYIN KURULU / EDITORIAL BOARD
YAY -IN-CHIEF
/ EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Prof. Dr. Bahattin Prof. Dr. Sevil ATAUZ
Prof. Dr.
Prof. Dr. Zekiye KUTLUSOY
/SECRETARY
http://fef.maltepe.edu.tr [email protected] Tel. (+90216) 626 1050 / 2240 / 2243 Fax (+90216) 626 1113
/Correspondence Address
Fen- Fen- -
: 2016
ISSN: 1303-3115
-
aittir. Dergimiz TUBITAK-
All the responbilities for the content of their articles belong to the authors.
Bu dergi EBSCOHost Veri T This journal is indexed in and EBSCOHost database.
1
(Akademik u
it tku
Prof
Prof. Dr. Erdal Cengiz
Vural Maltepe
Tuebingen Universitesi, Almanya itesi Felsefe
Psikoloji
Prof. Dr. Felix Koerner man
Prof. Dr. Maija Kule University of Latvia, Letonya b Prof. Dr. Zekiye Kutlusoy
Prof. Dr. Mircea Dumitru Y
Prof. Dr. Oktik
Prof. Dr. Ayhan Sol
zer
Yrd. Maltepe
Zaporozhye National University, Ukrayna
Sa - r Sosyoloji Advisory Board can change according to the context interms of our blind- review principle.
Prof DTCF
2
-
http://fef.maltepe.edu.tr/fakulte/icindekiler- ozetler
EDITORIAL PREFACE
In this issue (2015/1+2) of Maltepe University FEF Journal, six articles and a book review are included concerning topics of our faculty. The common feature of those articles in the fields of social sciences and humanities is the their way of reconsidering facts, concepts and understandings of reviews by taking advantage of current form of comparative interpretations. Being published si EbscoHost. Issues from 2009 on can be accessed at http://fef.maltepe.edu.tr/fakulte/icindekiler-ozetler.
Best regards, On behalf of the Editorial Board/Editor-in-Chief
Winter 2015, Maltepe
3
WHEN ADDICTION FUELS THE MIND: AN INSIGHT INTO SOCIOLOGICAL EFFECTS ON A CREATIVE NTERRELATIONSHIP WITH ADDICTION*
Madhurima Ganguly [email protected]
Abstract
The Partition of Bengal in 1947 was a period of history which was a cause of trauma for many who faced dislocation and misplacement as they were forced to relocate from east to west Bengal. One very prominent figure and a victim of this epoch was the great Indian Script writer and Film maker Ritwik Ghatak. Extremely radical and realistic, his movies were the predecessor of many famous film movements like the Italian neo realism and French New wave and was abound in sociological conflicts and stark realism which continued to bring out the feelings of agony and dismemberment as he witnessed the Bengal famine of 1943 and the overflow of refuges across Bengal as a result of Partition. An ill-fated genius, not understood and appreciated in his life, he was unable to communicate his feelings through his works which were received unsuccessfully by his audiences not matured enough to the genre of neo realism His inner sufferings and turmoil which he felt alone, reached an ultimatum when he was admitted to a mental asylum on grounds of being a wasted drunkard in 1969. Even though under severe medication and electric shock he continued to drink clandestinely as it provided fuel for the workings of his mind. In a way his addiction fuelled his emotions which translated into his creative work and his failure as an artist fuelled his addiction- the feeder chain syndrome. Many artists are known to have had a dependency on addiction, like the painter Van Gogh who was heavily addicted to Absinthe and Digitalis. For my paper I will be examining his works, his biographies, and would also use Meghe Dhaka Tara (Cloud Capped Star he was ravaged by addiction.
- interpretation of what was going through his had become like a stick to a cripple. I will analyse how addiction acted as a numbing balm to the -cultural issues such as partition an
Keywords: Ritwik Ghatak, India, cinema, partition, trauma, addiction.
*This article was presented at Maltepe University Student Congress MUISC 2015
151
Introduction
Jawad Fatayer in his essay Addiction Types: A Clinical Sociology Perspective comments that:
Addiction social-cultural invention; a social construct manufactured by the culture as a means for a given goal. Facts reflect that people become addicted to anything, yet addiction is solely a human phenomenon. And for addiction to occur, three major conditions are to be present: (1) a social cognition (a consciousness, knowledge, shared meanings and purpose, etc.) in the mind of the addict toward the addictive object social cognition tends to be a reflection of learned experiences and efforts and impacts of the social environment; (2) a vulnerable emotional makeup (troubled self-esteem, lack of confidence, abuse, emotional deprivation, etc.); and (3) a possible chemical imbalance in the body.
(Jawad 2008:88)
Jawad Fatayer in his essay has categorized Addiction into four types; One, Alpha addiction which is food addiction; Two, Beta Addiction which include Alcohol, medications, narcotics, cocaine, hash, marijuana, opioids, sedatives, hypnotics; Three, Gamma Addiction includes Gambling, driving, online games/video games, porn, sex, love, shopping, work holism, computer/net, solitaire, lying and Four, Delta Addiction.
Out of these four, I will be dealing with Beta addiction, or in more common terms
Alcoholism/ Alcohol dependence with respect to creative people or artists. When it comes to the field of arts addiction is quite a common phenomenon which manifests itself in numerous ways.
Many have been victims to addiction in terms of substance consumption, whether it is the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge who is said to have written poems under the influence of opium, the most world famous
him seeing the world in a yellow- .
Coleridge and Van Gogh are but a few to name; history has shown a vast majority of artists being
152 some way or the other dependent on some kind of addiction for stimulating creative output or helping to cope with troubles.
p.263). And according to Alan I. Leshner neither is addiction just
It is a brain disease for which the social contexts in which it has both developed and is e p.46).
Like so many artists around the world who have resorted to addiction for creative impulse as a result of their inner turmoil, Ritwik Ghatak, one of the legendary filmmakers of India was no different.
Ritwik Ghatak was not only a filmmaker, but was also a theatre director, scriptwriter, author, actor, critic, and film theorist. A true talent of one of a kind he was not always an addict.
It was only in the latter part of his life as a result of facing failures one after the other as a director, unappreciated and misunderstood, he went into severe depression which was aggravated by heavy drinking and was admitted into a mental asylum by his family for treatment.
Ritwik Ghatak: A Case Study of Alcoholism
Ritwik Kumar Ghatak was born on the 4th of November 1925 in Dhaka, the capital of what is now known as Bangladesh. He was only twenty-two when the Partition of Bengal took place in 1947. He along with his family came down to Kolkata, India as refugees where Ritwik
Ghatak continued his education and spent the rest of his life till his death. He was unfortunate enough to have belonged to a generation that witnessed the Bengal famine of 1943 and also the
Independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan in 1971. The horrors of these bloody passages caused trauma to many people like him who were forced to relocate from east to west Bengal. He was
153 brought up along with his eight other siblings in the lap of lush green nature; as a result he had a very lively childhood, he loved East Bengal, his homeland which was to him like an umbilical cord. His love for Mother Nature later played a very significant role in the portrayal of the
Mother archetype in his films. His movies were like a poignant documentary of the people who faced alienation and dislocation from their homeland as a result of partition. The harrowing memories of partition haunted him for the rest of his life and in turn found reflection in his work.
During the late forties Ritwik Ghatak started working for the communist backed 'Indian People's
Theatre Association' (IPTA) and engaged himself as an actor, writer and director. His chief inspiration in the field of theatre was Bertolt Brecht, who was himself a Marxist, Ritwik Ghatak adapted many of his plays fusing elements of both Traditional Indian folk theatre and European
Avant-garde, and thus both Ritwik Ghatak and Bertolt Brecht shared a similar ideology and agenda.
Ritwik Ghatak started his acting career in films in 1951, in the movie Chinnamool (The
Uprooted) which was based on the issue of refugees directed by Nemai Ghosh, the movie did not run well in theatres. He shifted to films from theatre because he believed that he would be able to reach a larger audience through this medium and propagate his ideas and not because he wanted any fame, money or glamour. His first movie as a director was Nagarik (The city Dweller) in
1952. But the movie was never released during his lifetime and was considered lost until it was discovered and was released posthumously in 1977 in Kolkata, within a very short time, the movie was an instant hit. Mr.Ghatak had started working in a period dominated by Satyajit Ray,
rare mastery of the art of motion pictures, and of his profound humanitarian outlook, which has
154
Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road) marked him as one of the pioneers of Italian neo- rea have preceded Pather Panchali which had come out in 1955 and in turn Nagarik would have taken the centre-stage as the ground-breaking phenomenon in Indian realist cinema.
Thus began Ritwik Ghatak's tryst with ill-fated luck and failure with one movie after the
hand where Satyajit Ray received immediate public acclaim, Mr. Ghatak was sidelined. People found it difficult to appreciate his films at that time which were abound in stark realism and time and again his movies took the audience to the brink of despair. Ritwik Ghatak was predominantly
t, he made films for the people, in his words, do not believe in
universe, the world at large, the international situation, my country and finally my own people. I make films for them. I may be a failure. That is for the people to judge
Although Ritwik Ghatak devoted his entire life for his people yet these very same people failed to understand him time and again. This gap in communication began to disturb Ritwik Ghatak slowly and preyed upon his soul till his dying day. Un-appreciation of any form made him slowly a loner and made him feel like a refugee more and more.
Ritwik Ghatak scripted seventeen feature films out of which eight were released. Out of this collection only one movie got acclaim from his audience during his life time, that is
(The Cloud-capped star), in 1960. This movie which is now considered a treasure of Indian cinema and a classic in world cinema for its poignancy, then was a hit, only, with a few and select audience.
155
Comments;
Repeated failures and occasional instances of not being able to release his movies had begun to take a toll on him. He had taken to drinking beer while shooting for Ajantrik The film was never a commercial success and neither was Bari Theke Paliye. Frustration increased and so did his frequency of drinking. The last nail in the coffin was when Komal Gandhar flopped.
took to country liquor and even skipped taking a bath. His eccentric style of living took its toll on my health too. Along with my three children, I left for Shillong. Meanwhile, he took up the offer of
critical state. In 1969, he was admitted to a 2009: p. 26)
The knowledge that Komal Gandhar -flat) box-office potential was sabotaged by people who were once his friends, deeply hurt Ghatak. It is to this day widely believed in Calcutta that the Communists and Congress joined hands to finish him off. A large number of tickets were bought by goons of both the parties who then disturbed the viewing of the legitimate viewer by sobbing loudly during funny scenes and breaking into uproarious laughter at the serious ones.
The audience was alienated and the viewer-ship fell dramatically after a promising run in the first week. The film had to be withdrawn. He, being the co-producer, had to share the burden of the financial loss. It broke him. His descent into alcohol began soon after (Megan 2003: p. 24).
By the end of 1968 Ritwik Ghatak had already taken to heavy drinking, one day, Surama
Ghatak at her home was informed by two boys that her husband was lying unconscious in the streets and someone had put notes of money into his mouth. In 1969, he was admitted into a mental asylum by his concerned wife who found it increasingly difficult to deal with the idiosyncrasies of an alcohol addict; he became restless, lost interest in personal hygiene, was prone to short temper and sudden outburst and constantly needed money to buy drinks. While he resided at the asylum, he was under heavy medication and also shock therapy. Sanhita Ghatak, his daughter has recounted that when he was institutionalized he would sometimes tell his
156 visiting daughter that the doctors were always giving him strong injections to keep him from drinking which would invariably induce sleep all the time. When he would wake up from his sleep he would feel disgusted with himself as he looked around and saw the environment. And he would often say to Sanhita that I have to run away.
Inspite of such treatment he continued to drink local liquor known as bangla or desi liquor secretly. This dark phase in the life of Ritwik Ghatak has been captured beautifully and almost in
of filmmaking in Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud- Capped
Star, 2013) which is a tribute by budding director Kamaleshwar Mukherjee to his inspiration.
and those of the characters, where Ritwik Ghatak has been named as Nilkantha Bagchi, a name of
(Reason Debate and Story) and the goings on in his mind that has been depicted in the film have also been fictionalized. But apart from these few points the movie serves as a rich source of
although critics still to this day claim that Ritwik Ghatak can and will never be fully understood.
The Film Meghe Dhaka Tara (2013) according to critic Gautam Chakraborty in his review of the
stories, interviews, biographies by his wife and daughter; therefore a prior knowledge of these according to the critic, is required to a certain extent to appreciate and enjoy this visual text.
While at the mental asylum, Ritwik Ghatak never stopped working, restless and depressed he wr That girl)using his fellow patients and doctor,
157 mental faculties were still working; to cite a quote from Kamaleshwar Mukh
1969 Ghatak was admitted to a mental asylum for alcohol addiction..... It can thus be assumed that his mental state was bizarre at the time. But what is shocking is that he actually wrote a play, Sei Meye, at this time and staged it with the other inmates. I found this amazing because I believe that only a genius could have achieved something like this (The Telegraph 2013).
His inability to forget the horrors of partition and the suffering of the common man coupled with his own failure as a director disturbed him greatly. He found it increasingly difficult to stay away from alcohol even while at the asylum. He would often ask for money from his wife in a pitiful manner on the grounds that he found it painful to work without the dependency on alcohol which acted as a balm for his disturbed mind.
Surama Ghatak was herself suffering from ill-health during this time; she had regular headaches for which she had to take medicines that would make her drowsy and sleepy the entire day. Somehow she managed to look after herself and her three kids in the house single-handedly for seven months. There was a point when Surama Ghatak could take his alcoholism no more and decided to distance herself from Ritwik Ghatak as their family was falling apart. The family was
reatment did not come cheap. Society tagged him as a wasted drunkard, a madman, the more time it took for him to treat his addiction, the more times he went through electroconvulsive therapy which greatly affected his already feeble health and in the latter part of his life he suffered from many illnesses, jaundice being one.
158
Conclusion
Ritwik Ghatak was a director who was far ahead of his times; his calibre makes a natural genius on the ranks of Ingmar Bergman, Luis Bunuel. He has come to be known as an example of undisciplined genius in Indian film-making. P.C Joshi in 1971 had told Ritwik Ghatak himself
The history of partition deeply scarred him for life; he was never able to be a part of the
forgotten the Partition, and were immersed in the problems and prospects of a truncated India. He was almost alone in continuing to suffer from the wounds of the parting. He hardly ever made a pronouncement on the partition of the Punjab; it was East Bengal which continued to beckon to
:257).
become subjects of serious critical analysis. A cult figure, his films have started to attract attention from all parts of the world, he was a true talent and a genius of another kind.
than a disease itself, it is a symptom of inner difficulties, turmoil, and agitation. Not one but numerous reasons both personal distress and socio- addiction. And rather than treating addiction it is necessary to treat the root cause of the problem.
159
References
Alan I. L, (1997) Science, New Series, Vol. 278, No. 5335 (USA: American Association for the Advancement of Science), 46. Chidananda D.,(1985) , India International Centre Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3 (India: India International Centre,), 263.
Gautam C. (2013) Anandabazaar Patrika Patrika Issue, June 22nd, 2013, 4. Megan C. (2014), Senses of Cinema, Issue 29, quote no. 39, December 2003 (accessed April 14th, 2014); available from http://sensesofcinema.com/2003/great- directors/ghatak/. Shreya S. (2014) The Telegraph, India, 30th June 2013 (accessed May 12th, 2014); available from .
Surama G. (2003), 103 Jawad Fatayer Journal of Applied SocialSciences, 2/1 (USA: Sage Publications, 2008), 88.
160