Overview
- On his birth centenary, new commentary and public events across India spotlight Ghatak’s legacy and contemporary relevance.
- Ghatak’s films drew on the Bengal famine, the 1947 Partition and refugee upheaval, blending social realism with myth and allegory as noted by scholars.
- He completed eight feature films and many documentaries; Nagarik was made in 1952 but released 25 years later, while the acclaimed Partition trilogy did not bring commercial success.
- Filmmakers and critics link his preoccupations with homelessness and identity to present-day forced migrations, with several works newly restored and studied internationally.
- Peers such as Satyajit Ray praised his visual power, and renewed attention follows decades of relative sidelining and periodic public disputes over the use of his work.