‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’ or ‘The Cloud-Capped Star’ is based on the life of legendary Indian filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak. The name of the movie is taken from the most famous work of his oeuvre.
Cloud-Capped Star is written and directed by Kamaleswar Mukherjee and is produced under the banner of Shree Venkatesh Films. The film stars Saswata Chatterjee in the lead role and has actors like Ananya Chatterjee, Abir Chatterjee, Rahul Banerjee, Joydeep Mukherjee, Abhijit Guha, Ritwik Chakrabarty, Anindya Bose in important characters.
The movie is shot in black and white and the cinematography of the film is top-notch. Soumik Haldar has done a wonderful job with the cinematography. Debojyoti Mishra has composed the music of the film and it has some compositions from Salil Chowdhury and Rabindranath Tagore as well.
‘Meghe Dhaka Tara’ tells the story of a troubled social activist and filmmaker Nilkantha, whose character is based on Ritwik Ghatak. He struggles with the norms of society and deals with the pain faced from partition through his films. His films are not for mere entertainment, he looks upto them as weapons. Nilkantha is a drunkard and he is locked in a mental asylum for psychiatric treatment and alcohol detoxification, he has to suffer poverty throughout his life, yet he is determined that his works will stay and inspire generations.
The film has a black and white non linear treatment and the music syncs with the tension and emotion of the scenes. The technical aspects of the film are overwhelming and even though Saswata does not really look like Ritwik, his passion stands out and impresses audiences and they feel like it is really their beloved director Ritwik Ghatak.
The film is available to watch on Hoichoi, you can watch it there. You should not miss such a well made movie that tells tbe story of one of the most important filmmakers of Indian cinema.