Journalism of Courage
In Satyajit Rays debut film,Pather Panchali,siblings Apu and Durga never venture out of Nischindipur,the idyllic Bengali village that introduced the world to Indian cinema. Bamboo groves,guava orchards and the rundown house make for their home and their playfield. In an iconic train sequence,the siblings are confronted by the outside world for the first time a steam engine comes roaring into the frame,as Apu and Durga stare in awe. Like all great cinema and literature,this scene too revelled in paradoxes. It celebrated innocence and the loss of it. That there was a world outside,was a revelation to the siblings,and a journey commenced both for the protagonists and the audience. Subsequently,in Aparajito and Apur Sansar,the other films that make up the Apu trilogy,the same concept of beyond is explored. Ray takes his protagonist,Apu,to an allegorical journey across the country and the darkest depths of his soul,only to bring him back to the solace of home and family.
Home,in all its abstractness,was integral to most Ray films. Hailed as a great humanist,Rays protagonists undertook physical and emotional journeys to achieve catharsis. In his 1963 film Mahanagar,Arati,a homemaker,takes up a job as a door-to-door saleswoman to tide over a financial crisis. Her world,till now defined by a dank,sooty kitchen and overbearing in-laws,is challenged,and independence is thrust upon her. Arati,however,rises to the challenge,striking a balance between home and her new job. In the much-celebrated Charulata 1964,Charus home,the wooden blinds of her window through which she observes the street outside,the luxuries of a well-to-do Bengali family of the 1870s,embody her loneliness.
While his celebrated contemporary Ritwik Ghatak dealt with a mans obsession with an inanimate object in Ajantrik 1958,Ray approached a similar theme differently. In his little talked-about 1962 film Abhijan,Narsingh,a taxi driver,is emotionally attached to his vintage 1930 Chrysler; its his home,family and sanctuary.
When he was making films for children,Ray was more cryptic about his intentions. He made us empathise with Mukuls subliminal attachment to home in his 1974 film Sonar Kella. It is an attachment that transcends lifetimes and challenges barriers of science and logic. Mukul,a boy from a middle-class Bengali family in Kolkata,suddenly remembers events from his past life and is drawn to the deserts of Rajasthan. In another childrens classic,Joi Baba Felunath 1979,Ray takes us to a mansion in Benaras where a precious artifact has been stolen. Following the template of one of the quaintest Tintin classics,The Castafiore Emerald,the resolution of a fantastic story happens in the inner chambers of the home.
In his later films,Ray chose to be more of a classicist. He made his characters understand the true meaning of comfort and solace through a trial by fire. In his 1984 film Ghare Baire,based on Rabindranath Tagores novel of the same name,Bimala,the heroine has to choose between the world and her home. Bimalas progressive husband,Nikhilesh a nobleman in early 20th century Bengal,wants her to be an independent thinker. He educates and introduces her to the world beyond the four walls of his luxurious mansion. However,independence manifests itself as an affair with another man and Bimala is torn between two worlds.
It was the mellow and neglected swansong,Agantuk 1991,which crystallised Rays thoughts on the concepts of home,the beyond and the ideas attached to them. The protagonist,Manomohan Mitra,confesses that he is a victim of wanderlust,and is consumed by a desire to travel. He stresses on the fact that travel of the mind is equally important and ridicules urban cynics as kupomunduks frogs in a well. Yet,Manomohan Mitra,and Ray,never dismiss the pull of our roots and the way they bind us.
