Komal Gandhar

{{Infobox film

| name = Komal Gandhar
(A Soft Note on a Sharp Scale)

| image = Komal Gandhar DVD cover.jpg

| alt = Komal Gandhar DVD cover

| caption = Poster

| director = Ritwik Ghatak

| writer =

| screenplay = Ritwik Ghatak

| story =

| based_on =

| producer = Ritwik Ghatak

| starring =

| narrator =

| cinematography = Dilip Ranjan Mukhopadhyay

| editing = Ramesh Joshi

| music = Jyotirindra Moitra
Lyrics: Rabindranath Tagore

| studio =

| distributor =

| released = {{Film date|1961|03|31|df=y}}

| runtime =

| country = India

| language = Bengali

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Komal Gandhar ({{langx|bn|কোমল গান্ধার}} Kōmal Gāndhār),{{cite book|author=Manju Jain|title=Narratives Of Indian Cinema|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ORE9TDOoU1IC&pg=PA81|access-date=8 July 2012|date=1 August 2009|publisher=Primus Books|isbn=978-81-908918-4-4|pages=81–}} also known as A Soft Note on a Sharp Scale, is a 1961 Bengali film{{cite book|author=Robert Burgoyne|title=The Epic Film|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Z9D1ShFrtkC&pg=PT394|access-date=8 July 2012|date=1 August 2009|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-99017-2|pages=394–}} written and directed by legendary film maker Ritwik Ghatak.{{cite web|title=E-Flat (1961)|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/152410/E-Flat/credits|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514084830/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/152410/E-Flat/credits|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 May 2013|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|date=2013|access-date=3 August 2012}}{{cite web |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2420/stories/20071019507309300.htm |title=Jinxed legacy |publisher=Hinduonnet.com |access-date=2010-03-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606115549/http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2420/stories/20071019507309300.htm |archive-date=6 June 2011 |url-status=usurped }}{{cite web |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?231934 |title=Of Time And The River… |publisher=www.outlookindia.com |date=2006-07-21 |access-date=2010-03-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100214015451/http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?231934 |archive-date=14 February 2010 |url-status=dead }} The title refers to the Hindustani equivalent of "E-flat". It was part of the trilogy composed of Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), Komal Gandhar and Subarnarekha (1962), all dealing with the aftermath of the Partition of India in 1947 and the refugees coping with it, though this was the most optimistic film of his oeuvre.{{cite book |title=Global Art Cinema: New Theories and Histories|author=Rosalind Galt|author2=Karl Schoonover |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-19-538562-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UkmrQYWaYTYC&q=Komal+Gandhar+film&pg=PT431 }} The film explores three themes juxtaposed in the narrative: the dilemma of Anusuya, the lead character, the divided leadership of IPTA, and the fallout from the partition of India.{{cite book |title=Ritwik Kumar Ghatak: a monograph|author= Haimanti Banerjee|publisher=National Film Archive of India |year=1985|isbn=81-201-0001-8 |pages=62–3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mmUeAQAAMAAJ&q=Komal+Gandhar }}

Overview

The film title was taken from the line of a poemBook: Punascha, poem: Komal–Gandhar; {{langx|bn|নাম রেখেছি কোমল গান্ধার, মনে মনে।}} by Rabindranath Tagore that meant a sur or note, E-flat. As in other films by Ghatak, music plays a pivotal role in the movie.

Through the microcosmic perspectivising of a group of devoted and uncompromising IPTA workers, Ghatak with his signature style touches on varied issues of partition, idealism, corruption, the interdependence of art and life, the scope of art, and class-struggle. Unlike his other films, this one runs along an upbeat mood with the lead pair of lovers (Vrigu and Anusua) being reunited.

Cast

Supriya Devi as Anusuya
Abanish Bannerjee as Bhrigu
Bijon Bhattacharya as Gagan
Satindra Bhattacharya as Shibnath
Debabrata Biswas
Chitra Sen as Jaya
Anil Chatterjee as Rishi
Gyanesh Mukherjee
Satyabrata Chattopadhyay
Gita Dey as Shanta

Soundtrack

Music was by Jyotirindra Moitra, from IPTA, and a noted Rabindra Sangeet exponent who had previously given music in Ghatak's Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960), and had song by singers like, Bijon Bhattacharya, Debabrata Biswas, Hemanga Biswas. Bahadur Khan played sarod in the soundtrack. The film is noted for its wedding songs and also contrapuntal use of sound.Indian horizons, Volume 44. Indian Council for Cultural Relations., 1995. p. 127.

Screening of Komal Gandhar aka E-Flat in different festivals

2017: Ritwik Ghatak Retrospective UK, at Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, Scotland, UK, Programme curated by Sanghita Sen, Department of Film Studies, St Andrews University, UK [http://www.dca.org.uk/whats-on/event/e-flat]