Rent The Cloud-Capped Star (1960)
3.8 of 5 from 79 ratings
2h 2min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Arguably Ghatak's finniest work, The Cloud-Capped Star is dark melodrama set in late Fifties Calcutta about a refugee family and the struggle of Nita, the oldest daughter, to keep them afloat and together. It is a bitter critique of the family as institution and also of the harsh social and economic conditions arising from Partition - the trauma that defined Ghatak as an artist. With its sparse script, audacious expressionist soundtrack and a startling cinematic elegance, The Cloud-Capped Start is undoubtedly a modern masterpiece – infinitely compassionate and human while remaining resolutely unsentimental.
- Actors:
- Supriya Choudhury, Anil Chatterjee, Niranjan Ray, Gita Ghatak, Bijon Bhattacharya, Gita Dey, Dwiju Bhawal, Gyanesh Mukherjee, Ranen Ray Choudhury, Abhi Bhattacharya
- Directors:
- Ritwik Ghatak
- Writers:
- Rabindranath Tagore, Ritwik Ghatak
- Aka:
- Meghe Dhaka Tara
- Studio:
- BFI Video
- Genres:
- Drama, Music & Musicals
- Collections:
- Cinema Paradiso's 2025 Centenary Club: October - December: Part 1
- Countries:
- India
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Reviews (2) of The Cloud-Capped Star
Family Fortunes - The Cloud-Capped Star review by griggs
Ritwik Ghatak has made one of the most beautiful films I've seen about people behaving appallingly.
Partition has left Neeta's refugee family scraping by outside Calcutta, and she's paying nearly all the bills. Supriya Choudhury makes every sacrifice painfully believable, all tired smiles and dogged good humour. I spent half the film wanting her to tell the lot of them where to go. They're poor, to be fair. They also treat Neeta like a cash machine with a pulse.
Then there are the images. Ghatak's black-and-white compositions are so striking I kept wanting to pause just to stare. He leaves Neeta looking alone even when the whole household is crammed into one room. The music sounded wonderfully strange to my Western ears, and one betrayal lands with a whip-crack. Apparently the family's cruelty needed percussion.
The misfortunes do pile up, and a couple of relatives drift towards pantomime villainy. Still, those final scenes flattened me.
Neeta spends the film keeping everyone afloat. Shame it took them so long to return the favour.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
A thought provoking portrayal of how some people sacrifice their all for the good of the family. - The Cloud-Capped Star review by RM
I have not read this story, Meghe Dhaka Tara, by Shaktipada Rajguru (not Tagore as stated above).
Seemingly, the film shows how characters are formed/(de)formed by extreme poverty. But in my opinion, it also shows how some people, driven by their noble nature , are prepared to make whatever sacrifice is required of them, even when they know they are being exploited by other family members. (I know of several similar situations in both eastern and western families, so it is not a cultural thing, rather a demonstration of the noble human nature. On a larger scale, when the 'family' is the whole society/country some people have risen to the challenge of sacrificing their whole life.)
Very well acted. Direction of the period.
A thought-provoking film, albeit sad.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.