RitwikGhatak was an acclaimed Bengali movie director, screenwriter, and playwright known for making realistic movies on themes like social reality, partition, and feminism. He along with Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha, and Mrinal Sen are the pioneers of parallel cinema in Bengal. He won a National Film Award's Rajat Kamal Award for Best Story in 1974 for his Jukti Takko Aar Gappo and in 1970, he was honoured with Padma Shri by the Government of India. Here are the four top movies of RitikGhatak you shall not miss if you are a cinema lover.

MeghaDekhe Tara (1960)

MeghaDekhe Tara is the most well-known and critically acclaimed movie by RitwikGhatak. The movie is set against the backdrop of partition.

MeghaDekhe Tara was a story that tries to tell about the effect of partition on the psyche of the people who got affected by it. The movie follows the complex story of a refugee family with an exceedingly indifferent character of Nita, who can be considered the protagonist of the movie. The movie heart-wrenchingly tells the tragedies of the millions of people who were uprooted from the place that belonged to them. A must-watch if you are a fan of humane stories.

Subarnrekha (1965)

Subranrekha is an exceptionally powerful assessment of dislocation, treachery, social dissolution, and historical trauma.

Like MeghaDekhe Tara, Subarnrekha also deals with the aftermath of the horrors of partition. Through its female protagonist Sita, the movie explores the theme of displacement – geographic, emotional, moral, and for Sita, even political. It’s the most acclaimed movie of Ghatak and many consider it his best, even above MeghaDekhe Tara and while that’s arguable, there is no doubt it is cinema in its purest form.

Ajantrik (1958)

The story of Ajantrik is based on a short story of the same name written by Subodh Ghosh. It probably was RitwikGhatak’s first movie that got lots of international acclaims.

Adapted from the short story of the same name, Ajantrik is one of the earliest movies that used an object as a character that takes the story forward. The story of the movie revolves around Bimal, a poor taxi driver in Kolkata who owns an old 1920 Chevrolet jalopy which he gave the name- Jagaddal. Ajantrik became critics’ favorite and it was considered for a special entry in the Venice Film Festival in 1959.

KomalGandhar (1961) 

KomalGandhar was second in the partition trilogy movies by RitwikGhatak. Set against the backdrop of partition, KomalGandhar also featured a star-crossed love story.

KomalGandhar known as A Soft Note On A Sharp Scale internationally, is the second movie in the RitwikGhatak’s partition trilogy and it came after Meghe Dhaka Tara. The movie is based during the time of partition and along with the partition theme; it is also a love story of a star-crossed couple. It didn’t do well commercially but is considered one of Ghatak’s best movies.