ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the thematics of Partition that linger as an afterthought in the cinematic oeuvre of Ritwik Ghatak. Ghatak’s creative aporia posits Partition within an economy of implied expression, where the consciousness of displacement and loss exceed the conventional tendencies of plot. Instead, they are provoked within a deeper atmospherics of loss, which exceed the clear correlation between the signifier-signified/ referential-referred of representation. The chapter, through a close engagement with Ghatak’s Partition trilogy, will explore Ghatak’s trend of deconstructing Partition. The chapter will focus on Ghatak’s personalization of the catastrophe of Partition and will understand how the considerations of class, gender and other social and private relations are inseparably associated and influenced by the greater historical milieu of Partition.
