Shubhajit S
A poignant portrayal of post-partition Bengal in the poverty-ridden 1950s, Meghe Dhaka Tara opens with a glimpse into the life of a refugee family settled in a Calcutta resettlement colony. The household consists of six members: Nita, the central character, a sincere young woman pursuing her M.A.; her elder brother, an unemployed singer chasing the dream of fame; a bitter, loud, and manipulative mother (brilliantly played by Gita Dey); a father who is a school principal and often recites Wordsworth and Keats; and two other siblings, equally self-absorbed.
The director paints a stark and unflinching picture of the fragile middle-class existence of that era. Even with two earning members, the family struggles to survive—Nita’s youngest brother, who longs to be a footballer, cannot afford a pair of spikes, while she herself attends college without a new saree. Towards the end of each month, their meals shrink to rice with a single side dish. To ease the burden, Nita takes on private tutoring in addition to her studies. But tragedy strikes when her father meets with an accident, leaving her with no choice but to abandon her M.A. midway and take up a job. Without hesitation or complaint, she assumes the responsibility of the entire household, even supporting her research-scholar boyfriend.
Nita’s trust in her brother and lover—that they would someday succeed—becomes her undoing. She sacrifices everything for them, only to be betrayed: her boyfriend falls in love with her younger sister, and they eventually marry. True to the old saying, those who care the most often endure the greatest suffering.
The film’s metaphorical depth is remarkable. The recurring image of a train slicing through the horizon echoes the wound of partition. One of the most moving moments comes when Nita cries out, “I want to live,” after hearing about her nephew’s joy in climbing the newly built first floor of their house. This scene symbolizes the eternal clash between personal ambition and the daily struggle for survival. In the haunting final sequence, Nita’s now-successful elder brother encounters a poor girl in torn slippers at the market—a reminder of how he once looked at Nita during his own days of hardship—suggesting that the cycle of sacrifice and suffering will repeat itself.
The tragedy of Meghe Dhaka Tara lies in how those closest to Nita eventually find success and fulfill their dreams, while her own life deteriorates steadily. The lasting message of the film is clear: ambition is never achieved in isolation—it is built on the sacrifices of others. At the same time, the story underlines the necessity of self-love, warning against the dangers of excessive selflessness that borders on self-destruction.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/25/25
Full Review
William L
The Cloud-Capped Star is one of those films in which you can tell that virtually every step taken by the director, the actors, the cinematographer, and the writers was done with intent and purpose. Thinking back after watching it, there are so many individual moments and entire scenes that feature clever production tricks intended to provide additional impact to the story; the abstract sound design and clever audio overlays are impressive, a variety of shooting styles that will often surprise you with their creativity and candor, and sincere and often pained performances to name a few (Gita for one of film's all time worst siblings). On the surface it's a clear-cut melodrama (and even in that context it packs a punch), but Ghatak created the film as a commentary on division, and the particular suffering inflicted by the political upheaval of the Indian Partition, depicting it through a humanist narrative on sacrifice, love, and suffering for others, even when they are unappreciative (seriously, this is just a terrible family). In traditional society, where does the line fall between loyalty to family and personal sacrifice? There is also a curious depiction of the starving artist, and art's role in society, in the depiction of Chatterjee's Shankar, a singer who believes that he cannot make money on his craft until he has perfected it, and so leaves Choudhury's Nita as the main breadwinner while constantly mooching off of her, but ends up a success and the sole family member who really cares for Nita after she contracts her illness. What does that say about Ghetak, as director and wirter of the film and a fellow artist to his fictional Shankar? A tragic film made with a masterful touch. (4.5/5)
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
03/21/21
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Audience Member
An unsympathetic story of woman's sacrifice for her family. How family can unapologetically cruel , the movies shows that.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
01/24/23
Full Review
S R
1001 movies to see before you die. Visually beautiful, a little slow at times, but it still manages to show the struggles of rural India. It was on CRI.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
07/22/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Extremely well-acted family melodrama.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
Full Review
Audience Member
<i>"Brother, I want to survive."</i>
Tragic injustice and a harsh reality revolving a noble heart whose physical beauty is merely something symbolic to remind us of her purity. Ritwik Ghatak, a renowned name whose importance easily matches Satyajit Ray, begins his trilogy about the Partition of India in 1947 with overwhelming commitment. Hypocritical figures and visual beauty mixed together sporadically.
96/100
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/22/23
Full Review
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