Ritwik Ghatak made 8 feature films. None of them were hits. Heck! Not many people have even heard of him. Is he a failure?
A film is a form of artistic expression. If you have any doubts, watch Ghatak's films. His protogonists go through a lot of toughtimes in their life. Most of the times are failures. I usually dislike that kind of films. But not in Ghatak's. His movies seem like reflection of his soul. He wanted to all his anguish in them.
I was watching Subarnarekha lastnight. In that you see 2 characters who love to cry(That's a crude way of putting it. One likes to sing sad songs/raagas and the other writes sad stories). Another character asks the girl why she sings sad songs all the time. She replies that's what she sees around her all the time. That's what ghatak has seen. He wanted you to see it.
Now coming to the question whether he's a failure. You may say he is. He was an alcoholic and died at 51. Made 8 films none were hits. But hey, his films are a relection of his soul. How many artists can really do that? Now he's considered by many as one of the best film makers from India. His dreams probably were broken, but his work will live on forever. Thanks to British Film Institute trying to restore them.
