Between Marxist Melodrama and Left Melodrama: Gendered Labor and Suspended Political Possibility in Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960)

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2026.1007

Keywords:

Ritwik Ghatak, Meghe Dhaka Tara, Marxist melodrama, left melodrama, left melancholy, gendered labor, Partition of Bengal, Bengali cinema

Abstract

This article examines Ritwik Ghatak’s Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960) through Marxist melodrama, left melodrama, and left melancholy. Using historically contextualized, scene-based formal analysis, it argues that the film renders Partition, class decline, and gendered exploitation visible through Neeta’s paid work, unpaid care labor, and bodily exhaustion. The refugee family becomes a site where material dependency is reproduced through love, duty, and sacrifice. Framing, domestic space, and disruptive sound intensify Neeta’s suffering without allowing consolatory catharsis. Yet the film depicts no organized collective response. Neeta’s final cry and the recurring broken sandal nevertheless preserve traces of unrealized collective desire. The film thus moves between Marxist and left melodrama, its unresolved political desires lending it a left-melancholic dimension.

Author Biography

Alper Erçetingöz, Batman University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Cinema and Television, Turkey

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Eşref Akmeşe received his B.A. in Journalism from Ege University, Faculty of Communication, and completed his M.A. and Ph.D. in the Department of Radio, Television and Cinema at the same institution. His scholarly work focuses on cinema studies, with particular emphasis on film criticism and documentary cinema. He has published numerous articles, conference papers, and books in these areas.

He began his academic career in 2013 as a Research Assistant in the Department of Radio, Television and Cinema at İnönü University. Since 2021, he has been serving as an Associate Professor in the Department of Cinema and Television at Batman University, Faculty of Fine Arts, where he continues his research on film theory and critical approaches to cinema.

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Published

2026-10-15

How to Cite

Akmeşe, E., & Erçetingöz, A. (2026). Between Marxist Melodrama and Left Melodrama: Gendered Labor and Suspended Political Possibility in Meghe Dhaka Tara (1960). CINEJ Cinema Journal, 14(2), 799–827. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2026.1007

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2026): Fall

Section

Ritwik Ghatak: The Visionary of Cinema

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Copyright (c) 2026 Eşref Akmeşe, Alper Erçetingöz

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