Autobiography of a “Broken” Intellectual: Self-Performance, Melancholia, and Political History in Ghatak’s Jukti Takko Aar Gappo

Nitesh Tripathi

doi:10.5195/cinej.2026.913

Autobiography of a “Broken” Intellectual: Self-Performance, Melancholia, and Political History in Ghatak’s Jukti Takko Aar Gappo

Authors

Nitesh Tripathi Pandit Deendayal Energy University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4335-9155

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2026.913

Keywords:

Ritwik Ghatak, Jukti Takko Aar Gappo, autobiographical cinema, Partition of Bengal, melancholia, political modernism, Bengali cinema, Reason, Debate and a Story

Abstract

Ritwik Ghatak’s Jukti Takko Aar Gappo (1974) is often read as autobiography because Ghatak plays Nilkantha Bagchi, a disillusioned intellectual resembling aspects of the filmmaker’s life. This article argues instead that the film constructs a self-critical performance, not a transparent confession. Through encounters with refugees, artists, intellectuals, and revolutionaries, Nilkantha’s authority is repeatedly questioned. Drawing on Geeta Kapur’s analysis of cinematic self-representation and a limited psychoanalytic account of melancholia, the essay examines how loss becomes self-reproach without diagnosing the character or filmmaker. Close readings of theatrical interruption, allegorical naming, competing voices, and circular imagery show how personal collapse becomes a public debate about Partition, historical memory, and intellectual responsibility. Ghatak’s self-portrait remains an unfinished political argument.

References

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Published

2026-10-15

How to Cite

Tripathi, N. (2026). Autobiography of a “Broken” Intellectual: Self-Performance, Melancholia, and Political History in Ghatak’s Jukti Takko Aar Gappo. CINEJ Cinema Journal, 14(2), 687–703. https://doi.org/10.5195/cinej.2026.913

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Issue

Vol. 14 No. 2 (2026): Fall

Section

Ritwik Ghatak: The Visionary of Cinema

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