After dropping little Samik at his home, Shatadal returns to his own, and in a tired voice asks Ramu, the servant, to give him tea. The very first scene of Shatadal with his wife Madhuri (Arundhuti Debi) speaks volumes about their crumbling marriage. We would see another (less acrimonious, though equally painful) kind of marital discord unfold in the next 90 minutes, and that would stem from the lack of a child. These opening scenes – with the boy (whom Shatadal is evidently fond of) and the acrimonious couple, set the scene for the central theme of the film.
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He is offered tea by the flustered couple, but he refuses, pleading exhaustion. They are too busy fighting, as it turns out, when Shatadal drops the boy home. He picks up his friends’ son from the street, walking in the rain because his parents failed to turn up at school. For the affluent, it is a different matter they return home in cars – like Shatadal Dutta (Uttam Kumar), a very successful and high-ranking officer at the Archaeological Department of the Government of India. He is the ‘kerani’ (clerk), doomed to a tough existence in a big city. The title-credits of the film open to Supriyo (Anil Chatterjee) negotiating the rain-splattered streets of Calcutta. It is very much in evidence in Jatugriha, where they play a couple in – and out of – love, without an iota of mushiness. Uttam Kumar had once remarked that he changed his acting style with every co-star with Arundhuti, he adopted a more intellectual style to match hers. And though they were the lead pair in the films, they did not play stereotypical ‘romantic’ roles in them. They were based on literary classics, directed by Tapan Sinha (Arundhuti’s husband) and dealt with unconventional themes. Of them, the ones with Arundhuti Debi – including Bicharak (1959), Jhinder Bandi (1961), and Jatugriha (1964) – were a class apart. But Uttam did a sizable amount of films with other co-stars as well. Indeed, they did 27 films together in a span of two decades and left a permanent mark in the history of Bengali cinema. When talking of Uttam Kumar, Suchitra Sen’s name is never far behind! Bengalis are prone to talk of ‘Uttam-Suchitra’, the brand, rather than the actors individually. Another USP of the film was the lead pair. Tapan Sinha added one more memorable film to the list. Subodh Ghosh’s stories had already proved very successful on celluloid – both Bengali and Hindi -among others, in Ritwik Ghatak’s Ajantrik (1958) and Bimal Roy’s Sujata (1959).
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Jatugriha had an ace director and a talented cast, but its chief strength was its story.
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Ltd.’s third venture and it attested the star’s commitment to quality films films that somewhat extended the scope of commercial Bengali cinema. It is useful to remember here that by 1964, Uttam Kumar was not only Bengal’s undisputed matinee idol, but also a successful producer with two acclaimed films to his credit.
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With such an amazing bunch of creative people coming together in the film, little wonder it turned out so well. Jatugriha was released in 1964 – the same year as Ray’s Charulata – and marks a mature high point in the careers of all concerned: the leads Uttam Kumar and Arundhuti Debi, the supporting actor Anil Chatterjee, and of course the director Tapan Sinha. It was a unique Bengali film of its times, and remains so even after 50 years! Jatugriha literally translates as ‘the burnt home’, and indeed, what is remarkable about the film is the way in which it delineates marital discord.