Padatik

(1973) Heavily influenced by the nouvelle vague of Jean-Luc Godard, Padatik (The Guerilla Fighter) is the concluding part (following Interview and Calcutta 71) of Bengali director Mrinal Sen's Calcutta trilogy of dramas documenting the social climate of Bengal in the 1970s. In the early 70s the fires of Marxism blaze in India's great eastern city. The Naxalite movement, a violent Communist uprising of farmers (that today is considered the greatest internal threat to India's existence), is gaining momentum. One of those revolutionaries (Dhritiman Chatterjee) has escaped police custody and is on the run. His party superiors realise the city's slums are the first place the law will search, so instead they arrange for him to be sheltered in the luxury apartment of a young, beautiful advertising executive (Simi Garewal) who has separated from her husband. The two couldn't seem more diametrically opposed. But, as her radically modern outlook is gradually revealed, the refugee begins to reassess both his attitude towards her and his own politics. Also starring Bijon Bhattachariya, Pravash Sarkar and Dhruba Mitra. Soundtrack composed by Ananda Shankar. In Hindi and Bengali with English subtitles. M,BW,S.