Visual Essay

Although Meghe Dhaka Tara (Cloud-Capped Star) concerns the lives of a middle class Hindu family in the aftermath of a post-Partition India, the film does not explicitly reference the Partition. Despite this lack of a clear cut connection to the politics of the Partition, many scenes and characters in the movie are symbolic of the pain and suffering endured by by India during the frantic migration 1947. The following abstract is meant to help the reader understand our critical analysis of the film using this unconventional analytical medium.

 

In an effort to highlight this political and historical reading of Meghe Dhaka Tara, our group decided to create a mash-up video—a visual essay of sorts—that takes documentary footage, old news reels, maps, and newspaper headlines and juxtapose them with relevant scenes from the film. By including a variety of different visual sources, we hoped to emulate the clashing composition of narrative modes utilized in the cuban film Memories of Underdevelopment (1968). The result we hope is an emotionally jarring, atmospheric, somewhat avant-garde video that captures the blatant contradictions of the intentions of the colonists (the British) and the resulting anguish of the Indian people. At one point in the video, we cut in and out of different scenes of the main character, Neeta, looking forlorn as her life falls apart and coughing as her health deteriorates with clips from news reels that show political leaders from Britain and India meeting together to decide India’s fate. Although the leaders speak of hope and harmony, the scenes from the film as well as horrific clips from documentaries and tear-jerking first hand accounts of the violence reveal the terrifying reality.

 

Not only do we offer commentary on the effects of Partition politics on India, we also focused on colonization, gender, and class as portrayed in the film as well. We include clips that show the the post-colonial mind, such as Neeta’s comments about being “civilized” and not being “barbarians.” We also show examples of male exploitation of the female and of the family’s middle class sensibilities that conflict with its state of impoverishment.

 

For a more in-depth perspective into the various themes and topic explored in the movie and in our video as well as further reading/watching, please refer to the other sections of our blog. Enjoy our visual essay!

 

(Abstract by Stewart Hoffmann)

 

(Video and Sound Editing by Stewart Hoffmann)

(Clip Selection by Joyce Ma and Kristina Johansson)

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