Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Transformation of Charulata

From Ahmedabad, 1967


To the United States, 1973


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Was it your best effort or mine?
Bhupen
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Absolutely and undoubtedly yours, Bhupen. You are the creator and transformer; I only took photographs.
Bhai
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And the subject herself had no role to play?!!
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Indeed; without the subject there would not have been a Subject! Her role was to be the Muse; then one transformed and the other merely photographed. Does this satisfy the Muse?
Bhai
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Me, muse? I think not.

Whose effort, best or not; immeasurable.

Perhaps, mere two points in time, photographed telling-ly, in a process that led to a stage named here, "transformation"

May be, not an acceptable comment; just the same.

charu

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was it your best effort or mine?
Bhupen

Anonymous said...

And the subject herself had no role to play?!!

Anonymous said...

Indeed; without the subject there would not have been a Subject! Her role was to be the Muse; then one transformed and the other merely photographed. Does this satisfy the Muse?
Bhai

Anonymous said...

My next comment was going to be that the subject will reject both claims and that will be the third effort, a real one.

Bhupen

Anonymous said...

Me, muse? I think not.

Whose effort, best or not; immeasurable.

Perhaps, mere two points in time, photographed telling-ly, in a process that led to a stage named here, "transformation"

May be, not an acceptable comment; just the same.

charu

pravingandhino1's travel blog said...

I am witness.. first time I met her as a child when she stayed with us on her way to America, she was very nice to me.. then when I studied in USA, more than a decade later, she was still very nice to me (better than my own brother, lol).. somethings dont transform.
I opened this post thinking it was on Satyajit Ray's Charulata, a photographic treat, but it turned out to our own charubhabhi, and Rameshbhai is no less than S.Ray

Ramesh Gandhi said...

Bhupen would be the first, among many others who know Charubhabhi, to agree with you about her giving of herself and caring for all. Your compliment only reinforces what is already stated by many.

Incidentally, Charulata was Ray’s most favourite work, because of his attachment to the Tagore story called Noshtonid (Broken Nest), his own evolution and rise as a film-maker; and, most importantly, because it was the culmination of his attachment to Madhabi Mukherji, the protagonist, which had to end with the film, which became the last Ray-Madhabi collaboration. I was deeply involved with Ray’s evolution as a film-maker; as well as his ardent admirer, I was his severest critic when he attempted to expand his canvas in areas where he was ill-equipped. We had a very healthy, if sometimes pungent, association before he succumbed to his cardiac problems. More on me and Ray you can find, if interested, on my website or my blog, but you will have to persevere a lot.
Rameshbhai