A Soulful Cry of Anguish Against Fate
A Soulful Cry of Anguish against Fate
(“The Tale of the Lonely Ghost”, a film (2013) by ANUP SINGH - who collaborated on the screenplay as well, an Indian, a Sikh born in Dar-es-Salaam but settled in Switzerland – enjoys the good fortune of an exceptionally brilliant Parisian: Béatrice THIRIET for the musical contribution: the tone/mood of the multi-tragical tour de force is struck right from the start and maintained right through to the end, a profoundly moving poetical elegy on the fate of simple village folk, victims of their own traditions and taboos. Set in the post-Independence India-Pakistan “partition” torn Punjab during the Hindu-Muslim and Sikh carnage in 1947, the film must convey even at this late date some of the stark déchirements of religious conflicts and political faux pas: a British magistrate who had no inkling of the ethno-religious set-up of the region merely settled the border issue between the two new countries by drawing a blunderbuss line across the map. The sets and frames vacillate constantly between desolate rugged terrain and other-worldly Rembrandtesque facial expressions whose under-tones depict fierce obsessions and helplessnesses in the wake of tradition and custom reducing every character to mere pawns in the fatidic drama of interplay with even the supernatural. Near the end, at the moment of dénouement Béatrice Thiriet introduces an excerpt of a song in the background which best encapsulates the spirit of the telefilm, at about 1 hour 13 minutes 53 seconds. Click on the link if you so wish to sample vicariously the pain.
The transliteration is approximate, and my English translation takes directly after the French sub-titles – with apologies and thanks to the film property owners, if they have no objections for I do not know how to obtain prior permission.)
http://www.arte.tv/guide/fr/043014-000-A/le-secret-de-kanwar
(This link will not open after October 4th, 2016, so hurry up and torture yourselves.)
roko ji kohi roko jaathu jagumathu jagumathu ji
raathu va geindi kaali
chaduthjar jaave lasuthaaraa lasuthaaraa lasuthaaraa
chaduthjar jaave lasuthaaraa lasuthaaraa lasuthaaraa
isukhi rathi ya kare shaara
isukhi rathi ya kare share
roko ji kohi toko toko ji kohi toko
suhi saruthalu saruthalu ji
raathu gaali
La nuit glisse sur nous
Un serpent de passion
L’étoile rouge sang s’élève
Impregnée d’amour elle nous fait signe
Retenez-moi, je vous en prie
La pas de la porte vibre
Rouge, rouge encore
The night slithers over our bodies
A serpent of passion
The blood-red star over the horizon
The blood-red star over the horizon
Shining with love beckons us
Shining with love beckons us
Hold me back, I implore you
The doorstep quivers
Red, still glowing red
© T. Wignesan – Paris, 2016
Copyright © T Wignesan | Year Posted 2016
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