'' (1974) Ghatak died on 6 February 1976. At the time of his death, Ghatak's primary influence seemed to have been through former students. Although his stint teaching film at FTII was brief, one-time students
Mani Kaul,
John Abraham, and especially
Kumar Shahani, carried Ghatak's ideas and theories, which were elaborated upon in his book
Cinema and I, into the mainstream of
Indian art film.
Cinema and I was called by
Satyajit Ray as a book that covers all aspects of filmmaking. Other students of his at the FTII included
Saeed Akhtar Mirza,
Subhash Ghai and
Adoor Gopalakrishnan. While other filmmakers like
Satyajit Ray succeeded in creating an audience outside India during their lifetime, Ghatak and his films were appreciated primarily within India. Satyajit Ray did what he could to promote his colleague, but Ray's generous praise did not translate into international fame for Ghatak. For example, Ghatak's
Nagarik (1952) was perhaps the earliest example of a Bengali art film, preceding Ray's by three years, but was not released until after his death in 1977.
Karz in particular was remade several times: as the
Kannada film Yuga Purusha (1989), the
Tamil film Enakkul Oruvan (1984), and more recently the
Bollywood Karzzzz (2008).
Karz and
The Reincarnation of Peter Proud may have inspired the American
Chances Are (1989). Ghatak's work as a director influenced many later Indian filmmakers, including those from the
Bengali film industry and elsewhere. Ghatak is said to have influences on
Kumar Shahani, Mani Kaul,
Ketan Mehta, and
Adoor Gopalakrishnan. For example,
Mira Nair has cited Ghatak as well as Ray as the reasons she became a filmmaker. Ghatak's influence as a director began to spread beyond India much later; beginning in the 1990s, a project to restore Ghatak's films was undertaken, and international exhibitions (and subsequent DVD releases) have belatedly generated an increasingly global audience. In a critics' poll of
all-time greatest films conducted by the
Asian film magazine
Cinemaya in 1998,
Subarnarekha was ranked at No. 11. In the 2002
Sight & Sound critics' and directors' poll for all-time greatest films,
Meghe Dhaka Tara was ranked at No. 231 and
Komal Gandhar at No. 346. In 2007,
A River Named Titas topped the list of 10 best
Bangladeshi films, as chosen in the audience and critics' polls conducted by the
British Film Institute. Russia-born German actress Elena Kazan once said Ghatak's
Jukti Takko Gappo has the most profound influence on her view about world cinema. == Ideology ==