Hirak Rajar Deshe and Hunting the Sun: A Study Of Institutionalization Of Power

Power is an abstract idea and it is expressed in different ways by different philosophers. When Karl Marx saw power as another form of wealth, Friedrich Nietzsche defined it as ‘will to power’. Sigmund Freud’s analysis of the mind made it possible to find the source of “will”, while Bertrand Russell explains power in the phrase “love of power”. According to Michel Foucault, power is the reflection of knowledge and it comes from everywhere. These different forms of power are institutionalized in different ways. The different institutional powers are respectively kingly power, disciplinary power, military power, priestly power, revolutionary power, biological power and so on. In the film Hirak Rajar Deshe (1980) directed by Satyajit Ray, revolutionary power has developed as a result of unethical application of various powers to the masses. As a result, the dynasty of King Hirak has been demolished. Exactly in the same way, the play Hunting the Sun (1971) written by Utpal Dutt, shows the abuse of kingly power, priestly power, disciplinary power etc. But the significant point here is that kingly power is suppressed by priestly power. Here too revolutionary power has developed like in the movie Hirak Rajar Deshe, but the kingly power has retained its position by destroying the revolutionary power by using tactics. This paper shall investigate how chronologically different viewers get their ideas about institutionalization and implementation of power.