Ray’s anti-colonial approach in adapting Tagore’s works: A study into Ray’s film The Postmaster (1961)

Satyajit Ray’s works, including films and short stories, often convey ideological perspectives concerning colonialism and different contemporary issues on socialism and nationhood. A few of his films and short stories can be studied to shed light upon Ray’s anti-colonial attitude. From a close reading of Ray’s three short stories, ‘Neel Atanka’ (‘The Indigo Horror’, 1968), ‘First Class Kamra’ (‘First-Class Compartment’, 1981) and ‘Robertsoner Ruby’ (‘Robertson’s Ruby’, 1992), the article observes Ray’s anti-colonial approach that emphasizes two aspects: the traumatic colonial past of the central characters and their present-day anti-colonial retribution. This article studies Ray’s film The Postmaster (1961) to demonstrate Ray’s approach to anti-colonialism in his early adaptations of Tagore’s text. Therefore, theorizing Ray’s idea of anti-colonialism through a reading of his stories, this article argues that Ray’s adaptation brings to light the postmaster’s disturbing colonial past through his accounts of engagements in the indigo farming scheme and in also giving Ratan a false promise of education, as also mentioned in Tagore’s story. Consequently, in Ray’s adaptation, the colonial self of the postmaster returns and receives his inevitable anti-colonial retribution by exposing himself to fear and a feeling of grief. The article also investigates Ray’s experiment with the film form in adapting a short story.