In 1990, Satyajit Ray released his film, Ganashatru, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play, An Enemy Of The People (original Norwegian title was En Folkefiende). The story of a doctor who traces the cause of a jaundice outbreak, in Chandipur town, to the charnamrita drunk by the devotees of its much-revered temple, Ray’s film juxtaposes religion and science in a powerful manner, while exposing the vested interests of a temple trustee, the municipal corporation chief and a newspaper editor.
Thirty years later, the story is as relevant as ever, with religious sentiments, of all hues, continuing to defy medical advice, even as COVID-19 rages on.
Late Soumitra Chatterjee played Dr Ashoke Gupta, a doctor worried about the sudden spike in jaundice cases in Chandipur. Suspecting that the drinking water of the town is the culprit, he has it tested in Calcutta and finds his hunch is right. Taking the next logical step, he contacts the local newspaper to alert citizens of the most congested part of the town from where he collected the water for testing; thus, arousing the ire of a temple trustee, businessman Bhargava, whose temple is situated here. Bhargava is outraged that the doctor can cast aspersions on charnamrita that has waters of the Ganga, milk and tulsi leaves in it, apart from the local water. “You will not write about my temple,” he warns the doctor in a threatening voice. “Charnamrita can never have impurities!”
Undeterred, Dr Gupta tells his brother Nishit, Chairman of the Municipal Corporation, to take immediate remedial steps by repairing the faulty drainage pipes whose contents are entering the drinking water pipes. “To do that I will have to shut the temple for some time and I cannot do that. People will stop coming to Chandipur. I want our town to become a popular tourist spot of Bengal, and this temple is its biggest attraction!” retorts Nishit (actor Dhritiman Chatterjee playing the perfect boorish foil to Soumitra Chatterjee’s sensitive Dr Gupta).
Astounded by his brother’s priorities, Dr Gupta approaches the local newspaper’s ‘progressive’ editor, again, with a stronger article, urging both the authorities and the citizens to take stringent measures to prevent what appears to be an imminent epidemic. But the editor backtracks on his earlier assurance to support the doctor, and rejects his article. At the same time, he accepts Nishit’s write-up assuring readers that Chandipur’s water is not contaminated. Anguished though Dr Gupta is by the editor’s volte face, he is determined not to cave in.
So he holds a public meeting in a drama hall, to speak directly to the people. But again, his powerful brother hijacks the meeting and paints the doctor as a non-believer out to tarnish the temple’s reputation. Stoking religious sentiments, Nishit asks the crowd, “Do you want your temple to be closed? Do you think its holy charanamrit is impure?” Hecklers planted by him scream, “No!”. Dr Gupta tries, in vain, to explain that the issue is not a religious one, but a matter of health. “We must take steps to clean the water supply of the town, even if it means shutting down the temple temporarily,” he pleads, but the rabble has been aroused into violence and his voice is lost in the ensuing mayhem.
Eerily, the above screenplay sounds like it’s been inspired by 2020 events.
Mindless demands of fanatic elements have caused the re-opening of religious places and celebration of festivals, even as COVID-19 spreads like wildfire across the country. While the medical fraternity battles to put it out, under the most trying circumstances, politicians shamelessly fight their opponents by using religion as a tool, thereby nullifying the efforts of frontline warriors. Significantly, Ray’s protagonist tries to educate the common man who is being misled by various influential heads; and, disturbingly, a similar scenario is playing out today. When this writer asked a woman why she wasn’t wearing a face mask though she was clad in the full-length cloak worn by her community, she replied nonchalantly, “God will take care of me.”
When blind faith over-rules rationale and scientific data, films like Ganashatru need to be seen again. And again.
(The writer is an independent journalist and author of biographies on Madhubala and Dev Anand. This is an opinion piece, and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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