Subarnarekha videorecording a film by Ritwikkumar Ghatak.

Subarnarekha is an Indian Bengali film directed by Ritwik Ghata. It was produced in 1962 but not released until 1965. The film tells the story of Ishwar Chakraborty, a Hindu refugee from East Pakistan after the 1947 partition of India. He goes to West Bengal with his little sister Sita where he tries to start a new life. In a refugee camp, they see the abduction of a low-caste woman and Ishwar takes her little son Abhiram with him. He gets a job at a factory in the province, near the Subarnarekha River, courtesy his college friend Rambilas. Ishwar, Sita and Abhiram arrive at Chatimpur, a small settlement near Ghatshila where they meet Mukherjee, foreman of the foundry workshop, who greets them with love.
Abhiram is sent to Jhargram for education shortly after and Sita becomes lonely. Abhiram completes his study successfully and comes back on the very day Ishwar was appointed as the new manager. Abhiram finds that Ishwar had already arranged for his application in a German University to pursue his career further in engineering, but to his foster-brother's surprise, he refuses and decides to become a writer instead. Soon after, he and Sita realise that they are in love. But at this moment, Ishwar's fear of prejudice emerges, as he does not want his sister, a Brahmin, to marry a lower caste boy. At the same time, Abhiram's caste gets exposed to the others also when he recognizes his dying mother at rail station in front of many people. Ishwar senses danger and asks him to leave for Calcutta when he gives proposal to marry Sita. During Sita's wedding with another man, the girl and Abhiram elope and go to Calcutta. Ishwar is angry and heartbroken.
Sita and Abhiram live in the slums of Calcutta and try to make ends meet. They have a little son. One day, Abhiram gets a new job as a bus driver, but this leads to tragedy: when he accidentally hits and kills a little girl, he is lynched by the crowd. In her desperate situation, Sita is forced to think about taking up prostitution.
In the meantime, Ishwar is living a lonely and sad life in the province. When his old time friend Haraprasad comes to visit him, they decide to go to Calcutta on a binge drinking tour. They finally end up in a brothel, both completely drunk. When Ishwar staggers into one of the bedchambers, he is faced... with his own sister, whose first "client" he should become. Sita immediately recognizes him and cuts her own throat rather than have her brother see how far she has fallen. She dies. When Ishwar realizes what has happened, he breaks down.

Director, Ritwik Ghatak ; screenplay, Ritwik Ghatak ; story, Radheyshyam.

Abhi Bhattacharya, Madhabi Mukherjee, Satindra Bhattacharya, Gita De.

DVD

In Bengali with English subtitles.