{ "id": "ep158m00vk", "slug": "titash-ekti-nadir-naam", "title": "Titash Ekti Nadir Naam", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema", "label": "Indian films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.films-in-other-indian-languages", "label": "Films in other Indian languages", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.films-in-other-indian-languages" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000: Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (তিতাস একটি নদীর নাম, A River Called Titas) is Ritwik Ghatak's 1973 Bengali film, adapted from Advaita Malla Barman's novel about fisherfolk on the drying Titash River; released 27 July 1973, 159 minutes, black and white.", "snippet": "Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (তিতাস একটি নদীর নাম, A River Called Titas) is Ritwik Ghatak's 1973 Bengali film, adapted from Advaita Malla Barman's novel about fisherfolk on the drying Titash River; released 27 July 1973, 159 minutes, black and white.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.indian-cinema.films-in-other-indian-languages", "markdown": "# Titash Ekti Nadir Naam\n\n**Titash Ekti Nadir Naam** (তিতাস একটি নদীর নাম, \"A River Called Titas\") is a 1973 Bengali-language black-and-white feature film directed by [Ritwik Ghatak](https://www.edgepedia.org/ritwik-ghatak), adapted from Advaita Malla Barman's novel about a fishing community living on the banks of the Titash River in what is now Bangladesh.[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/f40aa76d-05b1-5e1f-a80a-8c083f8ae057/titash-ekti-nadir-naam) • [2](https://iffk.in/filmdetail/MTE5MjQ4ODI5LjQ4) It was Ghatak's penultimate film and the only one he made in Bangladesh, the country of his birth.[3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/derek-malcolm-films-ritwik-ghatak)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / screenplay | Ritwik Ghatak, from the novel by Advaita Malla Barman[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/f40aa76d-05b1-5e1f-a80a-8c083f8ae057/titash-ekti-nadir-naam) • [2](https://iffk.in/filmdetail/MTE5MjQ4ODI5LjQ4) |\n| Release | 27 July 1973, in four cinemas in Dhaka and two in Chittagong[4](https://bangla.bdnews24.com/glitz/vd7ni6v7hm) |\n| Format | Black and white, 35 mm, 16 reels, 159 minutes[5](https://www.bengalfilmarchive.com/filmography-details.php?t=MTg5Nw%3D%3D) • [1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/f40aa76d-05b1-5e1f-a80a-8c083f8ae057/titash-ekti-nadir-naam) |\n| Producer | Habibur Rahman Khan (Purba Pran Katha Chitra, Bangladesh)[1](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/f40aa76d-05b1-5e1f-a80a-8c083f8ae057/titash-ekti-nadir-naam) • [5](https://www.bengalfilmarchive.com/filmography-details.php?t=MTg5Nw%3D%3D) |\n| Principal cast | Prabir Mitra (Kishore), Rosy Samad (Basanti), Kabari Choudhury (Rajar Jhi), Golam Mustafa[2](https://iffk.in/filmdetail/MTE5MjQ4ODI5LjQ4) |\n| Setting | A fishermen community on the Titash River in Bangladesh in the 1930s[6](https://archives.cinemas-asie.com/en/movies/item/3540-a-river-called-titas.html) |\n| Recognition | Bachsas Awards 1973 for best director, best supporting actress, best cinematographer, and best editor[7](https://bmdb.com.bd/movie/580/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nThe film follows Kishore, a fisherman whose young bride is abducted by pirates the day after their wedding. Kishore goes mad; his wife, having freed herself, is cared for by fishermen of another village, where she raises her son Ananta alone. Around this family story, the community watches the river on which it lives gradually dry up. Weakened by famine, the fisherfolk are displaced by peasants who convert the land into productive paddy fields, and the community loses not only its livelihood but its identity.[6](https://archives.cinemas-asie.com/en/movies/item/3540-a-river-called-titas.html) • [2](https://iffk.in/filmdetail/MTE5MjQ4ODI5LjQ4)\n\nThe river itself functions as one of the film's main characters, the source of life that human greed has dried up.[6](https://archives.cinemas-asie.com/en/movies/item/3540-a-river-called-titas.html) The story is set at a time when Bangladesh was still part of India, and the novel was written by an educated fisherman, a member of the Malo community whose life it records.[6](https://archives.cinemas-asie.com/en/movies/item/3540-a-river-called-titas.html)\n\n## Production\n\nGhatak was invited to make the film by Habibur Rahman Khan, a young producer and freedom fighter who admired the director and wanted him to make a film in Bangladesh.[3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/derek-malcolm-films-ritwik-ghatak) • [7](https://bmdb.com.bd/movie/580/) The new government of Bangladesh saw the project as a chance to build a coherent film industry, and Ghatak was received in Dacca as a returning hero, with substantial facilities including a brand new Arriflex camera donated by the Chief of the Films Department.[3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/derek-malcolm-films-ritwik-ghatak)\n\nThe shooting did not go well. Ghatak's improvisatory technique frequently left an inexperienced crew in the dark as to his intentions, and Derek Malcolm, writing in *Sight and Sound*, judged that given Ghatak's nature and the state of his health it was perhaps a project he should not have embarked upon at all.[3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/derek-malcolm-films-ritwik-ghatak)\n\nCredits differ between sources on two points. The International Film Festival of Kerala credits the editing to Ramesh Joshi and the music to Bahadur Khan,[2](https://iffk.in/filmdetail/MTE5MjQ4ODI5LjQ4) while the Bengal Film Archive and the Bangla Movie Database credit the editing to Basir Hossen and list Ghatak himself as composer.[5](https://www.bengalfilmarchive.com/filmography-details.php?t=MTg5Nw%3D%3D) • [7](https://bmdb.com.bd/movie/580/) The Vesoul festival lists the music as the work of Ustad Bahadur, Ritwik Ghatak, and Ahidul Haq.[6](https://archives.cinemas-asie.com/en/movies/item/3540-a-river-called-titas.html) Playback singers named in the Bengali sources include Dhirajuddin Fakir, Rathindranath Ray, Nina Hamid, Abida Sultana, and Dharmindan Barua.[5](https://www.bengalfilmarchive.com/filmography-details.php?t=MTg5Nw%3D%3D)\n\n## Reception and legacy\n\nThe film opened on 27 July 1973 in four cinemas in Dhaka and two in [Chittagong](https://www.edgepedia.org/chittagong), and it initially failed to find an audience. It later became, in the words of a bdnews24 retrospective marking the fiftieth anniversary, a timeless classic in the history of Bengali cinema.[4](https://bangla.bdnews24.com/glitz/vd7ni6v7hm) At the 1973 Bachsas Awards it won best director for Ghatak, best supporting actress for Rowshan Jamil, best cinematographer for Baby Islam, and best editor for Basir Hossen.[7](https://bmdb.com.bd/movie/580/)\n\nThe film has remained in circulation at international festivals. The Festival des 3 Continents in Nantes screened it in 1984 and again in 2022 in a restored print, with distribution handled through the World Cinema Foundation and the Cineteca di Bologna.[8](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-riviere-titash/) The Museum of Modern Art screened it in New York in 1985,[9](https://www.moma.org/momaorg/shared/pdfs/docs/press_archives/6243/releases/MOMA_1985_0097_96.pdf) and it was shown at the Kolkata International Film Festival and in the Ritwik Ghatak centenary program of the International Film Festival of Kerala.[2](https://iffk.in/filmdetail/MTE5MjQ4ODI5LjQ4)\n\nGhatak (1925–1976), a contemporary of [Satyajit Ray](https://www.edgepedia.org/satyajit-ray) and [Mrinal Sen](https://www.edgepedia.org/mrinal-sen), died three years after the film's release; *Titash Ekti Nadir Naam* was followed only by his last film, *Jukti Takko Aar Gappo* (1974).[8](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-riviere-titash/) The film's opening shots, with rain pelting down on the banks of the Titas, have been read as a natural sign of the tragedy already underway, and the film is regarded as premonitory in its treatment of water, the source of life, as something at stake in profit.[8](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-riviere-titash/) • [6](https://archives.cinemas-asie.com/en/movies/item/3540-a-river-called-titas.html)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Titash Ekti Nadir Naam (1973), British Film Institute](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/f40aa76d-05b1-5e1f-a80a-8c083f8ae057/titash-ekti-nadir-naam)\n2. [A River Called Titash / Titash Ekti Nadir Naam, International Film Festival of Kerala](https://iffk.in/filmdetail/MTE5MjQ4ODI5LjQ4)\n3. [Derek Malcolm on the films of Ritwik Ghatak, Sight and Sound (BFI)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/features/derek-malcolm-films-ritwik-ghatak)\n4. ['তিতাস একটি নদীর নাম': ফ্লপ সিনেমাটিই পরে কালজয়ী, bdnews24 Bangla (27 July 2023)](https://bangla.bdnews24.com/glitz/vd7ni6v7hm)\n5. [Titas Ekti Nadir Naam, Bengal Film Archive](https://www.bengalfilmarchive.com/filmography-details.php?t=MTg5Nw%3D%3D)\n6. [A River Called Titas, Festival des Cinémas d'Asie de Vesoul](https://archives.cinemas-asie.com/en/movies/item/3540-a-river-called-titas.html)\n7. [তিতাস একটি নদীর নাম (১৯৭৩), Bangla Movie Database](https://bmdb.com.bd/movie/580/)\n8. [A River Called Titash, Festival des 3 Continents, Nantes](https://www.3continents.com/en/film/la-riviere-titash/)\n9. [The Museum of Modern Art Department of Film, press release (1985)](https://www.moma.org/momaorg/shared/pdfs/docs/press_archives/6243/releases/MOMA_1985_0097_96.pdf)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Films in other Indian languages*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/titash-ekti-nadir-naam", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/titash-ekti-nadir-naam.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Titash Ekti Nadir Naam\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/titash-ekti-nadir-naam. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Titash Ekti Nadir Naam](https://www.edgepedia.org/titash-ekti-nadir-naam)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/titash-ekti-nadir-naam](https://www.edgepedia.org/titash-ekti-nadir-naam). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Titash Ekti Nadir Naam\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/titash-ekti-nadir-naam. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Titash Ekti Nadir Naam is Ritwik Ghatak's 1973 Bengali film, adapted from Advaita Malla Barman's novel about fisherfolk on the drying Titash River; released 27 July 1973, 159 minutes, black and white." }