LEC052031 Macbeth and Seemaddha

LEC052031

Macbeth and Seemabddha

(similarities and dissimilarities)

Bard of Avon,William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist.Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613.His early plays were primarily comedies and histories.Macbeth is an anomaly among Shakespeare's tragedies in certain critical ways and it was first performed in 1606.Shakespeare wanted to caution against abuses of power and the instability which follows from political violence which reflected in Macbeth plays.Shakespeare’s plays have been adapted hundreds of times by artists,directors, writers around the world.Seemabaddha film is one of them.

Seemabaddha is a social drama bengali film directed by Satyajit Ray in 1971. It is based on the novel Seemabaddha by Mani shanker mukherjee.The Film tells a story of a very rich successful young man shyamal chtterjie.and the credibility of his sister in law who believes him and admires too.In the Film there is extramatial affairs,lobbyism,corporate corruption, flirting and even communism.It cautious us to be vary and not to blinded using power by greed.Such thought provoking performances and the narrative leads to instropection.

Shyamal is an ambitious Marketing Manager in a British firm in Calcutta, manufacturing fans. He’s married to Dolan, and lives in a company flat. He aspires to become the company director. For this he has to compete with a colleague who has a relative in the board of directors.

His sister-in-law Tutul arrives from Patna to spend a few days with them. She has been a great admirer of the ideologist Shyamal and was envious of her sister’s marriage with him. Tutul is Shyamal’s conscience. Shyamal shows her the delights of city life – the cocktail parties, the clubs and horse racing.

Life goes on smoothly for Shyamal until he learns that a consignment of fans meant for exports is defective. There is not much time to rectify the fans. It could result in cancellation of the export contract and an end to his dream of becoming a director.

Hopeless, Shyamal takes Tutul in confidence though not his wife. Late at night, he hatches a plan with the labor officer to provoke a strike at the factory. A factory watchman is badly injured and a lockout is declared. The export contract is saved.

Shyamal becomes a director but he has fallen low both in the eyes of Tutul and his own.A joyous Shyamal begins to climb the stairs. As he ascends his steps become slower. When he reaches the top, both physically and metaphorically, his joy has vanished. Tutul who has witnessed fall of her hero, sits beside him, they exchange glances. Without making a sound Tutul removes the watch that he had gifted her. She places it on the table. We see Shyamal from above a ceiling fan, with his head bowed in his hand and Tutul fading away.

Though Macbeth and Seemabadho is totally different in story but the content is same purpose which is corruption, betrayal,power,greedness.

In Macbeth, there is good position in king Duncan's palace. But he has no actual power like king. So, a lust came into his mind and wanted to become king and take advice from his wife. Mainly he did commit listening to his beloved. In the movie shyamal chakrabarti also wanted to take more power and become director of British company.He also made conspire against his company by taking advice from his sister-in-law.

In Macbeth, because of power macbeth made a plan with his sister-in-law  to  killed the king and he did then he became king.In the seemabadho film, Shyamal also hatched a plan with labour officer to provoke a strike in the factory. As a result, a worker was injured.After that he became director of his company.

In macbeth, macbeth was totally lost hearing his wife but In the film he listened his wife's sister tutul who is much fond of shaymal.And at last shaymal also fallen down. Tutul wanted to made a uncertain love relation with shaymal.Here Tutul is resemble to lady macbeth.

Shyamalendu is eager to impress his visiting sister-in-law, Tutul with the trappings of his success, introducing her to a rarefied world of country clubs horse racing, and cocktail parties. Having already  himself from his old-fashioned parents by arranging separate accommodations for them in another part of Calcutta  Shyamalendu has already shown his willingness to put the interests of the company before his own—a willingness that is tested when an international contract that he had negotiated is jeopardized by the late discovery of a factory defect on products that that had been set for immediate shipment.In the macbeth, there is a character Banquo who can replace Talukder. Banquo also wanted to take power and tried  to become king. Here, Talukder also wanted to get promotion from his company by taking illegal step.

Dolan(wife of shaymal) portrayed  as a housewife almost in a stupor of luxury, is a sight to behold.In a sense she is the opposite of Lady Macbeth, her ambition never overarches and destroys Shyamal.But In macbeth, Lady macbeth, his wife only reason of macbeth's  destruction. 

In the film,the son of shayamal was far away from home from the childhood. He was admitted in the boarding school. In the macbeth there is no child. But We can gues there may be had, by hearing some dialouge from lady macbeth. But there is no assurancy.In the film, the protagonist belongs to calcatta, the settings which is different from macbeth. But there content and circumstances represent the same image to spectators.

At the end,in the film Tutul left him because she realized that whatever shyamal did is not accpated and it is impossible for her to stay with him.The story is end with Invisible tutul, so we can understand that she left and shayal was in a ruin.In macbeth,Lady macbeth is also understand and in the end she was ashamed whatever she did. That's why she became mentally sick and ambivalence in good and bad.At the end she was died. In mabeth, Macbeth was died by maduff But in the film here is no macduff character and shaymal was not died. Director put him in the image of lost, frustration.He was ruined liked macbeth.

Shakespeare’s plays always have universality with continual adaptations, reinterpretations and explorations in various forms. It’s a fact, the number of film adaptations of his works in Bengali cinema is quite less.But Seemabaddha is not actually an adaptation, Some contemporary elements are there in the film which is Shakespeare draws in his plays. Some vital content we can connect with Shakespeare play's motive.

Works cited

http://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/seemabaddha-satyajit-rays-indictment-of-the-corporate-rat-race-and-what-it-makes-of-us-4139883.html

Seemabaddha,directed by Satyajit Ray in 1971