Westland Books marks the Centenary of Ritwik Ghatak with Unmechanical: Ritwik Ghatak in 50 Fragments — a landmark anthology revisiting the life and legacy of one of India’s most visionary filmmakers
Published on 20 October 2025, ahead of Ritwik Ghatak’s centenary on 4 November, Unmechanical: Ritwik Ghatak in 50 Fragments brings together fifty essays by filmmakers, collaborators, scholars, and family.
National, 3 November 2025: In commemoration of the centenary of Ritwik Ghatak (1925–1976), one of the most singular and uncompromising voices in Indian cinema, Westland Books presents Unmechanical: Ritwik Ghatak in 50 Fragments, an anthology that re-examines the filmmaker’s life and legacy through fifty essays by those who knew, studied, and were shaped by him.
Published in October 2025, the book brings together a range of voices from filmmakers and critics to collaborators, family members, and scholars who trace the many facets of Ghatak’s creative, personal and political life. Together, these reflections illuminate the paradoxes of his art: the tension between idealism and despair, rebellion and tenderness, realism and myth.
Through personal memories, analytical essays and cinematic reflections, Unmechanical situates Ghatak’s cinema within the larger cultural ruptures of Bengal’s Partition and its aftermath. It is both a tribute and an inquiry revisiting a filmmaker whose work continues to resonate with contemporary questions of belonging, identity, and resistance.
Speaking on the book, editor Shamya Dasgupta said, ‘As his centenary sparks renewed engagement with his films and philosophy, Unmechanical: Ritwik Ghatak in 50 Fragments will, I hope, stand as a vital contribution to understanding one of India’s most complex and enduring artistic legacies.’
Westland Publisher Karthika V.K. said, ‘It’s not often that one encounters a book on Indian cinema with such complexity, depth and range of ideas. This is personal history, documentation and analysis, brilliantly curated and edited by Shamya Dasgupta, and we are delighted to be able to bring it to readers on the occasion of Ghatak’s centenary.’
The book is now available in all offline and online bookstores.
About Westland Books
Westland Books is an award-winning Indian publisher with a diverse and exciting range of books from popular and literary fiction to business, politics, biography, spirituality, popular science, health, and self-help. Its key publishing imprints include Context, which publishes award-winning literary fiction and non-fiction; Ekadā, which publishes the best of contemporary writing in Indian languages and in translation; Tranquebar, home to the best new fiction from the Indian subcontinent; the eponymous Westland Sport, Westland Business, Westland Non-Fiction, and Red Panda, which publishes a range of books for children of different ages. Indie Press, a self-publishing imprint was added in 2023 which now is a home to varied and exciting new and old voices. In 2024, it also launched IF, the list for speculative fiction. Westland also collaborated with Pratilipi Comics to bring compelling graphic stories to its readers. In a recent move, Westland launched QD (Queer Directions) an imprint dedicated to championing LGBTQIA+ voices across non-fiction, poetry, and fiction.
***