Abstract:
Contemporary cinema often encourages passive spectatorship through emotional
immersion and narrative identification, limiting audiences’ capacity for critical
engagement with social and political realities. Although Bertolt Brecht’s theory of
distancing (Verfremdungseffekt) has been widely examined in theatre studies, its
pedagogical significance in postcolonial cinema, particularly in the works of Ritwik
Ghatak and Dharmasena Pathiraja, remains underexplored. This study addresses how
Brechtian cinematic strategies can cultivate critical spectatorship rather than passive
consumption. This paper aims to develop a theoretical argument that Brechtian distancing
functions as a pedagogical tool in the cinemas of Ritwik Ghatak and Dharmasena
Pathiraja by fostering critical spectatorship and encouraging audiences to engage
analytically with postcolonial social, political, and historical realities.The study adopts
a qualitative comparative research design based on close textual analysis of selected
films by Ritwik Ghatak and Dharmasena Pathiraja. It employs Bertolt Brecht’s theory
of distancing as the primary analytical framework, supported by Jacques Rancière’s
concept of the emancipated spectator and Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy. Cinematic
techniques—including narrative structure, editing, mise-en-scène, sound, symbolism, and
performance—are analysed to examine how they disrupt passive viewing and stimulate
critical reflection.The analysis demonstrates that both filmmakers employ Brechtian
cinematic techniques to interrupt emotional identification and encourage audiences
to question ideology, historical memory, social inequality, and postcolonial identity.
Rather than positioning viewers as passive recipients of meaning, their films invite
active interpretation, transforming spectators into critical participants in the production
of meaning. The findings further indicate that these cinematic strategies function as
pedagogical practices that promote political awareness and critical consciousness.The
paper concludes that the cinemas of Ritwik Ghatak and Dharmasena Pathiraja extend
Brechtian distancing beyond the theatrical tradition, establishing cinema as an effective
pedagogical medium for cultivating critical spectatorship. By integrating Brechtian
aesthetics with postcolonial cinematic practice, the study contributes to scholarship on
film pedagogy, spectatorship studies, and postcolonial cultural criticism, highlighting the
educational potential of politically engaged cinema
