New Delhi, Nov. 12 -- I have no way of knowing if Ghatak ever saw Jacques Tati's 1953 masterpiece Mr Hulot's Holiday, but when I look at his second feature, Ajantrik, it's hard not to be reminded of it. Tati discovered with that film-while introducing his most famous character, who went on to appear in his next three features (Mon Oncle, Playtime and Trafic)-that Hulot didn't even have to appear onscreen every time he was to be evoked. All Tati had to do was duplicate the sound of Hulot's car: a rattling antique and an embarrassment that very early on in the picture becomes closely associated with him, identifying him from the outset as the odd man out among vacationers at a summertime beach resort.

There's a similar association made bet...