Celluloid captures a country’s essence. Getting a glimpse of this were cinema-lovers during the recently held 51st International Film Festival of India held at Goa where Bangladesh was the Country in Focus.
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of Bangladesh’s independence, this section screened four films. These were Jibondhuli by Tanvir Mokammel, Meghmallar by Zahidur Rahim Anjan, Under Construction by Rubaiyat Hossain and Sincerely Yours, Dhaka by Nuhash Humanyun, Syed Ahmed Shawki, and nine other individual directors.
The first two films gave the viewers a bird’s eye view of the 1971 Liberation war, the other two a taste of contemporary Bangladesh as they deal with women and their issues and the lifestyle of people of Dhaka.
Jibondhuli
The backdrop of the film is the Liberation War of 1971 and deals with the suffering of a lower caste Hindu drummer (a Hindu namasudra) in that period. Mokammel in this film has recreated the Chuknagar genocide, the most heinous mass murder by the Pakistani soldiers. In fact, some surviving members of this crime, helped him make the film and even acted in it.
Tanvir Mokammel (Pic: Courtesy Commons Wikimedia)
The story revolves around Jibon, who flees to India with other villagers. While doing so, he loses all his family members — brutally killed by the Pakistani soldiers. Surviving, he reaches his village which has been taken over by Razakars, collaborators of the Pakistani Army. His life is spared by their commander but the condition is heart rending as Jibon is asked to play the drum for this marauding force.
The film with a lyrical storyline was well shot in the right locations. In an interview to Dhaka Tribute, the director said, “The film has five well visualised songs which I guess will have a special appeal to the audience here.”
The lead roles in the film were essayed by Shatabdi Wadud as Jibonkrishna Das with Jyotika Jyoti, Ramendu Majumder, Wahida Mallik Joly, Chitralekha Guha acted in different roles and the music was composed by Syed Shabab Ali Arzu.
Jibondhuli has a unique India connection as in August 2015, it was the first film entirely made in Bangladesh, released in India.
Meghmallar
This film was also set against the backdrop of the 1971 Liberation War. Also known as Raincoat in English, this 2014 drama film is directed by Zahidur Rahim Anjan. Adapted from Akhtaruzzaman Elias's story titled "Raincoat" it was shown in the Discovery section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.
'Meghmaller' poster (Pic: Courtesy Commons Wikimedia)
The plot revolves around the ordinary family of a chemistry teacher Nurul Huda, who works at a Government College. Along with his wife Asma, daughter Sudha and Asma's brother Mintu, he undergoes a life-altering experience during the 1971 Liberation War. While Mintu joins the freedom fighters, his sister continues to correspond with him. One day, Nurul attends a school function wearing Mintu's raincoat, and the Government forces arrest him on suspicion of being a rebel. This forces Nurul to make a decision affecting the destiny of his family and the country.
Shahiduzzaman Selim and Aparna Ghosh essayed the roles of Huda and Asma respectively. Talking about the film during the IFFI screening, Selim observed, “This is not the story of one family, but of every family in the-then East Pakistan. Every family had a contribution in the Liberation War, the most important event of our history.”
Zahidur Rahim Anjan (Pic: Courtesy Govt. of India)
Making a pertinent observation, Ghosh added, “We belong to the post-war generation who did not seen the war; through this movie, you will be able to see and experience the real war situations.” This holds true for the Indian viewers too.
Under Construction
Made in 2015, this Rubaiyat Hossain directed film was screened at several international film festivals including Seattle International Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival and Stockholm Film Festival.
Set in urban Bangladesh, it deals with a high educated Muslim theatre actor Roya (Shahana Goswami), who suffers from her husband’s desire for children and traditional life. Making her own life, she reconstructs a well-known political play for the modern times. This helps her reclaim her identity, freedom and sexuality.
Poster of 'Under Construction' (Pic: Courtesy imdb.com)
There is an Indian connection in the film. It tries to reinterpret Rabindranath Tagore’s last play “Red Oleanders” for today’s age. A MA student in South Asia Studies, Hossain talking about the play in an interview with Scroll.in said, “I am quite a fan of this visionary play, which proves to be extremely relevant even today. I have been very engaged with the play and I wrote a research paper defining ‘Red Oleanders’ as Tagore’s aesthetic rebellion to the West.”
The film also stars Rahul Bose, Rikita Nandini Shimu, Mita Rahman and Shahadat Hossain.,
Sincerely Yours, Dhaka
Boasting as Bangladesh's first anthology film it is directed by 11 individual directors, it is a collection of gritty shorts centered on Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital city, and the people living in its margins. It won the Best Original Screenplay Award at the 11th edition of the Jaipur International Film Festival in 2019. It was also one of the first two films to enter Netflix originating from Bangladesh. Selected as the country’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 93rd Academy Awards it was not nominated.
Talking about the film in an article in Variety, Naman Ramachandran, said, “The film, which features a galaxy of Bangladeshi stars including Nusrat Imrose Tisha, Fazlur Rahman Babu and Shatabdi Wadud, begins on a light note. The stories, set in various strata of the teeming, densely populated metropolis of 19 million people, get progressively darker and the anthology ends with a rousing feminist tale.”
