Eastern Eye

When Bangladeshi filmmaker Tauquir Ahmed was searching for a subject for his first feature,he took inspiration from the struggles of his father,an officer in the Pakistan Army in the 1960s. In 2004,he directed Joy Jatra (Victory Procession),a film about a family caught in the liberation war of 1971. The film won Ahmed,an architect-turned-director,his first National Award as well as a nomination at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2005. “Though it wasn’t a box office success,the critical acclaim encouraged me to make my second feature,Rupkothar Golpo (A Fairy Tale),” says Ahmed. Both films are part of the three-day Bangladeshi Film Festival that is on at Siri Fort Auditorium till today.

The first such festival from the country,it has been organised by the Bangladesh High Commission and Directorate of Film Festivals. “Around 100 films are made annually in Bangaldesh,with subjects ranging from romance to politics,” says Mahbub Hassan Saleh,cultural counsellor,Bangladesh High Commission. The film industry is worth Bangladeshi Taka 200 crore and has seen a flurry of activity in the past few years as private players made their entry.

Seven films are being screened at the festival. Sarah Kabori’s Ayna,(Mirror),about the empowerment of women,and Bachelor,about live-in couples,have already been shown but you can still catch Rupkothar Golpo,about a man who takes it upon himself to return a homeless baby to his mother,Aha and Matir Moina,winner of the International Critics Award at Cannes in 2002. Set in the pre-liberation Bangladesh,Matir Moina revolves is about a boy who faces discrimination due to his religious choices.

“Most Bangla films are like Bollywood,full of songs and dances,though we are developing our own identity,” says Kabori,a famous actor-director,often compared to the Kolkata-based Suchitra Sen. Kabori is visiting Delhi for the festival with others like producer Faridur Reza Sagar and Aupee Karim,who stars in Bachelor. “The industry is now opening up to contemporary issues,like Bollywood,” says Karim.