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Jaya's Pak-Bangla love story removed from Dhaka threatres
Jaya's Pak-Bangla love story removed from Dhaka threatres
Bangladeshi director Rubaiyat Hossain's debut feature film about a Bangladeshi woman's love affair with a Pakistani soldier during the 1971 Liberation War has triggered a fierce controversy forcing its distributor to take the movie off cinema halls across Bangladesh a week after its release.
The director fears that the film, whose cast includes veteran actors Victor Banerjee and Jaya Bachchan in lead roles along with Bangladeshi and Pakistani actors, could be banned if suggestions to this effect from certain quarters is accepted by Bangladesh government.
"I apprehend that my film could be banned. In that case, where do I go"? Said Rubaiyat, daughter of Bangladesh Minister Abul Hossain. She said it is really unfortunate that the film was pulled down from theatres and claimed it was doing well at the box office.
The film, however, earned critical acclaim for the powerful performance by Victor Banerjee as the grandfather of Meher, Jaya Bachchan in the role of older Meher and veteran Bangladeshi actor Humayun Faridee.
Interestingly, the director of Meherjaan said she did not think portraying the love affair between a Pakistani soldier and a Bangladeshi woman would create a controversy.
"Meherjaan" had hit six theatres on January 21 but was pulled out on January 28 by its distributor Aashirbad Chalachitram owned by Habibur Rahman, said Rubaiyat. She said the distributor obviously did not want to take any risk in view of the adverse criticism and reviews the film on the affair between the Balochi soldier and young Meher, a Bangladeshi woman, received.
The distributor of the film "Meherjaan" took it off the theatres in the face of an allegation that the film distorted the history of the country's independence war and humiliated the freedom fighters and 'Biranganas' (Bangladeshi women who were raped by occupation Pakistani troops during the Liberation War). "We have decided to withdraw the movie from the two Dhaka theatre halls where it has been running considering the debate regarding the movie," said Shihab Ahmed Siraji, the distributor of the movie.
Shihab, the executive director of Aashirbad Chalachitra, however rejected reports that the government had imposed a ban on the movie.
Soon after its release, "Meherjaan" drew sharp criticism from many intellectuals and freedom fighters for allegedly distorting the independence war.
The Bangladesh Film Censor Board also came in for flak for allowing many controversial scenes in "Meherjaan" that contradict the historical facts.
Rubaiyat, however, rejected the charges and claimed she had made a pure love story set against the backdrop of the independence war. "There is no question of distorting the history or humiliating the freedom fighters in the movie," she said.
Film critics in Bangladesh have found the affair between the Pakistani soldier and young Meher, the Bangladeshi girl, totally unconvincing and "naive," totally out of tune with the reality of the Liberation War.
While acknowledging that "Meherjaan" is not a documentary, they also pointed to the factually inaccuracies of Meher and the Pakistani soldiers frolicking through mustard fields and romancing, which was not possible during the war days. In fact, the films claims to be a love story in the backdrop of the war but there is little of the war in it.
The critics also pointed to alleged distortion in the portrayal of another woman character in the film-- that of Meher's cousin Neela who is not shamed by the fact that she was raped by Pakistani soldiers and carried a child of that action.
The director says she has tried to narrate a love story and depict the Liberation War through the perspective of three strong women -- Meher, Neela and her daughter --as against the usual trend of presenting the war through "male" perspective.
She said she wanted to portray Neela as a strong woman who tries to live through her stigma of being physically abused by Pakistani soldiers instead of succumbing to it.
Rubaiyat rejected the allegation that she has a "hidden agenda" by depicting the love between the Pakistani soldier and the Bangladeshi woman.
However, critics say the problem with Meherjaan is that portrays the affair between Meher and the Pakistani soldier in a vaccum or in an Arcadia insulated from the reality and surroundings that had prevailed at the time of the Liberation War.
Another aspect of the film which had aroused strong reaction among a large section of Bangladeshis is the portrayal of Meherjaan's grandfather as someone who did not want violence by either Pakistani troops or their collaborators or Bangladeshi freedom fighters who had taken up arms to liberate their country. This, the film's Bangladeshi critics say, goes against the all-round mood of overwhelming majority of the Bangladeshi people during the Liberation War.
All films made in Bangladesh on the Liberation War have so far been presented in a narrative that set the pro-Liberation War forces on one side and anti-Liberation elements on the other.
Did Rubaiyat, through her film, try to break a new ground by moving away from that narrative? The debate may go on but Meherjan certainly seems to have set off a controversy.
Jaya's Pak-Bangla love story removed from Dhaka threatres
Bangladeshi director Rubaiyat Hossain's debut feature film about a Bangladeshi woman's love affair with a Pakistani soldier during the 1971 Liberation War has triggered a fierce controversy forcing its distributor to take the movie off cinema halls across Bangladesh a week after its release.
The director fears that the film, whose cast includes veteran actors Victor Banerjee and Jaya Bachchan in lead roles along with Bangladeshi and Pakistani actors, could be banned if suggestions to this effect from certain quarters is accepted by Bangladesh government.
"I apprehend that my film could be banned. In that case, where do I go"? Said Rubaiyat, daughter of Bangladesh Minister Abul Hossain. She said it is really unfortunate that the film was pulled down from theatres and claimed it was doing well at the box office.
The film, however, earned critical acclaim for the powerful performance by Victor Banerjee as the grandfather of Meher, Jaya Bachchan in the role of older Meher and veteran Bangladeshi actor Humayun Faridee.
Interestingly, the director of Meherjaan said she did not think portraying the love affair between a Pakistani soldier and a Bangladeshi woman would create a controversy.
"Meherjaan" had hit six theatres on January 21 but was pulled out on January 28 by its distributor Aashirbad Chalachitram owned by Habibur Rahman, said Rubaiyat. She said the distributor obviously did not want to take any risk in view of the adverse criticism and reviews the film on the affair between the Balochi soldier and young Meher, a Bangladeshi woman, received.
The distributor of the film "Meherjaan" took it off the theatres in the face of an allegation that the film distorted the history of the country's independence war and humiliated the freedom fighters and 'Biranganas' (Bangladeshi women who were raped by occupation Pakistani troops during the Liberation War). "We have decided to withdraw the movie from the two Dhaka theatre halls where it has been running considering the debate regarding the movie," said Shihab Ahmed Siraji, the distributor of the movie.
Shihab, the executive director of Aashirbad Chalachitra, however rejected reports that the government had imposed a ban on the movie.
Soon after its release, "Meherjaan" drew sharp criticism from many intellectuals and freedom fighters for allegedly distorting the independence war.
The Bangladesh Film Censor Board also came in for flak for allowing many controversial scenes in "Meherjaan" that contradict the historical facts.
Rubaiyat, however, rejected the charges and claimed she had made a pure love story set against the backdrop of the independence war. "There is no question of distorting the history or humiliating the freedom fighters in the movie," she said.
Film critics in Bangladesh have found the affair between the Pakistani soldier and young Meher, the Bangladeshi girl, totally unconvincing and "naive," totally out of tune with the reality of the Liberation War.
While acknowledging that "Meherjaan" is not a documentary, they also pointed to the factually inaccuracies of Meher and the Pakistani soldiers frolicking through mustard fields and romancing, which was not possible during the war days. In fact, the films claims to be a love story in the backdrop of the war but there is little of the war in it.
The critics also pointed to alleged distortion in the portrayal of another woman character in the film-- that of Meher's cousin Neela who is not shamed by the fact that she was raped by Pakistani soldiers and carried a child of that action.
The director says she has tried to narrate a love story and depict the Liberation War through the perspective of three strong women -- Meher, Neela and her daughter --as against the usual trend of presenting the war through "male" perspective.
She said she wanted to portray Neela as a strong woman who tries to live through her stigma of being physically abused by Pakistani soldiers instead of succumbing to it.
Rubaiyat rejected the allegation that she has a "hidden agenda" by depicting the love between the Pakistani soldier and the Bangladeshi woman.
However, critics say the problem with Meherjaan is that portrays the affair between Meher and the Pakistani soldier in a vaccum or in an Arcadia insulated from the reality and surroundings that had prevailed at the time of the Liberation War.
Another aspect of the film which had aroused strong reaction among a large section of Bangladeshis is the portrayal of Meherjaan's grandfather as someone who did not want violence by either Pakistani troops or their collaborators or Bangladeshi freedom fighters who had taken up arms to liberate their country. This, the film's Bangladeshi critics say, goes against the all-round mood of overwhelming majority of the Bangladeshi people during the Liberation War.
All films made in Bangladesh on the Liberation War have so far been presented in a narrative that set the pro-Liberation War forces on one side and anti-Liberation elements on the other.
Did Rubaiyat, through her film, try to break a new ground by moving away from that narrative? The debate may go on but Meherjan certainly seems to have set off a controversy.
