Guerrilla: A milestone in Bangla film******
Saturday, 30 April 2011
Sakib Shahriar
Guerrilla, a Bangladeshi film directed by Nasiruddin Yousuff, based on Sayed Shamsul Haque's novel 'Nishiddho Loban', has been released on April 14 throughout the country and it is a milestone for all Bangladeshi movies ever made on the history of liberation. Because no film makers ever were courageous enough to shoot such a strong film on the history of Liberation War or had such courage to express the truth in front of the nation. Thousands of salutes to Nasiruddin Yousuff on behalf of the whole nation for such a film. Really it was his responsibility as a freedom fighter. He said, "The movie is based on Sayed Shamsul Haque's novel 'Nishiddho Loban', and my experience on our Liberation War. In the movie people will be able to understand my thinking about our Liberation War. The people will say how the movie is after watching it." Nasiruddin Yousuff and Ebadur Rahman were the script writers of the film. The director himself was the music director of 'Guerrilla'. Art direction was given by Onimesh Aich. Samiron Datta was the cinematographer and Shimul Yousuff was the costume designer. The movie was shot in 127 different locations with wonderful cinematography. The sound effect was done in Mumbai. 'Guerrilla' is a joint production by Impress Telefilm Limited and Arial Creative Space while Ashirbad Chalachchitra is the distributor of the film. The government of the Bangladesh provided Tk 2.9 million out of its total budget of Tk 30 million. Dhallywood movie star Ferdous played the role of a journalist but he was not a very strong character. Joya Ahsan had played the leading role in the film, while Shampa Reza, Ahmed Rubel, ATM Shamsuzzaman, Shatabdi Wadud and Pijush Bandopaddhyay were other important casts of the film. Now the question comes, how much successful is the film in terms of film language? The thing which makes a film attractive to all its audience is the style of its story-telling and use of space. The success of a film maker depends on his story-telling and space using capability: that means how much he can play with the emotion of the audience and how much had his message touched the heart of the neutral audience. As a debutant film-maker Nasiruddin Yousuff, was not successful enough in story-telling and space using. For example, in story-telling he worked with too many variables to control, but these are not the characteristics of a good script. A good script has coherent unity of all the events and characters. It has some pick points but not too many like the very script. The whole film can be divided into two parts. One part is from Nasiruddin Yousuff's personal experience and the other part is based on Sayed Shamsul Haque's novel, 'Nishiddho Loban'. It seems to be two films, projected before and after the interval. The first half was bombarded with too many characters such as Bilkis, her joint family members, husband, her helping hands of guerrilla war, Ritu Sattar, Mrs Khan, Shahadat, some uncivilised members of 'Shanti' committee, Ajad Abul Kalam and Bilkis's maid servant. All the characters played parallel and were used as dolls in the hand of the script writer. They had no logical birth and death in the film. None of them had strong exposure. Think of Ajad Abul Kalam. Though he had a relationship with the maid servant of Bilkis, he had not any feeling of sadness when his lover had been gang-raped. Suddenly some characters rise and some are vanished; there was no aesthetic flow in building and demolishing characters. Think about the helping hand of Bilkis or the 'Rokon' of Jamaat-e-Islami. They appeared suddenly with a huge possibility and again disappeared suddenly creating a jerk in the minds of the audience. Think about the character of Mrs Khan at Officers' Quarters. After a huge bomb explosion and a guerrilla attack; everybody died but Mrs Khan remained alive. It seemed she will be a powerful character in this film but surprisingly not. The script writer writes the script as if he has forgotten about some characters. Character building was not logical, too. For example, there was no clear indication in this whole film about how a village girl Bilkis became a freedom fighter. The whole film was nothing but a one girl show where Joya Ahsan was the protagonist. In the killing mission of ATM Shamsuzzaman, it was possible for the film maker to make the scene touchier than it was, had he played with the space of the film. The audience didn't get enough time to feel the pain of the raped housewife and the semi-savage slaughtering scene. A kind of unnecessary hurry is seen in every sequence of its first part. Even why Ajad Abul Kalam had been engaged to slaughter him was not clear at all. But in the second part, the film got its real blood. There were some excellent shots in the second part, such as all the friends of Bilkis and her husband in a boat; vomiting of Bilkis seeing the rotten dead body of freedom fighters but normally taking meal of child in the same boat because he is habituated with it. The scenes of 'rajakars' and hawkers on the train make the film lively. The most interesting feature of the film is its detail in the screening. There were too much details in the screen that made the audience bound to believe that the film was not shot in 2010 rather it was shot in 1971. There were too many banners inspiring people to join the rajakars, here and there rotten dead bodies of the unknown freedom fighters, burning of houses, killing of Hindus and raping of their girls, rajakars taking undue benefits in the name of Islam, a total collapse of law and order etc. Nasiruddin Yousuff had totally failed to play with the space of his film with the audience. There were too many chances to create suspense but he didn't take the opportunity. Such as the scene of exchanging bomb at sweet store, the scene of the first guerrilla attack on military jeep, the scene of operation at officers' quarters, the operation of Khokon commander, the killing mission of patriot leader ATM Shamsuzzaman and, at last, the operation against Khokon commander. He always thought for a general story like that of theatre. Think of Aguner Poroshmoni, Ora Agarojon and some other films on Liberation War in Bangladesh that were full of suspense and fear. In each and every scene there was suspense about what will happen in next scenes. But such suspense was absent in this film. The film was too fast to understand in the first part and too slow to enjoy in the second part. But in the last sequence, Bilkis created a huge suspense. All the actors here acted without any hesitation. Especially the acting of Joya Ahsan as Bilkis was the most remarkable. Joya says, "Always I loved the challenge. Few days I couldn't change my clothes to maintain continuity in the film. But a real artist always loves to handle a challenging job." Casting was worthy of praise. Especially Ahmed Rubel and ATM Shamsuzzaman were perfect in their role. But there was a little bit of inconsistency in the character of an army officer because his body fitness didn't seem to be that of an army officer. He should be fitter and taller than what he is. However, the music of the film was worthy of praise, especially the adaptation of Kazi Nazrul's poem Bolo Bir, and its aesthetic composition when Altaf Mahamud had been arrested by the military. There were six songs in the sound track of Guerrilla. Among them three songs - "Bolo Bir Bolo Unnoto Momo Shir", "Joi Shatyer Joi" and "Ami Manusher Bhai Spartacus" - were written by National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Dr Enamul Haque and Shaheed Shahidullah Kaisar respectively. Chandan Chowdhury had recorded the song "Bolo Bir Bolo Unnoto Momo Shir" while Anindita Brishti had sung "Joi Shatyer Joi". Linu Billah, Shimul Yousuff, Syed Hossain Tipu, Chandan Chowdhury and Shaon Mahmud had lent their voices to the song, "Ami Manusher Bhai Spartacus". Shimul Yousuff had recorded two other songs - "Tepantor-er Mathey" (written and composed by Kazi Nazrul Islam) and "Neerosh Dogdho Shomoy" (written by Selim Al Deen). She also composed the latter. Addition of Qawwali "Ali Ali Mawla Ali" gave the film a huge detail in music because the then Pakistani occupation army loved this song very much; even still now Qawwali is very popular among Pakistani and Kashmiri people. It was written by Talib Kabir and composed by Dr Mohammad Samir Qawwal. Dr Mohammad Samir Qawwal and his troupe had recorded it. The sound designing of this movie had been done by Binode Subramanian of India, who was nationally awarded for the movie 'Rock On'. The print of this movie had been processed by Reliance Media Works. Special thanks to Samiron Datta for its nice cinematography and composition. There were some very interesting montages. Among them, one is seen when the Pakistani occupation military came to arrest Altaf Mahamud, a nice doll had been trodden by their boot. The doll symbolises the whole family here. Another interesting montage is the shooting of a bird with Bilkis and Khokon. Since their childhood, they have been nurturing the bird to fly. This bird symbolised millions of Bangalees' dream for independence. Finally on December 16, 1971, the bird of independence flies in the sky of Bangladesh, bathing in the blood of Bilkis and Khokon commander. It is the 40th year of independence, but the wings of birds are still wet and reddish, like the wet eyes of every martyr's mother, wife and sisters. Why does the spot of blood and tear still remain? Perhaps we all know the answer to this question but can't express in fear which has been bravely done by a freedom fighter Nasiruddin Yousuff. The whole nation has been waiting for such a light holder for forty years. (The writer can be reached at e-mail: sakibshahriar@gmail.com)
Guerrilla, a Bangladeshi film directed by Nasiruddin Yousuff, based on Sayed Shamsul Haque's novel 'Nishiddho Loban', has been released on April 14 throughout the country and it is a milestone for all Bangladeshi movies ever made on the history of liberation. Because no film makers ever were courageous enough to shoot such a strong film on the history of Liberation War or had such courage to express the truth in front of the nation. Thousands of salutes to Nasiruddin Yousuff on behalf of the whole nation for such a film. Really it was his responsibility as a freedom fighter. He said, "The movie is based on Sayed Shamsul Haque's novel 'Nishiddho Loban', and my experience on our Liberation War. In the movie people will be able to understand my thinking about our Liberation War. The people will say how the movie is after watching it." Nasiruddin Yousuff and Ebadur Rahman were the script writers of the film. The director himself was the music director of 'Guerrilla'. Art direction was given by Onimesh Aich. Samiron Datta was the cinematographer and Shimul Yousuff was the costume designer. The movie was shot in 127 different locations with wonderful cinematography. The sound effect was done in Mumbai. 'Guerrilla' is a joint production by Impress Telefilm Limited and Arial Creative Space while Ashirbad Chalachchitra is the distributor of the film. The government of the Bangladesh provided Tk 2.9 million out of its total budget of Tk 30 million. Dhallywood movie star Ferdous played the role of a journalist but he was not a very strong character. Joya Ahsan had played the leading role in the film, while Shampa Reza, Ahmed Rubel, ATM Shamsuzzaman, Shatabdi Wadud and Pijush Bandopaddhyay were other important casts of the film. Now the question comes, how much successful is the film in terms of film language? The thing which makes a film attractive to all its audience is the style of its story-telling and use of space. The success of a film maker depends on his story-telling and space using capability: that means how much he can play with the emotion of the audience and how much had his message touched the heart of the neutral audience. As a debutant film-maker Nasiruddin Yousuff, was not successful enough in story-telling and space using. For example, in story-telling he worked with too many variables to control, but these are not the characteristics of a good script. A good script has coherent unity of all the events and characters. It has some pick points but not too many like the very script. The whole film can be divided into two parts. One part is from Nasiruddin Yousuff's personal experience and the other part is based on Sayed Shamsul Haque's novel, 'Nishiddho Loban'. It seems to be two films, projected before and after the interval. The first half was bombarded with too many characters such as Bilkis, her joint family members, husband, her helping hands of guerrilla war, Ritu Sattar, Mrs Khan, Shahadat, some uncivilised members of 'Shanti' committee, Ajad Abul Kalam and Bilkis's maid servant. All the characters played parallel and were used as dolls in the hand of the script writer. They had no logical birth and death in the film. None of them had strong exposure. Think of Ajad Abul Kalam. Though he had a relationship with the maid servant of Bilkis, he had not any feeling of sadness when his lover had been gang-raped. Suddenly some characters rise and some are vanished; there was no aesthetic flow in building and demolishing characters. Think about the helping hand of Bilkis or the 'Rokon' of Jamaat-e-Islami. They appeared suddenly with a huge possibility and again disappeared suddenly creating a jerk in the minds of the audience. Think about the character of Mrs Khan at Officers' Quarters. After a huge bomb explosion and a guerrilla attack; everybody died but Mrs Khan remained alive. It seemed she will be a powerful character in this film but surprisingly not. The script writer writes the script as if he has forgotten about some characters. Character building was not logical, too. For example, there was no clear indication in this whole film about how a village girl Bilkis became a freedom fighter. The whole film was nothing but a one girl show where Joya Ahsan was the protagonist. In the killing mission of ATM Shamsuzzaman, it was possible for the film maker to make the scene touchier than it was, had he played with the space of the film. The audience didn't get enough time to feel the pain of the raped housewife and the semi-savage slaughtering scene. A kind of unnecessary hurry is seen in every sequence of its first part. Even why Ajad Abul Kalam had been engaged to slaughter him was not clear at all. But in the second part, the film got its real blood. There were some excellent shots in the second part, such as all the friends of Bilkis and her husband in a boat; vomiting of Bilkis seeing the rotten dead body of freedom fighters but normally taking meal of child in the same boat because he is habituated with it. The scenes of 'rajakars' and hawkers on the train make the film lively. The most interesting feature of the film is its detail in the screening. There were too much details in the screen that made the audience bound to believe that the film was not shot in 2010 rather it was shot in 1971. There were too many banners inspiring people to join the rajakars, here and there rotten dead bodies of the unknown freedom fighters, burning of houses, killing of Hindus and raping of their girls, rajakars taking undue benefits in the name of Islam, a total collapse of law and order etc. Nasiruddin Yousuff had totally failed to play with the space of his film with the audience. There were too many chances to create suspense but he didn't take the opportunity. Such as the scene of exchanging bomb at sweet store, the scene of the first guerrilla attack on military jeep, the scene of operation at officers' quarters, the operation of Khokon commander, the killing mission of patriot leader ATM Shamsuzzaman and, at last, the operation against Khokon commander. He always thought for a general story like that of theatre. Think of Aguner Poroshmoni, Ora Agarojon and some other films on Liberation War in Bangladesh that were full of suspense and fear. In each and every scene there was suspense about what will happen in next scenes. But such suspense was absent in this film. The film was too fast to understand in the first part and too slow to enjoy in the second part. But in the last sequence, Bilkis created a huge suspense. All the actors here acted without any hesitation. Especially the acting of Joya Ahsan as Bilkis was the most remarkable. Joya says, "Always I loved the challenge. Few days I couldn't change my clothes to maintain continuity in the film. But a real artist always loves to handle a challenging job." Casting was worthy of praise. Especially Ahmed Rubel and ATM Shamsuzzaman were perfect in their role. But there was a little bit of inconsistency in the character of an army officer because his body fitness didn't seem to be that of an army officer. He should be fitter and taller than what he is. However, the music of the film was worthy of praise, especially the adaptation of Kazi Nazrul's poem Bolo Bir, and its aesthetic composition when Altaf Mahamud had been arrested by the military. There were six songs in the sound track of Guerrilla. Among them three songs - "Bolo Bir Bolo Unnoto Momo Shir", "Joi Shatyer Joi" and "Ami Manusher Bhai Spartacus" - were written by National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Dr Enamul Haque and Shaheed Shahidullah Kaisar respectively. Chandan Chowdhury had recorded the song "Bolo Bir Bolo Unnoto Momo Shir" while Anindita Brishti had sung "Joi Shatyer Joi". Linu Billah, Shimul Yousuff, Syed Hossain Tipu, Chandan Chowdhury and Shaon Mahmud had lent their voices to the song, "Ami Manusher Bhai Spartacus". Shimul Yousuff had recorded two other songs - "Tepantor-er Mathey" (written and composed by Kazi Nazrul Islam) and "Neerosh Dogdho Shomoy" (written by Selim Al Deen). She also composed the latter. Addition of Qawwali "Ali Ali Mawla Ali" gave the film a huge detail in music because the then Pakistani occupation army loved this song very much; even still now Qawwali is very popular among Pakistani and Kashmiri people. It was written by Talib Kabir and composed by Dr Mohammad Samir Qawwal. Dr Mohammad Samir Qawwal and his troupe had recorded it. The sound designing of this movie had been done by Binode Subramanian of India, who was nationally awarded for the movie 'Rock On'. The print of this movie had been processed by Reliance Media Works. Special thanks to Samiron Datta for its nice cinematography and composition. There were some very interesting montages. Among them, one is seen when the Pakistani occupation military came to arrest Altaf Mahamud, a nice doll had been trodden by their boot. The doll symbolises the whole family here. Another interesting montage is the shooting of a bird with Bilkis and Khokon. Since their childhood, they have been nurturing the bird to fly. This bird symbolised millions of Bangalees' dream for independence. Finally on December 16, 1971, the bird of independence flies in the sky of Bangladesh, bathing in the blood of Bilkis and Khokon commander. It is the 40th year of independence, but the wings of birds are still wet and reddish, like the wet eyes of every martyr's mother, wife and sisters. Why does the spot of blood and tear still remain? Perhaps we all know the answer to this question but can't express in fear which has been bravely done by a freedom fighter Nasiruddin Yousuff. The whole nation has been waiting for such a light holder for forty years. (The writer can be reached at e-mail: sakibshahriar@gmail.com)