Dr. A J M Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan, Professor of Television, Film, and Photography, Dhaka University: 
The Ministry of Information has made a belated but magnificent decision to make a biopic of the father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and entrusted an Indian alternative filmmaker Shyam Benegal with the job. The cineastes of the country are at unease with the choice of the filmmaker. Why should a foreigner be given such a venerable job? Will he be able to do justice to the responsibility he is entrusted with? These are valid questions because Bangabandhu is the iconic figure of the nation and the source of the national identity. Bangabandhu symbolizes Bangladesh. Will a foreigner be able to bring himself 8More on Page 2, Col
(From Page 1) up to the task to make an enthralling cinema on Bangabandhu?
Realistically speaking, the Information Ministry hardly had any option other than opting out for a foreigner to do it. It is a shame, a rude awakening, and a moment of introspection for the film fraternity in the country that we are yet to produce a filmmaker to make such a historically and politically significant movie. Bangabandhu is the man who prepared the foundation for developing cinema as an institution in this country. As the Minister for Agriculture, Industry, and Labor for the East Pakistan provincial government, Bangabandhu brought a bill to the provincial assembly in 1957 to establish a state-owned body for the development of cinema in the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). After the passing of the Bill, the Film Development Corporation (FDC), was born as a full-service studio for filmmaking in the country. Till today, the moribund FDC is the only full-service film studio in Bangladesh. Since the establishment of the FDC, the Bangladeshi cinema went through many highs and lows. The country is yet to develop its own distinct cinematic style or national cinema. Our cinema industry is one of the weakest in Asia.
In recent years, cinema in Bangladesh has been trying to turn around with encouragement and support from the Sheikh Hasina government. The film industry shows early signs of recovering from the crisis. Academic institutions are being developed to teach cinema, and many budding filmmakers are being trained to herald their presence in the national and international circles. However, the shortage of capital for filmmaking remains a key concern. Two traditions of filmmaking–the mainstream commercial cinema and the alternative cinema–are at loggerheads. They have produced many good filmmakers but neither of the traditions has established biopic as a genre of filmmaking in the country. Given the reality, the government has opted for Shyam Benegal to make Bangabandhu’s biopic. It may be recalled here that India also hired British filmmaker Richard Attenborough to make Gandhi’s biopic.
How qualified is Shyam Benegal to accomplish the task? Benegal is one of the leading alternative filmmakers in India who has won many awards including Indian National Film Award. A former teacher and Chair of the Pune Film and Television Institute, Benegal is schooled in making realist cinema and cinemas on important social issues. He embarked on filmmaking with documentaries and gradually moved to feature film. An ardent fan of legendary Bengali filmmaker Satyajit Ray, Benegal also earned a name for representing towering historical figures in cinema. He made documentaries on Satyajit Ray (1982) and India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (1983) and made feature films on Netaji Subash Chandra Bose (2005) and on the early years of India’s founding father Mahatma Gandhi, The Making of the Mahatma (1996). His The Making of the Mahatma is one of the several films made on Gandhi. However, his venture has been eclipsed by a more popular cinema on Gandhi titled Gandhi (1982), an India-Britain coproduction directed by Richard Attenborough. Attenborough’s Gandhi should be the model for the biopic on Bangabandhu. I would prefer a biopic which would be a realist drama depicting the birth of Bangladesh through the struggles of Bangabandhu.
As a foreigner, Benegal holds both advantage and disadvantage. His advantage is that the can remain objective but his disadvantage may be he might lack the insight to understand Bangabandhu and the struggles of the Bangalees. He has to have the empathy of the Bangalees who wanted to dismantle the shackles of the despotic Pakistani regime. Appropriate research on Bangabandhu’s life and the history of the birth of Bangladesh can help him overcome the limitation. Bangabandhu’s two books The Unfinished Memoirs and Karagarer Rojnamcha (The Prison’s Diary) are two essential reads in this regard. Visits to Tungipara, the birthplace of Bangabandhu, Islami College in Kolkata, and the Bangabandhu Museum in Dhanmondi, Dhaka are mandatory. He can also mull over including Bangladeshi filmmakers in his team to furnish his cultural understanding.
I have my fingers crossed that Bangladesh-India collaboration will deliver a mesmerizing cinema which will help the world to visually discover Bangabandhu.