The Bangladesh release of films from Bengal has been pushed into uncertainty.
The first casualty is Padatik, a film on the life and times of Mrinal Sen, directed by Srijit Mukherjee.
The title is borrowed from a film of the same name made by Sen, featuring Dhritiman Chatterjee as a young Communist Party member on the run from police in the Calcutta of 1970s.
Mukherjee’s film was supposed to release in Bangladesh on August 16, a day after its India release. As of now, it looks impossible, said the makers.
“The August 16 release looks improbable now. We are keeping our fingers crossed. But the country has to move towards normalcy for that. Schools, colleges and offices need to function normally before we can think of cinema halls,” said Firdausul Hasan, the Calcutta-based producer of the film.
The film by Mukherjee was much anticipated in the neighbouring country because it stars Chanchal Chowdhury, regarded as one of Bangladesh’s finest actors, as Sen.
The auteur-director, who passed away on December 30, 2018, was born in Faridpur (now in Bangladesh) in undivided Bengal in 1923.
Producer-distributor Ab-dul Aziz is bringing the film to Bangladesh.
“The situation is volatile now. We will have to wait for a few days to decide the next course of action,” Aziz told Metro from his home in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur.
“Because of Chowdhury, the film was being talked about a lot. I hope the interest will return when it releases,” said Aziz.
The teaser for Padatik was unveiled on May 14 on Mrinal Sen’s 101st birth anniversary.
Sen’s films weighed heavily on political commentary, often tilting towards the Left. His Calcutta trilogy — Interview, Calcutta 71, and Padatik — were no different.
The film is releasing — in India for now — at a time Bangladesh is burning. The coincidence was not lost on the director.
“It is a matter of great historical coincidence that Padatik’s release is happening now, when Bangladesh is in a very turbulent situation after the fall of the government. Padatik itself is about a filmmaker who was always in the eye of a storm when it came to political turbulence. He was a very strong political voice. His films spoke about the contemporary turbulent times. If he (Sen) was present today, he would have been deeply invested in what is happening in Bangladesh now,” Mukherjee told this newspaper on Tuesday.