KOLKATA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has recounted Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Kolkata days for film-maker Goutam Ghose’s documentary.
Made with the support of Bangladesh’s foreign ministry and 'Friends of Bangladesh’, Ghose’s ‘Mujib in Calcutta’ focuses on Bangabandhu’s visit to the city for medical check-up, his stint as an arts student of Islamia College (now Maulana Azad College) and also includes footage of his famous address at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on February 6, 1972.
Ghose agreed to this project when Bangladesh’s Deputy High Commissioner gave him this offer. “Unfortunately, we lose objectivity when we write history. The history that was written during the time when Mujib was in this city has a communal angle to it,” Ghose said.
Earlier titled ‘Kolkatae Bangabandhu’, Hasina has suggested that it be called ‘Mujib in Calcutta’. “She told me during that period, Mujib was not yet known as Bangabandhu. That’s why ‘Mujib in Calcutta’ is our working title. Both Hasina and her sister have given fantastic interviews for this film. Hasina told me that the Kolkata period was very important for his political upbringing,” he added.
Mujib first came to this city for cardiac treatment. “He also underwent an eye surgery here,” Ghosh said. The director has already completed major parts of shooting in Kolkata. Unfortunately, many buildings that were associated with Mujib don’t exist any more. As a college student, Mujib used to stay in room 24 of Baker hostel. Ghose traced a former student activist from Scottish Church College who had seen Mujib closely during that period. “Ninety-eight-year-old Nihar Chakraborty spoke about how courageous Mujib was when police used to do lathicharge,” the director said. Ghose himself was just 22 when he went to listen to Mujib’s famous Brigade Parade Ground speech. “I’ve a personal emotion associated with this subject,” he added.
His most reliable document is Mujib’s unfinished autobiography. “Mujib was involved in relief work during the 1943 famine. He was also a witness to the great Calcutta killings. On the radio, Mujib used to listen to Subhas Bose’s speeches from Singapore,” Ghose said. This half-an-hour documentary, Ghose said, is important for getting an objective view of the history of a period that is often forgotten or viewed from a communal prism of hostility.
