Inspired by a short story, Jalbeshya, written by Bangladeshi author Al Mahmud, Taan is an Indian Bangla film which dwells on the lives of women living in the remotest part of the Sundarbans. They are abducted and brought to the jungles only to be groomed as prostitutes.
Directed by Mukul Roy Chowdhury, the film features Rituparna Sengupta and Debaleena Dutt in the role of sex workers. In an interview, Mukul said about the film: “The film moves forward with an ad film maker, who unearths the identity of these prostitutes after he goes on search for his friend Pamela Singh Bhutoria, a photographer who goes missing in the area. He slowly becomes involved in the process of tracing the lives of the Jalbeshyas. The films also portrays how the sex workers survive around tigers and crocodiles and also collect honey as an alternate means of their livelihood.”
Rituparna, who plays the lead role said: “My character Sundari is a wronged woman in Taan. She is the face of the tortured and unhappy ones, forced to capitulate to the lust of sea pirates and local fishermen folk. As a woman, I can feel the angst and bitterness in her, but I haven’t met anyone like Sundari. Don’t know if such characters really exist or not. But Taan will remain a watershed in my career.”
Having lyrics composed by artistes from both sides of the border, and locations of Sundarban spanning both the countries, the story of Taan represents the miseries of women of both the Bengals. However, the director is not sure about the film’s release in Bangladesh. Taan, produced by Fab Four Films is now running in the cinemas of Kolkata.