The Bastard Child is an upcoming dramatic Indian movie, based on the liberation war of Bangladesh. It is a gripping and compelling reconstruction of the events that took place in Bangladesh, in 1971.
The film is directed by Mrityunjay Devvrat and features Raima Sen, with Indraneil Sengupta as her counterpart. Featuring actors like Farooque Sheikh, Pavan Malhotra and Victor Banerjee, The Bastard Child is slated to release soon in India.
Indian Motion Picture Producers Association (IMPPA) had earlier rejected the title for being derogatory.
However, Mrityunjay then reapplied for approval and managed to persuade officials to approve his title. According to him, “bastard” is a term merely used for a child born out of wedlock and not as an abusive connotation.
Mrityunjay as well as his film’s producer Soumya Devvrat believed in their content and hence suggested their title as extremely relevant.
On receiving this letter of approval, the director said: “I am elated and extremely grateful that IMPPA has reconsidered and cleared our title. The film would have been something else to me if it wasn’t called The Bastard Child.”
“It is a truly relevant title. It is a story about the Bangladeshis and their struggle for independence in the Liberation War. What these affected women have gone through is truly unimaginable. I am happy to see the support I have on this project,” he added.
Mrityunjay hopes the film releases smoothly in India. “It might face protests in Bangladesh but I will release it there as I spent part of my childhood in the country. This is a small token from my end,” he says.
About the movie, Raima Sen said: “A large number of Bangladeshi women were abused by the Pakistani army during the war, the film focuses on the suffering of the women. A series of separate stories come together to portray the bigger picture.”
The plot of the movie has three parallel stories, which bifurcate into smaller stories. In the end, the lives of the characters come together.
The first is in rural Bangladesh, it is the journey of a family through troubled times, guided by their father. In the other, a journalist converts to a militant. His wife’s story, which makes up the center of the film, is about the women of Bangladesh at that time, unfolding in captivity.
