“Headmaster” is a cliche. Oxford Dictionary defines “cliche” to be a very predictable or unoriginal thing. Merriam-Webster defines “cliche” as something that is so commonly used it is no longer effective. Impress Telefilms has been associated with some very good films, unfortunately their forty-something production “Headmaster” is not one of them. “Headmaster” is a cliche.
“Headmaster” is a social drama, the genre that became part of the stop-vulgar-cinema movement, our answer to the Bangla garam-masala films. But somehow, the latter spit-combed its hair and went “digital” while the social drama with its receding hairline remained “analog.” The picture quality of “Headmaster” is so bad as if the telecine transfer was done in 1945, in Hiroshima, right after the bombing. Isn’t it insufficiently deferential to pull out such a dirty rabbit out of the hat?
The social drama, hardly a complete-family-entertainer, has its own rules much akin to Newton’s first law - a closely knit family at rest will continue to be at rest unless an external evil force acts on it. It always consists of a ten-times-whiter-than-other-detergent family, and the external evil force ranges from bad in-laws to ugly chairmen or it could be a lethal disease. The father and mother are Zeus and Hera and their children are blessings without a thread of disguise.
Alamgir plays the father, an impeccable headmaster of a primary school, and Suborna Mustafa is his devoted wife whose only job is to make tea for him and say, “Hot tea!” Who can forget her excellent performance in Humayun Ahmed’s “Kothao Keu Nei”? Their daughter is a selfless doctor who along with their soon to be son-in-law does such wonders at the free-for-all hospital that even Pinocchio’s fairy godmother would be impressed. In their free time they sing Nazrul songs in the garden. The headmaster has a dream project – to build a high school at the village. So what is the problem in this otherwise utopia – he’s got cancer! In comes his one time student (who just happens to be the Minister of Education) and she promises to provide the funding for the new school. The minister even makes tea for the headmaster and blurts out, “Hot tea!” So what is the “dramatic conflict?” Nothing.
The coverage is very simple. In every scene we get an establishing shot (master shot) followed by either medium shots or directly talking-heads (close up shots). In important moments, such as cancer-moment, we get tracking shots. And of course we have the occasional stream of consciousness - his thoughts conveying his thoughts. When a scene changes we get brief insert shots, such as sunset or sunrise. In sad moments we get sad music (mostly violins) and in happy moments we get happy music (mostly sitars).
Why do we resort to cliches? Is it because hired directors lack inspiration? What we actually lack is craft. We cannot take pride in our “art,” let others be the judge of that, but we can take pride in our “craft.” To be a good film-craftsmen we should study that essential unit of film and theater – the scene. And the best study materials come from classic Hollywood. The fire of creativity is often fueled by the wood from trees planted by others. It is impossible to create something out of nothing.
For film coverage i.e. shot division we should study Howard Hawks e.g. “His Girl Friday;” for camera placement we should study William Wyler e.g. “The Best Years of Our Lives;” for framing and blocking we should study John Ford e.g. “The Searchers.” And the best way to study a film is to turn the sound off, since by nature sound and music pull the viewer into the story like magnet.
“Headmaster” premiered on Channel i, and with over one hour of commercials it was merely cement for the holiday-advertisement-bricks. But to be fair to Channel i, let me just point out to the viewers that in the first quarter of 2014 Channel i showed only 88,000 ads (up 2% from 2013), now compare that with Ekattor TV which showed 202,000 ads (up a whopping 74% from 2013). Clearly, the shoe belongs to the other foot.
