As a child, I loved drawing cartoons. My art teacher commented on the freedom of my pencil strokes. My sister would take my sketch book to school to proudly share my drawings with her mates. I was fascinated by the master Joynal Abedin. “This guy does not use color. One can do that? How convenient!”
Shishir Bhattacharya was more than a human being!
Soon, I lost track of my sketch books. I convinced myself, cartoonists cannot make a grand living and I need to live grandly. So I will study economics, go to my dream school Dartmouth College, become an economist, join a big firm, drive a Porsche, start a company, make big bucks. Keep things simple.
While I was laying the roadmap from my glorious future, my English teacher at school started discussing UWC. I was sold. Everything about this Hogwarts appealed to me. I had to go there. As it is I was convinced if I stayed in Bangladesh I would die an early death. That was the era of “back-up” and I was in the habit of saying whatever I wanted and getting knocked around.
So I went to Mahindra UWC of India. As the bus rolled into the compound, a featherweight Indian student with bed hair sipped a hot drink. I could see the steam rising from her drink from many metres away and the air was different. It was lighter. We were on a hill but I was breathing more easily than I ever breathed before. Everything was better. Everything seemed to have more purpose.
I liked the place. Every moment was a discovery. The bloke from Bermuda was constantly cracking "yo momma jokes" and I was supposed to be okay with it. The boy from Norway put some herbs in his water bottle because it would help with the heat. The guy from Swaziland was called Innocent! What fun.
I had ticked Film as one of my International Baccalaureate courses. So I went to my film class. No pressure. The course instructor asked the students to introduce ourselves and tell him what our favorite films were. The list went on as: “Godfather.” “Trainspotting.” “Y tu mama tambien.” Oh dear, I thought. These names sound so serious. What gravitas. So culturally significant they sound. What should I say? Terminator Part II? Gladiator? I was so embarrassed by my inferiority I mumbled something. I probably said Braveheart but, to be honest, I cannot remember. All I remember was that my ears were hot and everything was hazy.
In the coming weeks, we went to the Film and Television Institute of India to see films at the National Film Archives. We did so regularly. It was a part of the curriculum. The seats were big, plush red things that invited sleep. The films were difficult to follow with subtitles and all and they explored subjects that I had a hard time finding interest in. I saw Citizen Kane and concluded that filmmaking was some kind of exercise in physics and perfection that was way beyond me.
Then came the day when we watched Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard. It was a revelation. The editing was erratic but the story was breezy. The characters were charming and their situation and needs seemed so relevant. The ending of the film was a masterstroke. I was spellbound. More importantly, the moment Breathless ended, I said to myself, I can do this too. I can make films one day.
Today, as I write this article, I am making my first feature film “Kora Rowd.” Records need to be checked, but if I can exhibit the film next year, I will probably be the youngest producer in Bangladesh ever. In the lull periods of production, I am writing the script for my directorial debut. I am also preparing myself to lead in a feature film. All these possibilities did not present themselves to me overnight. There has been years of struggle, failure, frustration, confusion and doubt but I have the courage to carry on. And I owe a large portion of this courage to my UWC background.
At UWC, I totally and wholeheartedly immersed myself in a sea of knowledge, learning and observation; in world literature, photography, printing, visual arts, installation arts, lighting, cartooning, quantum physics, graffiti, philosophy you name it! I continued with my stage acting which I had started at a very early age. This exposure forms the bedrock of my crafts.
There is more to the influence. My days at UWC made me form opinions and questions about who I was as a human being and what the purpose of my existence was. It made me realise I had to pursue my dreams. I learned to think freely. I learned to question things that did not seem right to me. I got the power to get in touch with a deeper part of my consciousness.
