“Pocket Bhora Shoishob,”a touching tele-film on the miseries of the street children of Bangladesh, was premiered on July 24 at the Star Cineplex. The event was arranged by Plan International Bangladesh.
The tele-film is written by Azad Abul Kalam and directed by Badrul Anam Saud. Renowned artist Saberi Alam, Joyraj, Sanjida Prity, and child artist Rasel played the vital roles in it. The tele-film will be aired on the third day of Eid at 10 am on ETV.
Plot of the story revolves around the daily struggle of street children for basic necessities such as food and shelter. The documentary begins by showing a bunch of children playing a game called “Shooting Shooting,” where they planned an action sequence. While playing, one of them named Dulal gets hurt by a peer of his. At the middle of their game, a security guard comes into the picture and scares the lively group into retreat.
As Dulal was injured, he consults with a doctor and returns home to the slum where his mother, sister, step father and step brother lives. The young boy gets beaten up by his brother, who assumes that he got into trouble while pick pocketing and got battered by an angry crowd. When Dulal’s mother interferes taking his side, the step brother leaves home angrily and does not return home that night.
Dulal’s father was even less tolerant towards his sick son and when his mother asked money to buy medicine for him, his father beats her up.
Faced with the dire situation, Dulal got depressed and leaves home forever. He starts looking for work and meets a stranger who offers Dulal a job in his business as a sales man. Dulal agrees on that and when he reaches his working place, there were more kids waiting for the call of work. They understood later that the man is involved in child trafficking. After a struggle, they manages to escape the impending doom.
Finally, Dulal finds a safe dwelling with another child, the place is a street children rehabilitation centre.
The story is a wonderful depiction of the harsh reality faced by the unfortunate children from the poverty stricken families of the country. They are deprived of childhood and unconditional love, which is a right of every child and thrown into full-time employment from too early an age. The work often exerts undue physical, social, or psychological stress, hampers access to education, and may be detrimental to social and psychological development.
