A few days before the Indian PM came to Bangladesh, a veteran Indian journalist asked me for an opinion on a Bangladeshi op-ed terming the impending trip a landmark, given the agreements that would be signed.
Well, it’s certainly a watershed moment with land agreements ending the stateless condition of roughly 50,000 people living in enclaves. Without doubt, the body language of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Bangladeshi soil speaks of an intention for stronger ties.
The fact is, India and Bangladesh have had strained relations in the past over Farakka dam, clandestine support for hill-tract insurgents, border shootings, and water-sharing, but the bond never reached the nadir.
It’s a bit like the Anglo-French relation -- there have been bitter moments, but mostly it’s sweet. Well, with the current trip and plenty of bonhomie all around, maybe we can expect more melody in the days to come, instead of discord. Also, the fractious state of affairs in the South China Sea, where one side’s desire to rule over others is creating ill-will, should be an eye-opener.
While the agreements over land possession and water-sharing have hogged the headlines, the issue of one-way cultural traffic had for long been a vexing one for Bangladesh. The heartening thing, however, was that, before the trip, the Indian foreign secretary acknowledged the one-sided culture wave, reportedly saying that Bangladeshi TV channels will be allowed within India.
Now, this is indeed a big step not only for cultural balance but also for the recognition of the cultural evolution of a modern Bangladesh. Obviously, the question is: Who would watch our channels, which have most programs in Bengali?
Just to clarify, the objective is not to reach out to the whole of India, though, if someone wants to see Bangladeshi channels while residing in Madras then they are most welcome. The audience for our programs is in West Bengal, which shares the same mother tongue.
Bengali films from Tollywood have quite a following here since they upgraded their commercial movie-making to compete with Bollywood and, in the same manner, our TV dramas plus music channels, which can prove to be popular if they are allowed to be watched in West Bengal.
While Indian media has taken theme- based, audience-involving programs to a level of perfection, Bangladesh offers music video channels along with tele-films which are a rich blend of popular Bengali thoughts and an evolved outlook.
James, the Bangladeshi rock musician, was commissioned to sing the super hit Bollywood number Na Jane Koi from the movie Gangster. Stands to reason, if local rock music had been allowed to be aired in India, then this breakthrough would have happened long ago.
James sang with ardour in Hindi, though I don’t know if he speaks it fluently. So, it does not have to be Bengali all the time.
Just to point out a fact: Bangladesh, as a teenager nation, had experienced a rock/pop band music revolution way back in the early 80s, whereas this Western-influenced genre of music was in its infancy in India.
I recall vividly that, in a bar in Kolkata way back in 1987, upon hearing I was a Bangladeshi, a few local youths literally forced me to sing a few lines from Keno khulechi tomar janala, a hit by the Bangladeshi band Feedback.
Despite a rather inferior cover of the song, their expressions of bliss are etched in my memory!
The same passion can be found here in Bangladesh for classical Indian songs sung by artists such as Bhupen Hazarika, Manna Dey, or Hemanta. Irrespective of age, the charm of these songs is eternal.
Now that an initial declaration has been made, we would love to see words turning into action. The cultural exchange does not have to remain confined to TV channels only. After India adopted the liberalisation policy in 1990, their music industry, especially the segment that catered to Western-styled sub-genres, has seen rapid improvement, with Shilong in West Bengal termed by many as a musical cauldron.
A great way to allow balanced cultural exchange would be to open the gates on both sides so that Indo-Bangla rock festivals can take place both here and in major cities in India.
In cine-culture, the detective genre is almost non-existent in Bangladesh, therefore, collaborative projects with Satyajit Ray’s accomplished son Sandwip Ray can enrich this aspect of film-making. How about a Feluda adventure set in Dhaka with all the modern day commercial cinema mainstays thrown in?
Need I say, such a film will be a visual treat and a commercial blast!
When a huge pandemonium broke out over the government’s permission to allow Hindi feature films to run in local cinema halls, I was not an opponent, on the grounds that unless there is competition local productions would not improve.
Competition from something better always works as a catalysing agent to salvage something from a kitsch formula.
But while advocating challenge from better productions in movies, I would ask that laudable productions from our side -- music videos, tele-films, and creative adverts -- be permitted to be aired in India as well.
To end on a light note: Since item songs are crucial in movies, both in India and Bangladesh, perhaps a joint item song dhamaka (extravaganza) can be arranged in the wake of PM Narendra Modi’s trip ... we can aptly call it the “Indo-Bangla Garam Masala!”
