The Kolkata Partition Museum Project has organized a four day event from August 16, commemorating the 72nd anniversary of the partition of Bengal. Film-maker Goutam Ghose is the chief adviser for the event.
Two of Tanvir Mokammel’s films about partition will be featured in the event- the historical fiction Chitra Nadir Pare (1999), and documentary Simantorekha (2017). On the day of closing, the director will also take a masterclass followed by a Q&A session.
Ritwik Ghatak’s Komal Gandhar (1961), Srijit Mukherji’s Rajkahini (2015), Kaushik Ganguly’s Bishorjon (2017), Ghose’s Shankhachil (2016), Leena Gangopadhyay and Saibal Banerjee’s Maati (2018), Supriyo Sen’s documentary Way Back Home (2003), and Bangladeshi film-maker Akram Khan’s Khancha (2017), among other films, will be screened at the event.
The project aspires to “memorialize, in the most comprehensive way, the specificity of Bengal’s Partition history and its aftermath; to emphasize the continuities between West Bengal and Bangladesh – in terms of language and literature, food, fabric, and the performing arts – and to encourage collaboration between them,” states a press release.
Tanvir Mokammel talked to the Dhaka Tribune Showtime about his masterclass Problems of Filming 1947 Partition.
“I will talk about challenges I faced while filming my partition films Chitra Nadir Pare (1999), Swapnabhumi (2007), 1971 (2011), Jibondhuli (2014) and Simantorekha (2017),” he said. “There are many aspects of films on the partition. I will focus on refugee camps where I shot my films. We will also delve into how the refugees are doing now, what the young generation is thinking about the partition, and whether it was necessary to divide up Bengal.”
The veteran film-maker said he will take more classes after the event. On August 25, he will talk about the partition in his films at the Barasat State University, West Bengal. He will talk about Tagore’s Education Ideas in the Era of Globalization on August 30 at Jadavpur University.
“Every city has a different character,” Tanvir said about his international students. “Film students of Kolkata are as passionate about the history of 1947 as our students are about 1971.”
On August 21, he will speak on the subject From Literature to Cinema: Syed Waliullah’s Tree Without Roots and Lalsalu at Rabindra Bharati. He will also re-launch a poetry book Behua, Bangla and Other Poems before returning to Dhaka on September 3.
Bengal Partition Through Films will conclude today in Kolkata with the screening of Akram Khan’s Khancha and Tanvir Mokammel’s Chitra Nodir Pare.
