Surkhraj Kaur Interviews Bedabrata Pain who wrote, produced and directed the film Chittagong, for more information visit – http://www.chittagongthefilm.com/
What inspired you to choose the Chittagong uprising as the subject of your very first film?
I am an optimistic person – I look at the world with the highest amount of optimism. That’s what drew me towards this story. Chittagong is a story of victory by ordinary people – of those who nobody thought could win. A school-teacher, a few revolutionaries (including a few women – almost unheard of in those times), and some 60 school children shook the foundation of the British Empire – an empire on which the sun never set, as the saying was. For the first time in the 20th century, the British were kicked out of a town – a town was liberated.
Surkhraj Kaur Interviews Bedabrata Pain who wrote, produced and directed the film Chittagong, for more information visit – http://www.chittagongthefilm.com/
What inspired you to choose the Chittagong uprising as the subject of your very first film?
I am an optimistic person – I look at the world with the highest amount of optimism. That’s what drew me towards this story. Chittagong is a story of victory by ordinary people – of those who nobody thought could win. A school-teacher, a few revolutionaries (including a few women – almost unheard of in those times), and some 60 school children shook the foundation of the British Empire – an empire on which the sun never set, as the saying was. For the first time in the 20th century, the British were kicked out of a town – a town was liberated.
Today also we need such audacity of thinking – of figuring out new ways of bringing in change. You know, in India, when we tell stories of freedom struggle, it inevitably becomes a story of martyrdom, bravery and sacrifice. Not taking away from those values for one moment, I wanted to stress on the fact that we can dare to win and we can win!
Importantly, these uprisings are not “one-off” things. There is a continuity of struggle forming an unbroken link. What is most striking in the Chittagong Uprising was that even though Masterda (the iconic leader of the Uprising) was captured and brutally killed by the colonialists, almost everybody survived and went to participate in mass uprisings and win important victories. Chittagong tells the story of such victories! And in doing so, it would remind you of events happening today around us – in the world.
What impact did Surya Sen have on the freedom movement?
In 1930s when the uprising happened, there were essentially two lines of thinking. One, by the Indian National Congress that imagined a compromise with the British, because the British were apparently too powerful. In fact, even in 1928, the Congress session voted down a call for independence. On the other hand, you had the so-called revolutionary terrorists, who did not dream beyond individual assassination of British officers. And then there was a nascent line of thinking which wanted to take the colonialists head on. This was the time of the famous Bombay textile strike, Bhagat Singh’s HSRA movement in Punjab, and the formation of Kisan Sabhas. Surya Sen belongs to this trend. His biggest contribution, I think, is to shatter the myth that the British are invincible. The revolutionary movements found a new confidence from the Chittagong Uprising.
Many of the Chittagong Uprising revolutionaries were condemned to the ‘kalapani’. Interestingly that’s where the Ghadaris met up with these revolutionaries, producing the next generation of revolutionaries in the 40s and 50s.
What kind of research did you have to do for the film?
Most of these revolutionaries wrote first-hand accounts of the events. I had access to all these manuscripts – and I read them cover to cover. But what was most inspiring was to meet the last surviving participant – Benode Behari Choudhury. He is now 103 years old. But his memory is still sharp as a tack, and the day I met him, he was on a hunger-strike because the Bangladesh government was going to tear down the school where Pritilata Waddedar, one of the women revolutionaries, used to teach.
I visited the remote locations in Chittagong where all this happened. I talked to the villagers, trying to capture the oral traditions. I went to Dhalghat, the site of the encounter where Nirmal Sen was killed, not before killing Capt. Cameroon and his cohorts. The house where the rebels had taken shelter was razed to the ground by the British in retaliation. It is here that I located Pritilata’s diary.
The bigger challenge was to recreate the period. My team did a meticulous research to recreate the 1930s. For instance, you will find that all wall edges in the film are beveled – just as it was in those days. We researched into every household utensil to make sure they are authentic. I made sure that we bought handloom cotton and stitched clothes out of them, because in those days, the refined cotton was not much in use. So it was a lot of both political research and period research that went into giving the movie its authenticity.
What difficulties did you face in making the film?
I faced every difficulty that you can think of. This was my first movie as a director – I hadn’t even been to a film-set before this. So everything was daunting. I had to learn everything on the go. That would have been difficult enough. But I faced every kind of difficulty – financial, people not trusting my abilities, big Bollywood trying to stop the movie from releasing, the distributor not co-operating – you name it.
We were one of the first victims of the economic slowdown in 2008, when production companies pulled out. I had to pour in all my savings to make this movie. Then everything seemed to go wrong during production. It taught me a valuable lesson – of believing in myself and staying true to my vision. That’s the only way the movie could be completed. Then I went through a series of intense personal losses and deaths. Soon after that, elements in Bollywood stopped the movie from coming out.
Even during the release, I found that the distributor had practically washed his hands off – and I had to run from theater to theater to keep the movie playing. In essence, I became the producer-directordistributor rolled in one! So, I guess, the lesson is if you want things you have to go and do it, and put in your 300% effort, and not look back!
Why did you tell the story from Jhunku’s eyes (which was brilliant) rather than Surya Sen’s?
I think the question has been partially answered already. Chittagong is a story – not about the leaders but of the “little” people. Jhunku represented those 60 kids who were the backbone of the uprising. Honestly, it could have been any of those kids. Of course, one has the highest respect for Masterda. But we felt that it’d be so much more powerful to hear the story from the point of view of a kid, especially this kid who was the most unlikely person to participate in the uprising. His father was close to the British and was in favour of compromise with them. Jhunku himself was a frail, diffident boy who would not even play football. How a boy of his upbringing become a revolutionary, and after becoming a revolutionary muster internal courage to achieve a victory, must make an exciting saga! And as I said earlier, picking Jhunku as the protagonist, was key to stressing the continuity of struggle and its victorious end.
But personally speaking, in many ways, Jhunku’s journey coincided with mine. Just as in real life Jhunku was doubtful about his abilities and his place till the last moment, I as a film-maker was undergoing a similar quest – fighting to survive and make a movie against all odds.
To know more about the film maker – http://www.chittagongthefilm.com/filmmaker/