Internationally-acclaimed Indian director Goutam Ghose says his forthcoming feature film “Sangkhachil”, a joint India-Bangladesh production featuring Prosenjit Chatterjee and Bangladeshi actress Kusum, is inspired by the vision of Ritwik Ghatak on the theme of the Partition.
The film, he says, will portray the angst of the people living near the India-Bangladesh border. Set at a place near the border between India and Bangladesh, “Sangkhachil” tells the story of a family whose relatives live on both sides of the barbed wire fencing.
The film will be released on Bangla Noboborsho (the Bangla New Year, April 14) in India and Bangladesh.
“I was associated with Ritwik Ghatak during the later phase of his career for quite some time and introduced to his vision that created films on the Partition. The Partition always brought forth the raw wounds inflicted on the psyche of the affected people,” Ghose said.
“I had heard from him the pain and anguish of the people affected by the Partition but never previously sought to portray that angst in my film,” he said.
It was during a visit to the border to shoot his previous award-winning film “Moner Manush” that Ghose realised how only humans are barred from crossing the man-made boundary but not others.
“None can stop the birds, fishes and dolphins of river Ichhamati and tigers and crocodiles of the Sunderbans from going from one side to the other. It is a history of the humans which we can never do away with,” he said.
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After “Padma Nadir Majhi”, which stars actors of India and Bangladesh, and “Moner Manush”, “Sangkhachil”, which was shot in locations in both the countries, is Ghose’s third Indo-Bangla production.
About the popularity of Prosenjit in Bangladesh, Ghose said “He is immensely popular in Bangladesh. I had seen this during the shoot of “Moner Manush” and found it again during the shoot of ‘Sangkhachil’. At times, we forgot where were shooting in West Bengal or Bangladesh.”
For his part, Prosenjit recalled how during the journey from the hotel to the shooting location early morning, he would come out of the car at seven-eight places to meet fans of all ages, including elderly village women, and parrot a few lines from his hit films.
“At such times, the geographical barriers cease to exist. I feel honoured,” said Prosenjit, who is co-producing the film with a Bangladeshi producer.
“We have also sent the film to Cannes and it will visit several other premier festivals,” he said.
Source : thedailystar
