by BEENA SARWAR
http://youtu.be/9YgLSslPYlc
I want to thank the Indian scientist-turned-filmmaker Bedabrata Pain for his powerful feature film about the 1930 uprising against the British in Chittagong in the part of Bengal that is now Bangladesh.
Beautifully shot and filmed, with stellar acting by a largely amateur cast, and music by Shankar Ehsan Loy, “Chittagong” (2012) has a gripping, non-linear narrative (with nary an item number). Unlike most accounts of the time, Pain’s film does not end with the 1934 execution of Surya Sen (“Master-da”) the schoolteacher who planned the daring raid on Chittagong armory with an army of mostly schoolboys. Their Indian Revolutionary Army (IRA) took over the town for a day as the British fled.
The film ends with peasants’ rebellion, the Tebagha Movement of 1945. “Master-da’s movement became the main force behind it,” said Pain, speaking to a full house after a screening at MIT recently.
Scrolling text at the end lists the political careers of the surviving schoolboys of the IRA. Many went on to become leaders and parliamentarians, including several with the Communist Party. “I wanted to show the continuity of movements”.
One of the questions in Amitabh Bacchan’s Kaun Baney Ga Crorepati some years ago was about the 1930 uprising, recalls Pain. The participant used his ‘lifeline’ to call for help. Flummoxed by the answer, he burst out, “Chitta… kya?” (Chitta… what?).
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