Bangladesh or, For Shame but she agrees

একাত্তরের পরেও আমাদের দারিদ্র্য ছিল। সেটা financial  দারিদ্র্য। আজকে এর সাথে আমাদের মানসিক দারিদ্র্য যোগ হয়েছে। আমরা আজকে মানসিকভাবে দরিদ্র। - শম্পা রেজা , Channel  ৭১, অগাস্ট, ২০১২

( After 71, We were poor too but that was financial poverty. Today Mental poverty is added to that. We are Mentally poor now.- Shompa Reza, Channel 71, August 2012)

Listen to what he said! (Ananta - the Hero, the Producer, the Star!)

For better or for worse, he's here, he's rich, he is on TV and producing movies so he can be a 'hero'.

This particular story was told by him about an incident in a KFC around Dhaka.

এক লোক বলে উঠল "ওই দেখ বাংলা ছবির হিরু" এই কথা শুনে জলিল জবাব দিল এই বলে- "ইও ফ্রম ঘানা? হুইচ কান্ট্রি ইও ফ্রম আফ্রিকা? টেল মি। হুইচ আব হোয়ের কান্ট্রি আব আব হোয়ের আর ইও ফ্রম আফ্রিকা? টেল মি। বাংলা ছবির হিরু মিনস দে আর uneducated? ইউর মা আব ইউর মাদার ফ্রম রাসিয়া? ইও লিভিং ইন বাংলাদেশ। ম্যান ইও হেভ টুঁ respect ইন বাংলাদেশ। বিকজ ইও আর ইটিং ফুড ফ্রম বাংলাদেশ। সো ডোন্ত সে বাংলা মুভি !!!"

Ananta was on channel 71 during eid where also present was his wife and 'heroin' of two of his movies, a cultural correspondent and another film producer. They said, its wrong for us to make faces at our Banlga film industry's produce. We should like and appreciate these movies just because they say so, thus relieving them of any duty to improve on their storytelling and craftsmanship. I don't know buddy. That's a tall order!

He'd Like to See a Good Story For a Change!

Saw a few people on TV last night crying over the state of our drama on tv, and similar cries have been heard about the state of our cinema*. From a historical standpoint, one can argue that since liberation (1971), the business minded, with the help of a corrupted avenue, and the blessings of a silent intellectual mass (probably very small) has taken all steps to spoil all avenues of our 'culture' - literature, cinema, drama, and music.

* Though, some cry, there are enough sponsors out there to push the status quo of cheap/expensive cinema with the same old stories wound this way and that. As you can see below, there are TV shows that are created such as 'Star Night' where they'll showcase the ONE 'hero' of our film industry!

As the analysts argue and cry, the statements that they pose usually are as such:
* We don't have a good budget
* Bollywood is stealing the show (and again, we don't have their budget)

Only recently did I hear someone put blame where it made a bit more sense:
1. Our stories are not good enough to attract viewers!
2. As far as TV is concerned, the sponsors take up a ridiculous amount of time from the actual show!
3. Again, concerning TV - there are just too many stations (more than 7) out there! how would people choose what to watch!?

It all boils down to two things - which are really two sides of one coin - Greed & Corruption. We've chased the money for so long and established so much around it that we fail to have any 'art' here, and fail to have 'class' or 'creativity' in our entertainment. From the interview of Sakib Khan (No. 1) one could see that is our unfortunate reality.

Related:
Bullets of Bollywood
End of Show for Movie Theatres?

She too asked,"Who knows who He is to me?"

They say you see what you want to see.Or , in this case, hear what you want to hear. I speak of the new Arnob album.May be I wanted to be overwhelmed. May be I wanted my heart to stop somewhere in there. May be I longed for that sigh that was held back for so long,to get out of my system.

I listened to the album few weeks prior to it being out on CD, in extremely bad quality via the cellphone service provider. I must emphasize if that was to be a clever marketing ploy, it was not clever at all. Not everyone is miserable(or curious) enough (like me) that they will go on to listen to the album after that horrible a preview. There. Its out Robi. Do what you must.

A friend got me a copy and admittedly the first listen was a bit of a downer. But then I picked up on Phagun Haway Haway... even though when it was raining outside, it was a great mood lifter. May be the bass was a bit too heavy, with the voice drowning out a little too much but the frivolity and the dreaminess did some real good work for me.

And that is really the great essence of  the album. Most of the songs have captured the actual mood of the songs ( not like I know what they all should have been but hey). Not just that, they stir up this whole range of emotions, upto the limits of Tagore's words and music and at times beyond that too.

This write up cannot finish without the mention of Amar Din Phuralo. The haunting melody is captured beautifully within that enchanting voice that is Warda (hope I got the name right). The piano, of course does no less with the incredible solo about one and half minute into the song. The subtlety of the song makes it all the more prominent in teh album. It also makes you wish Arnob would make use of other voices in the album more.

Which then brings me to my next criticism which is the fact that Arnob's voice , a fan as I may be, does not often do justice to the songs. There are technical errors that are so obvious and so wrong that even the biggest fan has to shake her head in disapproval.Examples of such numbers could be Prochondo Gorjone( I shall also take this opportunity to promote another great rendition of this song  by Banya in her album Laguk hawa) or Rakho Rakho Re.

But then there are songs that will remind you this man was trained in Rabindra sangeet. There is a beautiful rendition of Ami Kan Pete Roi that has none of the usual sense of woe that is so often associated this number. Au contraire, it is hopeful and makes one sit up with perhaps the same anticipation that Rabibabu wrote "কে সে মোর ... কেই  বা জানে .. কিছু তার দেখি আভা ... কিছু পাই অনুমানে ..."( Who knows who he is to me?... I see some glimpses of Him... some I imagine)

Listen. Buy. Listen. Admire.

PS: A great demo of Amar din Phuralo by Arnob : http://soundcloud.com/shayanchowdhury/amar-din-phuralo