KIFF to screen film on book once banned

Kolkata: Once stamped as obscene and banned in this state, Samaresh Basu’s ‘Projapoti’ is now the text for Subrata Sen’s cinematic adaptation of the Bengali film titled ‘The Lord of Creations’. This year, it is vying for the top award of Rs 51 lakh at the international competition for the state-sponsored Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF). It is one of the two Indian films in the international competition.A Bengali film — “Kura Pokkhir Shunne Ura” (The Golden Wings of Watercocks) — from Bangladesh has also been selected to compete in this section.
Those following Kolkata’s cultural circuit from the 60s believe that the selection of an adaptation of Basu’s controversial novel starring Subrata Dutta, Mumtaz Sorcar, Rwitobroto Mukherjee and Sritama Dey is significant not just in cinematic terms. The author and publisher of ‘Projapoti’ were accused of obscenity when the novel was first published in 1967. “The publisher was dragged to court on the grounds that the book could harm the moral character of the young generation. The lower court and even the Calcutta High Court’s verdicts didn’t go in favour of the novel. Copies of the book had to be destroyed. After a prolonged legal battle lasting for 17 years, the Supreme Court finally gave a verdict in 1985 in favour of the novelist and the publisher. As an author, it will be interesting to see how such a controversial work is now being adapted on screen. The audience reaction will also be important,” said author Prabal Kumar Basu.
In 1993, actor-director Biplab Chatterjee had done a cinematic adaptation of ‘Projapoti’ casting himself, Soumitra Chatterjee, Dipankar Dey, Rabi Ghosh and Satabdi Roy. The film was not well-received. “That’s because I feel the relevance of ‘Projapoti’ was already lost when I adapted it,” he said.
Sen still chose to adapt the same work since he wanted to pay a tribute to Basu whose earlier work ‘Bibar’ was also adapted by him. He changed the timeline of the backdrop to contemporary times and set it in Purulia instead of the original Naihati. Cine-buffs feel that this KIFF selection might throw open discussions on the obscenity debate. The director never felt that the novel was obscene or vulgar. “Rather it’s about a youth’s angst in the backdrop of a subaltern society. The novel’s language might have seemed obscene in the 1960s when the Bengali ‘bhodrolok’ was not used to this language. Using street lingo in literature was scandalous for them. That’s no more the case now since society has evolved,” Sen said.