Unrest stalls release of Mrinal Sen’s biopic in Bangladesh

Kolkata: Over a century after director Mrinal Sen was born in the Faridpur district of Bangladesh on May 13, 1923, his life is set to be immortalized on the silver screen by Bangladeshi actor Chanchal Chowdhury in Srijit Mukherji’s ‘Padatik’. While this could have served as a testament to the enduring cultural ties between India and Bangladesh with its Aug 15 release, the current socio-political climate has cast a pall over the proceedings.The Bangladesh release has been stalled. And though Sen’s Chicago-based son Kunal is flying down to attend the film’s premiere in Kolkata on Aug 15, ‘Padatik’ producer Firdasul Hasan told TOI that Chowdhury does not have any plan of a Kolkata visit as of now.
Hasan is currently proceeding with just the India release. “We have invested close to Rs 4 crore in the film. But my Bangladeshi distributor advised me to defer the release. We will undoubtedly release the film there but this is not the opportune time to do so,” Hasan said.
Many of Chowdhury’s fans are apprehensive about his security, especially after attacks on minorities in Bangladesh and those close to the Hasina regime. To further exacerbate matters, Chowdhury recently found himself embroiled in a crisis, with his name being misappropriated to disseminate spurious news regarding the situation in the country. An 864-word WhatsApp message falsely attributed to Chowdhury highlighted a conspiracy theory of how Sheikh Hasina could be a victim of America’s machinations. On Aug 9, Chowdhury took to social media to write: “Chanchal Chowdhury speaking… I will not be responsible if any news organisation, national or international, misuses my name to report on the current situation. This is because I have not talked to the media about the current situation. I am a simple artiste and have no connection with anything else beyond my profession. I am hardly active on social media now due to my mother’s poor health. I hope there will be peace in the country and everybody will be well.”
Chowdhury was supposed to come to Kolkata for the promotions on Aug 8. “We postponed it to Aug 10. But that, too, was cancelled,” Hassan said. The film’s promotion, which was to be spearheaded by Chowdhury’s virtual presence, has also been stalled. “We could have used a video clip of him urging people to watch the film. But posting any video clip of his on social media in today’s times involves risks since anyone can criticise him for promoting an Indian movie now,” Hasan added.