Bengali film on Rohingya refugees creates a buzz

Kumar Chowdhury’s ‘Priyo Chinar Pata, Iti Segun... (Fire of Teak Flame of Chinar)’ which was screened at the 26^th Kolkata International Film Festival is the first Bengali feature film on a Rohingya refugee as a protagonist.The hard-hitting film starring Piyali Samanta, Aarman Shaw and Iqbal Sultan was also in competition at KIFF’s Asian Select category. Chowdhury, who has acted in many serials, and has directed a dozen telefilms, was moved by the photo of Aylan Kurdi — the Syrian boy of Kurdish background whose image made global headlines. Then a Bangladeshi author’s book on Rohingyas sparked his interest. Funding was difficult and the director had to take out personal loans, sell off family jewelry and then go for crowd-funding to raise the Rs 20 lakh required to make it. ‘Priyo Chinar Pata, Iti Segun...’ is about a Rohingya girl who has no idea of where her parents and grandmother are. She meets a Kashmiri shawl-seller and his son at a home and a bond develops between her and the youth, who then tries, in his personal capacity, to trace her family. Kumar says his film is not just about focusing on the trials of the Rohingya refugees. Throughout the film, he uses radio as a prop to share happenings concerning refugees in the world to connect the dots and tell the tales of global loss.