PM Review

  When I came to know that Chetan Anand’s Neecha Nagar [1946] is one of the eleven winners of Cannes’ Palme d'Or out of 45 films and it’s still the only Indian or South Asian film that holds the status till now. I have been deeply amazed by its historical references which are not much circulated as precious and pioneering in South Asian films as India was undivided. Therefore, I suppose Neecha Nagar is common pride for Bangladesh also; though K.A. Abbas’ Dharti Ke Lal [1946] was a more mind-blowing film released in 1946.   As Neecha Nagar was also written by K.A. Abbas, it would be a double celebration if Dharti Ke Lal took part in the Cannes film festival. I believe it would also be one of the winners. After watching Dharti Ke Lal & Saat Hindustani [1969], I was expecting to watch a narrative which is loosely based on social realism and the communist ideology.   When I heard the dialogue by Balraj: “ अब   ख़ामोशी   का   ज़माना   गुजर   चुका ”...

When I have started searching archival data and literary & artistic data on the Great Bengal famine to write a novel on pre-independence age, Japanese invasion of Burma [present Myanmar], American military base on Calcutta [present Kolkata], the Bengal famine, communal riot and partition in a greater scale back in 2018. I did not find much in Bengali initially significant except sketches of Chittaprosad Bhattacharya and Zoynul Abedin; in 2021 I came to know that Satyajit Ray’s Ashani Sanket [1973] is based on Bengal Famine which was adapted from Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay’s eponymous novel [1959]. I read this novel in 2023. Chittaprosad, ‘’Life behind the Front Lines’’, page from People’s War, 24 September, 1944; Source: P.C Joshi Collections, Dr. B.R Ambedkar Central Library, JNU, Delhi Source: https://indigenousweb.com/blog/chittaprosad-bhattacharya-political-art/ Khwaja Ahmed Abbas’ Dharti Ke Lal [1946] shares some common features and outline of the narrative loosely both Me...