Book Review: Cinema of Bangladesh: A Brief History (2020) by Fahmidul Haq

 By Panos Kotzathanasis 

The “story”, after highlighting the concept of “brief” mentioned in the title as a panoramic view on local cinema, begins with some general facts about the current situation of the industry, as much as audience tendencies regarding motion pictures. The next chapter deals extensively with the beginning of Bangladeshi cinema, a topic that is always hot no matter which country’s movies it refers to, but is even more complicated regarding Bangladesh, which was first a part of India, then of Pakistan, before it became independent. As such, Haq captures the story from the first exhibitions of East Bengal, eventually arriving to the name of Hiralal Sen, as he was the first film exhibitor, filmmaker and founder of the first cine-company in East Bengal, also commenting on why his film is not considered the ‘first’. The story of Sen emerges as one of the most interesting in the book, as it is intensely bound with the beginning of local cinema. Haq then brings us to the Nawab Family and the formation of the Dhaka East Bengal Cinematograph Society and their first titles, of which “The Last Kiss” takes center stage. 

The next chapter tracks the history of mainstream cinema with the name of “Mukh o Mukhosh” coming to the fore, with Haq dedicating a large part of the book both on the film and its director Abdul Jabbar Khan, also adding facts about the history of Bangladesh, which, undoubtedly, had an impact on local cinema as well. The creation of East Pakistan Film Development Corporation (now BFDC – Bangladesh Film Development Corporation) emerges as a rather important event in this chapter also, with the rest exploring cinema pre and post the Liberation War, essentially to today. A number of chapters emerge as rather interesting here. The 70s in particular offer a fascinating decade regarding cinema, with Haq following Alamgir Kabir’s classification of war, plagiarized, non-plagiarized and offbeat films, adding, however, two of his own, costume epics and gangster-based action movies. Also of note here is the reference to Nagisha Oshima’s documentary, “Rahman: Father of Bengal”, a very little known part of the Japanese filmmaker’s oeuvre. The surge of Urdu-language movies, the demise of the mainstream industry and the rise of the independent one, particularly due to the surge of B-grade ultra-violent titles that included soft porn scenes brings us to the next chapter, which deals almost exclusively with indie cinema. 

Here, the definition of independent cinema emerges as rather interesting, along with the Alternative Film Movement and the Film society Movement. The issues of the particular type of cinema take center stage also, with the product placement, the inexperience regarding the global stage which have resulted in some exploitation of local filmmakers by international distribution companies, and the tendency for self-censorship, appear as rather interesting here, as much as pointed and realistic. Also of note is the fact that Haq focuses on documentaries from the beginning of the book, giving them space in, essentially, all of his chapters, in another excellent aspect here. 

This review would not be complete if I did not mention a very important negative aspect.”Cinema of Bangladesh” is the first time Nokta, the publishing house of the title, ventures into English language publications, and it shows, since the writing would definitely benefit from better editing. The use of “the, “a” or nothing in particular is rather faulty, as much as the repetition of words like ‘film”, along with some other repetitions here and there. The flow could be a bit better, but in general, this is not exactly a problem. Furthermore, as the book progresses, these issues become less significant (or one could say that the reader can get used to them). 

Apart from this problem, however, the approach Haq implements is excellent, with the book flowing really easily for the most part, as the focus is on history, people, and events that shaped Bangladeshi cinema, including the history of the area, and not on analysis of specific movies, which can frequently get tedious in other publications. The way the whole “narrative” unfolds, from the beginning of local cinema until our days is also important, as it deems the book both historic and contemporary, adding to its urgency. Furthermore, the definition of how the beginning of a country’s cinema is established and of the whole concept of independent cinema add even more informative value to the title. Lastly, and in some comments on the editing, the presence of tables, posters and stills of movies works quite well as a relief from the text, while, at less than 150 pages essentially (excluding the index) it is as condensed as it could be in another trait of the edition. 

In terms of context, “Cinema of Bangladesh: A Brief History” is on a very high level; what the future works in English of both Fahmidul Haq and Nokta need, however, (which are already ready if I am not mistaken) is improvement to the overall editing, that will allow the reader to enjoy the information shared here much more easily.