AMP's The 20 Best Post-Liberation (1972-2000) Films from Bangladesh

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December 29, 2020

By Fahmidul Haq

Bangladesh started producing film regularly since the mid-1950s, when it was part of Pakistan. Due to the colonial military rule by the central West Pakistan, there was a rise of Bengali nationalism and people of East Pakistan started revolting. The East did not get the power even though their political party Bangladesh Awami League got absolute majority in 1970 Pakistan election. The people of the East got increasingly agitated and there was a military crackdown in the midnight of March 25, 1971 and the war started. Through the resistance of freedom fighters and the diplomatic and military support from India, Bangladesh got liberated from Pakistan on December 16, 1971 .

This article selects the 20 best films in post-liberation (1972-2000) Bangladesh. The country had a vibrant mainstream film industry in 1970s and 1980s. Since 1990s, the industry started declining due to many internal and external factors. Meanwhile, since the mid-1980s, there was a slow but steady growth of independent cinema which started representing the national cinema of Bangladesh by documenting politics, culture and society, both in fiction and documentary genres and by participating in international festivals. Until mid-1990s, independent films were artisan in look – short in length and technically ordinary; however, gradually they started to be more mature – full length in duration and comprehensive in film techniques.

Except one or two, the selection criteria of the following 20 movies was the films’ intend to portray the broader culture and society of Bangladesh, instead of just telling a good story or entertaining audience or even just experimenting artistically. The themes of the films are diverse and deep rooted in the history and culture of Bangladesh as a nation. The films are described here in temporal order. The selection includes 2 documentaries and 18 features that comprise 5 war films, 6 rural based, 3 city centric and 1 children film. It is also interesting to note that 3 rivers are mentioned in the titles of 3 films and 3 films are set in the coast of the Bay of Bengal. It is quite natural that the rivers, the sea, and the boat would be the characters in the films made in Bengal Delta region.

Two films (“Palanka” [1975] by Rajen Tarafdar and “Padma Nadir Majhi” [1993] by Goutam Ghosh) might be included in the lists, but those were co-productions between Bangladesh and India and the director is from India. “Titas Ekti Nadir Naam” by Ritwik Ghatak was also directed by an Indian citizen, but it was solely produced by Bangladesh, hence included in the list. Moreover, Ghatak was born in Bangladesh and lived here until his early youth.