Home ›› 09 Nov 2021 ›› Show Biz
Noted filmmaker, film editor and freedom fighter Saidul Anam Tutul’s Liberation War based film ‘Kalbela’ is finally heading for a theatrical release in December, the month of victory, three years after he passed away in December 2018 leaving the film incomplete.
“The film will be released next month. We are in discussion with hall owners. We will come up with a formal announcement soon,” Mobasshwera Khanam, widow of the late director, told The Business Post on Monday.
Saidul Anam Tutul started filming ‘Kalbela’ in October 2018, inspired by a research book titled ‘Narir 71 O Juddha Parabarti Kathya Kahini’, a publication of Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK). The film won the government grants for the fiscal year 2017-18. Shooting of the film was mostly done before the death of Tutul. Afterwards, the post production was done under the supervision of Mobasshwera.
“The filming was mostly done by him and that is why it has been possible for us to execute the project. For me, it was something very new and a challenge as I am from a different profession. My daughters also helped me,” she said.
“He had a huge talent in film editing. It was a great challenge for me to find an alternative to him for the editing during the post-production,” added Mobasshwera.
“Later, I talked to Samir Ahmed, who studied at Pune Film Institute and won the National Film Award. He agreed and edited the film. He works very well,” she added.
“It was a long-cherished dream for Tutul to make a film based on the 1971 Liberation War. Those who knew him closely knew that he wanted to make a film on the Liberation War for a long time. Unfortunately, he could not finish it and left us. He involved me with the project from the very beginning and shared everything with me,” added Mobasshwera.
“He was a freedom fighter. We were very young during the Liberation War. He always shared with me that he will depict the mental sufferings and social instabilities during the war. The film talks about another war apart from those on the battlefields — the mental torments of people. He tried to portray it,” she mentioned.
Actress Tahmina Authoi, who plays the central female lead Sanjida in ‘Kalbela’ to mark her cinematic debut, told The Business Post, “It was in September, 2018. I was very new then. I was studying dramatics. Saidul Anam Tutul was looking for an actress for his film. I hadn’t worked for any big-screen project before that. I came to Dhaka and met him. After the selection, I was given the script. We rehearsed and discussed about the story, dialogues and the characters of the film.”
“We went for shooting the film from October. The film was mostly shot in Khulna, Kushtia and Rajshahi and wrapped up in November.”
“Being a newcomer, I was lucky to be mentored by a great personality like him who did classic works,” said Authoi.
“It was a great experience to work under his direction in my first film. Getting his guidance and seeing him very closely while working on this project is a matter of pride and pleasure for me,” added Authoi.
“He was a very well-organised person which is reflected in works as well. I never saw him getting tired until the things get perfect. He was so dedicated to his works that he even continued the project even during his illness. He had that motivation,” she said about director Tutul.
Talking about portraying the character ‘Sanjida’, she said, “In fact, it is very tough to work on a project based on the Liberation War. It was challenging to some extent to work that way. ‘Kalbela’ is the story of struggles of a woman during the Liberation War. It was very strong character and the story is centrted on it.”
The film also features Shishir, Jayanta Chattopadhyay, Lutfar Rahman George and Tanvir Masud, amog others.
Produced under the banner of Tutul’s production house ‘Akar’, the film was ready to release in 2020 and afterwards faced delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Having won the National Film Award in the Best Editor category for ‘Surja Dighal Bari’ in 1979, Saidul Anam Tutul made his cinematic directorial debut in 2003 with the film ‘Adhiar’, based on the 1946-47 Tebhaga Protest of farmers in Bangladesh. He passed away on December 18, 2018 in Dhaka.
