Cinema
Classic Bengali novel Lalsalu made into film
Front-ranking film-maker Tanvir Mokammel's new venture is set to hit silver screen soon
Aziz Amirul

One of the most celebrated novels of contemporary Bengali literature Lalsalu by Syed Waliullah has been made into film by country's leading film-maker of alternative cinema. Cine literates of the city will soon be able to savour the movie.

Lalsalu,Tanvir Mokammel's ninth production, focuses on rural Muslim community of the then-East Bengal (presently Bangladesh).

Set in the 40's, Lalsalu is a brilliant commentary of rural Muslim psyche. The film opens at a remote village in some marshy region of the country as suddenly a bearded Mullah arrives among the simple and unlettered Muslim community. Majid, a quite haggardly middle-aged man impresses the innocent villagers with his religious knowledge and profundity. Soon after his arrival, Majid starts cleaning and renovating an old, dilapidated grave lying in an un-cared state since ages among the bamboo forests. One day he declares the grave is of a great Pir or saint and even rebukes the ignorant villagers for neglecting the place for such a long time.

This shrewd and sly fellow, Majid, fast manages to enchant the poor, illiterate folks with his fake speeches on religion and soon succeeds to create a supernatural awe and mystery around the grave thus bringing the people of the entire village under his influence.

The mysterious 'grave overnight turned into a holy place covered with the piece of red cloth (Lal salu) on top of the oval shaped grave and glowing candles gives the place a metaphysical aura. Verses from Quran recited by Majid day and night creating awe in the minds of the villagers, most of them are landless peasants. Completely succumbed in the spell, people start bringing offerings of cash and kinds to the 'holy' shrine, in fact to the self-created vault of Majid.

Once a vagabond with no home and family, Majid, within a few years, makes his fortune and immense influence on the villagers. Majid, the holy man, of the village marries Rahima, a hard working peasant woman, not so young, robustly built yet docile and obedient to his commanding husband.

But Majid soon decides to take a younger girl as his wife and marries Jamila, a teenager, who soon sniffs something fishy about her husband's spiritual authority. Jamila, the simple young girl, has been portrayed in the film as the nemesis of Majid, who causes the collapse her husbands hypocritical façade.

It was some twelve years back when Tanvir Mokammel first decided to make a film out of the novel and in fact, he was further inspired after the publication of his analytical book 'Syed Waliullah, Sisyphus and Quest of Tradition in Novel (1988)'.

Said Tanvir, 'Lalsalu tells a story very much close to that of our own lives. Though the novel is set in the mid 40's, nothing has practically changed in the rural societies of Bangladesh. At a time when fundamentalism has come under world attention, our rural societies are reeling under the spell of obscurantists and hypocrite mullahs'. Tanvir is aware of the fact that fake pirism and shrine business is a misdemeanour going on since ages and would probably, continue to exist. Therefore the relevance of Lalsalu will remain in future as it has been now.

While writing this bold novel, the chief aim of Syed Waliullah was to expose the misdeeds of the religious hypocrites and to show the dark and backward communities of the pre-partition period lacking enlightenment. But to give the novel a cinema version, Tanvir Mokammel has seen the novel from a wider perspective.

Tanvir finds a new chapter of interest as he closely observes the clash of Majid with the peasants. Majid is a parasite, living on the donations of the peasant-community yet he, all the time, holds sway on the poor people, throwing them into desolation. Hiding behind a mask of hypocrisy and misinterpreting the ideals of Islam, Majid finds success but ultimately fails when his wife Jamila reveals his misdeeds before the public.

Tanvir hopes that the film will arise fresh discussion among the critics and the general viewers about obscurantism and religious hypocrisy. In a period of social unrest and anxiety, worsened by harsh attitudes of fundamentalism and fanaticism, the screening of Lalsalu would be a befitting mode of protest and a means of awareness for the secular people of the country.