Liberation War Films

A Causal Analysis of Declining Audience Reception

Rajesh Al-Rashed প্রকাশিত: ফেব্রুয়ারি ২৩, ২০২২, ১০:৪৮ এএম

2022 is a particular year for the Bangladesh Liberation War Films completing its 50 years! However, these period films on our national pride and valor are no longer garnering mass attraction. This analysis explores a few contributing factors in the decline of the audience's reception for our Liberation War Films in recent years. This study focuses on significant historical events and the evolving cinematic expectations that led to the current scenario.

 

Context

Bangladesh Liberation War for independence spanned from the dreadful night of 25th March 1971 to 16th December 1971 through guerrilla and conventional warfare. This glorious event's grand narrative comprises enormous individual and collective stories of struggle, loss, courage, and triumph. Consequently, Bangladeshi filmmakers repeatedly explored different facets of this epic premise that evolved as our war film subgenre – Bangladesh Liberation War Films.    

 

Precursors

Films like Jibon Theke Neya (1970, Dir - Zahir Raihan), produced before the independence of Bangladesh, contributed immensely to uniting people for the revolution leading to independence. In 1971, Zahir Raihan's Stop Genocide (a 20 min narration-based documentary with found footage and photographs) and three other films by exiled filmmakers (Anupam Hayat, interview) helped draw international attention to the ongoing atrocities in occupied Bangladesh.

 

Initiation of Liberation War Films

Nonetheless, in this analysis, Bangladesh Liberation War Films are defined as narrative feature films on our Liberation War of 1971 produced by Bangladeshi filmmakers since 16th December 1971. Consequently, Ora Egaro Jon (1972, Dir - Chashi Nazrul Islam) is the first Bangladesh Liberation War Film released in independent Bangladesh.

 

Fractured progression and the dark era   

The history of locally produced Liberation War Films is fragmented in two parts due to the political paradigm shift in 1975 - the pre-1975 and post-1990 eras. In between is the dark period, started with Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's killing on 15th August 1975. The new regime unilaterally tried to establish an alien form of nationalism, contradictory to the fundamental essence of our independence. Subsequently, Liberation War Films that reminiscence the country's secular foundation were obliterated from every visible social anecdote.

Every film was scrutinized through state censorship, curbing expression contrary to the government's political views. The effect was detrimental on the post-war generations, who had no exposure to the narratives of our war and struggle for freedom.

 

The golden era of Bangladesh Liberation War Films

The pre-1975 era was the golden era for our Liberation War Films. There were theater-based commercial cinema screenings and BTV as film viewing platforms. Local films had their nationwide releases, though sporadically, urban cinemas screened foreign films. Similarly, Bangladesh Television relied heavily on English programs, but local films had their primetime presence. However, the audience regularly visited the theaters enthusiastically and appreciated our Liberation War Films. That period produced many hugely popular Bangladesh Liberation War Films like: 

Ora Egaro Jon (1972, Chashi Nazrul Islam), Arunodoyer Agnishakkhi (1972, Subhash Dutta), Roktakto Bangla (1972, Momtaz Ali), Abar Tora Manush Ho (1973, Khan Ataur Rahman), Alor Michil (1974, Narayan Ghosh Mita), Songram (1974, Chashi Nazrul Islam) and others.

The audience was homogenous; even though their wartime memories were still fresh, Liberation War Films lured the audience. 

 

Blackout and alternate deviations

Liberation War Films disappeared from the cultural hemisphere in the blackout era, and only entertainment-based films dominated the cinemas. This trend created a generation of filmmakers opting for the "copy-paste foreign films" formula. On the other hand, creative filmmakers started to look for alternative screening venues to project their voices. Since the 1980s, alongside the mainstream cinema came the parallel stream films, which are independent low-budget arthouse films for a particular class of urban audience. Hence, a dichotomy in the audience started to prong.

Meanwhile, the younger emerging audience viewed mainstream films or a handful of arthouse films, devoid of Liberation War Films. Simultaneously, alternate home viewing devices like VCR, satellite TV, and DVD of foreign contents became a daily mode of entertainment. As the entertaining foreign flares allured the filmgoers at home, the local film industry was diving deep into lower viewership. Unfortunately, mainstream filmmakers couldn't invent a positive way out of it; instead, they inclined toward the cheap portrayal of sensuality through "cut pieces." 

With the advent of the internet, the cinema audience has grown in dimensions and multitudes. As Silverstone states, the audience perceives through "complex ways in which media viewing is inextricably embedded in a whole range of everyday practices and is itself partly constitutive of those practices" (Silverstone et al., 1991). Therefore, cinema viewers can be classified broadly by their social class, education, and access to internet platforms. These audience groups have fundamentally diverged tastes and expectations from the overall cinematic experience. The ever-increasingly fading lines between the geographic boundaries for films and exposure to technologically superior contents further revolutionized the cinematic expectations of the audience here.

Interestingly, the Bangladeshi audience receives local films with a different mindset than foreign films; they view local films with a forgiving perception that they would otherwise be critical in foreign films. Consequently, this attitude caused them to evade critical admiration of regional cinema, triggering disinterested groups and ensuing additional low viewership for overall Bangladeshi Films.

 

Cultural stigma and rejection

In the early 2000s, while new generation Liberation War Films were resurfacing, Bangladeshi mainstream films started facing a further decline in viewership when the intellectuals began to funnel their criticism regarding immoral and indecent content. Though the civic society was enjoying foreign media contents in the comfort of their home, they tagged the local films as "non-family films" (oshlil, Bangla word for obscenity). Hoek defines oshlil as "the representation of sexuality in ways that are considered socially and morally unacceptable" (Hoek 2013). Moreover, "cut pieces" (films that rely on obscenity to entice viewers) are considered disrespectful and markers of "low social class" and void of "sophistication" (Hoek 2013). Thus a "cheapness" stigma began to associate with all Bangladeshi mainstream films, especially in urban and suburban audiences, resulting in lower turnout for local cinema. On the contrary, viewership for foreign movies and other contents exponentially grew, as in the psyche of Bangladeshi audience foreign media contents enjoy an unconscious "indemnity from Oshlil"!

 

Wandering audience

Additionally, most of the current audience was born after the liberation war and are newly getting acquainted with the history of our independence. During the pre-1975 era, Liberation War Films had a substantial presence in mainstream theaters. Then they reappeared in the 1990s, though dominantly in the art house circle. Now, with the favorable political stage, mainstream filmmakers are aptly poised to reinvigorate the glory of our Liberation War Films and bring in wider viewership. This post-1990 era produced many Liberation War Films like: 

Suchona (1988, Morshedul Islam), Ekattorer Jishu (1993, Nasiruddin Yousuff), Aguner Poroshmoni (1994, Humayun Ahmed), Nadir Nam Modhumoti (1996, Tanvir Mokammel), Ekhono Onek Raat (1997, Khan Ataur Rahman), Muktir Kotha (1999, Tareque Masud and Catherine Masud), Matir Moina (2002, Tareque Masud), Megher Pore Megh (2004, Chashi Nazrul Islam), Joyjatra (2004, Tauquir Ahmed), Shyamol Chhaya (2004, Humayun Ahmed), Guerrilla (2011, Nasiruddin Yousuf), Amar Bondhu Rashed (2011, Morshedul Islam), Shongram – Struggle (2014, - 71 er Shongram in Bangladesh, Munsur Ali), Bhuban Majhi (2017, Fakhrul Arefeen Khan) and many more. However, many of these films had trifling audience reception despite receiving critical appreciation.

 

Filmmakers' hurdles

The changing audience can't be exclusively attributed to the declining viewership of our Liberation War Films. Instead, most of the current Liberation War Films are low-budget and low production value films preemptively aimed at a small group of arthouse audiences.

 

Over the last fifty years, the cinematic approach of our filmmakers changed textually as well as contextually in each era. The discourse of this transformation is influenced by several factors like:

1. With time these films required a robust production design

2. Lack of availability of 1971 props and vehicles

3. Recreating the location of 1971 requires a huge budget

4. Limited availability of 1971 era military equipment

5. Casting actors for the nemesis's role (look and accent wise) is difficult 

6. The CGI technology hasn't thrived in Bangladesh yet

7. Filmmakers' inattention towards selecting story premise for the mass audience

8. Ill-defined target audience

9. A clear division amongst local filmmakers in philosophical and technical approaches toward filmmaking

10. Lack of modern storytelling formats and approaches

11. Technically weak productions

 

Evolved audience's expectations

Additionally, the age and taste of the audience for Liberation War Films altered. A new generation of audience in the mass emerged with redefined interest and perception on these nationalistic cinemas in both entertainment domain and arthouse circle. Factors driving the audience's evolution include: 

 

1. The changing age group of cinema viewers

2. Educational diversity shaping nonuniform attitude towards local films

3. Access to worldwide films

4. Familiarity to high production value contents

5. Home viewing facilities

6. The inception of Art House Cinema for the Urban Audience

7. Diverging cinematic expectations in Urban vs. Rural audiences

8. Changing social perception and acceptance of local films

 

Aim

There are only minuscule studies on Bangladeshi films and painfully negligible studies on Bangladesh Liberation War Films. Hence, the primary objective of this study is to commence further debate and in-depth research on this genre that has repetitively inspired filmmakers in Bangladesh.

Overall, this scholarly scope requires continued research for a comprehensive understanding. This analysis attempted to explore how the production value and the narrative premise play a decisive role in the audience's reception for the Liberation War Films. The findings here, coupled with further research, would help future filmmakers to understand the audience's expectations from Bangladesh Liberation War Films.

 

Scopes

In this analysis, other relevant aspects like film technology, viewing methods, socio-economic groups, educational and religious demographic factors, gender, age, censorship, and perceived notion of socially accepted films (family films) vs commercial (obscene) films were not explored. Similarly, the audience's inclination towards star value, musical score, and market size were also not considered. However, further study on these potential tools for a comprehensive consolidation is necessary.

The opinion here reached through retrospective analysis is not to establish a dichotomy of classes in audience or objectives of films produced in this genre; instead, it detects potential traits for the declining reception for Liberation War Films.

 

Analytical parameters

The parameters of this study in exploring the causal factors for the decline in audience's reception for Bangladesh Liberation War Films are:

§ Bangladesh Liberation War Films' Narrative Premise – Films are exploring the narratives of the war of independence of Bangladesh during 1971.

§ War Film Tropes:

Glory – The hero of the victory

Combat scenes

Discussion of the future after victory

A tightly knitted group of men in a company

Adversary's motivation for the conflict

Training scenes

Discussion of reasons for the conflict

Paternalistic father figure

§ Combat protagonist – lead character actively participating in armed conflict.

§ Production Value – Production Value refers to the overall quality of a film as determined by its technical merits. It is based on criteria like set design, special effects, and costumes rather than the more creative and subjective criteria such as directing, acting, and writing.

 

Analyses and Findings

It is imperative to mention that the Bangladeshi audience and their reception of Bangladeshi films are yet to be studied comprehensively. Most Bangladeshi films, including Liberation War Films, are plagued by flawed plot lines, passive protagonists, and low production values. 

 

Analyzing commercially successful Liberation War Films from the pre-1975 era

Ora Egaro Jon (1972, Chashi Nazrul Islam) and Roktakto Bangla (1972, Momtaz Ali) were great hits and remain cult Liberation War Films. The narrative premises deal with the war period through protagonists actively participating in armed combats. The victory of the war in parts is achieved through the gallantry of the "warrior hero" (in a gender-neutral sense). These films check most of the boxes of the general war film tropes. The movie's production value was less of a concern for the audience of that period as they were produced in contemporary times and did not require much periodic production design.

 

Analyzing commercially successful Liberation War Films from the post-1990 era

Aguner Poroshmoni (1994, Humayun Ahmed) and Guerrilla (2011, Nasiruddin Yousuf) are also popular and commercially hits. Similarly, these films also explore the wartime narrative premise with an active combat protagonist. These risk-taking individuals also sacrifice gallantly in armed confrontations to pursue more outstanding selfless achievement. The films also had good production values and identifiable war film tropes. 

 

Now, looking at some of the less popular Liberation War Films from the pre-1975 era

Dhire Bohe Meghna (1973, Alamgir Kabir) or Amar Jonmobhumi (1973, Alamgir Kumkum) were films that explored the liberation war premise. Still, we don't see an active combat (warrior) protagonist or the filmmakers' attention towards war film tropes. Similarly, production value was mediocre even for that time.     

 

Finally, analyzing less popular Liberation War Films from the post-1990 era

Nadir Nam Modhumoti (1996, Tanvir Mokammel) or Bhuban Majhi (2017, Fakhrul Arefeen Khan) are arthouse films with minimalistic production value. Moreover, these films elude most war film tropes and portray passive (non-warrior heroes) protagonists in the narrative premises.  

 

Conclusion

Irrespective of all the alterations and scopes for the present audience, there is still a visible trend that influences the audience's reception for our Liberation War Films across each era. In this analysis, we have seen that filmmakers' reluctance to divulge the armed conflict in their Liberation War Films and lack of an active soldier protagonist ("warrior hero") play a significant role in low viewership for these films. Though arthouse filmmakers have budgetary limitations, their overt obsession with the philosophical presentation and undermining production value of their films is also a harmful component for declining reception.

The present time is highly conducive for our Liberation War Films to thrive with government grants, but most of these films are not drawing mass audiences pragmatically. Therefore, it is now up to the filmmakers to explore these potential trends in our Liberation War Films for more excellent audience reception. Henceforth, this analysis concludes to expect a new golden era for our Liberation War Films. 

 

Writer: Studied Writing and Directing for Film at Academy of Art University, lives in San Francisco, CA, USA. email: rajeshfilmhub@gmail.com

• বিষয়:
• Liberation War Films