Mamata Banerjee, Bengal's first woman Chief Minister, is now all set to be deified on celluloid. In a clinching proof of her durable appeal, the former Union Railway Minister is now the subject of a documentary being made by seasoned filmmaker Goutam Ghose. The shooting is yet to commence but Didi seems to have given her consent to the film which has yet to be titled.
Says Ghose, “I'm making an hour-long film on Mamata Banerjee. She has agreed to it. But it will be an independent film. It won't by sponsored by Trinamul Congress or any political party. I am keen to wrap up the film before I start working on my next Indo-Italian film for which I have just finished the script.”
The shooting shall take place largely in Kolkata. It will have some rare archival footage as well, as the director goes back in time to when Mamata started her political career, cocking a snook at the entrenched elite with her brand of politics. “My film will be the story of a common man, how the common man or woman in India with a little support can reach the place she has. It is an inspirational story for all of us.”
Ghose though has no intentions of coming up with a eulogy. “As a neutral observer I will ask a few questions to her. I will talk of the babu culture that ran her down, of people who said we need change but will always doubt her. They had an air of condescension when they spoke about Mamata. People talked of her accented English, her dress and all that. She was not found sophisticated enough. It was an unbelievable colonial hangover. All that needs to be addressed.”
Story of an ordinary person
In the hour of greatest triumph for Mamata, Ghose feels she has not been given her due by our polity or society. “She is called mercurial, temperamental but not many give her credit for single-handedly mobilising an entire State against a well entrenched regime. My film is the story of an ordinary person rising on her own. At one time people doubted her, today they swear by her. She has become a role model for many: If she can achieve what she has, there is hope for others too.”
At another level, the film on Mamata marks a full circle for Ghose too. Once his lens focussed on Jyoti Basu. The film on the CPM patriarch, where he spoke frankly about the rank and file of the party, stayed in the cans for a long time before finally becoming available to the public. Now, he is making a film on the lady who has dislodged the 30-odd year-old Communist government from Bengal. Is Ghose guilty of swinging with changing political winds?
“No. I was approached to make this film. I am not making this documentary for any party, but only as a neutral observer, as somebody who has seen Mamata rise through the years, take on the establishment and also rewrite some social parameters.”
Here is hoping the film on the former Railway Minister chugs along nicely. And that like Bismillah, another Ghose film on the shehnai maestro, this one too rises above all political vicissitudes.
Once more
Goutam Ghose's Moner Manush has won the Nargis Dutt Award for National Integration in the 58th National Film Awards announced early this week. This is Ghose's 17th National Award. The Bangla film is based on the life and philosophy of Fakir Lalan Shah, a noted 19th Century spiritual leader, poet and folk singer of Bengal.
