Anjan Choudhury’s next
MIDAS man of the box-office, director Anjan Choudhury recently had the muhurat of his latest film, Ek Chilte Sindoor (A Pinch of Vermillion) at the New Theatres One Studio on February 21. This will be the first production of D Mukherjee, famous for his production of the jatra form of folk plays, very popular among the rural and small town audiences in Bengal. He has picked significant actors from Tollywood for his jatra productions and has now ventured into the world of films. Anjan Choudhury has written the story, screenplay and dialogues for the film and will also be directing it.

The music for the film, being produced under the banner of SC Productions, will be scored by Bhappi Lahiri. Cinematography will be handled by Shakti Bandopadhyay, art direction is by Kartik Bose, editing by Amay Laha and sound design by Sanjoy Chattopadhyay. The acting cast is comprised of veteran actress Sabitri Chatterjee. She will receive able support from Ranjit Mullick, Paran Banerjee, Chinmoy Roy, Sanchita Banerjee, Abhishek Chatterji, Chumki Choudhury and others.

“A lot of talents from the jatra world will also be participating in the film,” said D Mukherjee.

The story revolves around Seema, who hates sindoor or anything that is linked to sindoor - the auspicious red powder (vermillion) Bengali women use as a symbol of their marital status. They have to discard it when they are widowed. Seema’s disgust for this seemingly simple powder stems in the tragic story of her older sister Uma’s suicide after an arranged marriage to the wife-battering Rahul. “I will not decorate my forehead with a large red dot just to surrender to the whims and fancies of a strange man I do not know anything about” is Seema’s constant refrain. Then, one fine day, she walks out of her home because her father keeps insisting that she get married. She meets the young singer Abhijeet who has also walked out of his brother’s home. They together decide to seek rented quarters in Asha Devi’s house. But her condition is - she will not let out her premises to single people, be they male or female. So, Abhijeet suggests a pinch of vermillion to pretend that they are man and wife. Seema says “yes” subject to the condition that “I will wipe off the sindoor the very next day.” What happens next remains to be seen.

Goutam Ghose to make
Kabuliwallar Bengali Bou?
IN an interesting turn of events, filmmaker Goutam Ghose has reportedly invited Sushmita Banerjee, author of her biographical account of her horrible experience of the Taliban, for talks about turning her experience into a film. Sushmita Banerjee made it to the headlines of all Bengali dailies a couple of years back when her first book - Kabuliwallar Bangali Bou, was released at the Calcutta Book Fair. She reportedly fell in love and married a Kabuliwallah who lent money for a living. “I fell for his hero-like looks, his charm and his money” says Sushmita frankly. They went to Sarana near Ghazni in Afghnistan after their marriage “without even a passport to my name because Jaanbaaz arranged it at once in Delhi,” informs Sushmita. Sushmita narrated her experience of having survived AK47 from the Taliban who came to kill her because she was spreading consciousness among Indian women married to Afghanis and being forced to live like slaves in Afghanistan. She came back on August 7, 1995. However, her husband is reported to have left for Kabul while she waits for him like Sabari waited for Ram.

Problem is - there are absolutely no corroborations to Sushmita’s story. Kabuliwalar Bangali Bou is not written as an autobiography but as a fictionalised account of her experiences. When this writer went to her Tollygunje apartment a couple of years ago for an interview, (she has since shifted residence to Eastern Metropolitan Bypass) there was absolutely no sign of husband Jaanbaaz. No one has ever seen him except through photographs of the two taken together. Sushmita’s photographs taken in Sarana have picturesque backdrops with her Afghani “brother-in-law” and “niece” and others but the backdrop could well be a painted one. Is it really possible for any Indian citizen to move out of the country without a passport and a visa? If it is, the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defence have a lot of earthshaking to do. Will Goutam Ghose be another fall guy for fairy tales spun by the likes of Sushmita?

This very cheerful, plump and happy-looking lady in her thirties bears absolutely no scars of her Taliban experience. She says she ’practised medicine’ in Sarana for women who refused to go to male doctors and had no health facilities. But Sushmita is not even a graduate, leave alone hold a medical degree to her name.

Shoma A Chatterji