Kuli: A moving film on child labour

A scene from Kuli

The protagonist had the face of an angel, with light eyes and freshly washed face. He appeared to be a natural actor and said his lines with remarkable spontaneity, as did the rest of the young cast and the extras. There was no zooming of lenses, or experimentation with lighting, or even unusual piped in music. It zeroed in to the child-workers in our society, whom we often take for granted. There was a freshness and fluency in the production. One of Badal's films features in the international children film festival in Hyderabad. The film has also been invited to the Tehran festival to be held in future.

Shahiduzzaman Badal has won acclaim at home and abroad, with his 12 documentary films, including Minute camera, Iit Batar Sromikra and Sonargaon Loko Utshob, Oronno Charir Manob and Kagoj Kurani. He won the Meena Award last year for his Kagoj Kurani. He received his training in film making in DPI, Kolkata Chitrabani and Nandan (Kolkata). Speaking on his films, Badal says he has been inspired by Zakiul Huq, Director, DPI and Iftekhar Ali Dawn, video editor of Timeline Institute.

Dwelling on the story line of his film Kuli, Badal said that it reflected a day in the life of minti Mamun, who earns Taka 40 per day. The film also features his play with other street urchins and his education at a charitable school. The cast of coolies included nine young actors, Manu Sikdar, Mamun, Jasim, Tutul, Islam, Rashid and Al-Amin, and others in side roles. The film was made on a shoestring budget of Tk 15,000, which was provided by five students of Nirman Kormoshala, a TV Institute, and DPI.

Zakiul Haq, Course Director of DPI, and Director Bangla Academy, said, "Badal brings out something unusual and beautiful in day to day life. He is impervious to the penchant for making tele-films, which rake in quick bucks. The film portrays the innocent life of a child, who shares his dreams with his colleagues, playmates and his mother. Here is a slice of pristine life, seen against the backdrop of the overwhelming grime of Dhaka."

Haq said that the film's protagonist does not consider himself helpless; he accepts life, and goes about life, in his optimistic manner -- working through rain and sunshine. We, the viewers, meanwhile, decry the fact that a child should labour in his youth, he said. Asked what was unusual about the film, he added that there were no special effects, or any manipulation or gimmicks to attract viewers, and yet the film had a remarkable effect of technical perfection. The autobiographic narration, he concluded, were seen against visuals.

Rafiquzzaman, President, Bangladesh Film Journalists' Association, commented, "The film is not mind-whirling, but give Badal some more years and one will surely get some memorable works on screen from a film-maker who has not been exposed to western sophisticated know-how."