For the love of cinema
Lodi and Dipen are not just your average film buffs. They love, live and breathe Cinema. Lodi was the general secretary and Dipen was the secretary and later on, president of Chitrali Pathak Pathika Cholochchitro Shongshod (Readers' Forum). This orginisation had been a driving force in the film related movements in our country. In 1977, the forum protested and held rallies to denounce the barrage of solely commercial, vulgar movies that had no positive message.
How did Amar Chhobi start? Dipen explains, "We didn't just decide to start Amar Chhobi one fine morning. We had been influenced by quite a few film based shows. In the '90s there was this Indian movie based programme called Lehren, and the episodes of the show were released on VHS. We thought that was an innovative idea to entertain people who are into movies, or just even the star struck fans, who want to know more about their favourite stars."
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Lodi says, "We released a show called Star Diary on VHS, during the Eid of '93 and gradually produced 14 episodes of the show. The show included interviews of popular movie stars, updates on movies and such. In '99, we started a similar show, Parrot Peacock Ananda Binodon on the satellite channel ATN but after telecasting 26 episodes, the show was pulled off the air.
"Since movies are our passion, we decided to start another show. But we also realised the perils of star tantrums. This is when we came up with the idea of interviewing directors, producers and 'behind-the-scenes' people. We also wanted to show clips of their films and this is how Amar Chhobi was born."
"We decided to host, produce and direct our very own show and the pilot was aired on January 2, 2000 on Channel i." says Dipen.
Both Dipen and Lodi strongly believe that a reform in our movies is overdue and we cannot make a bold step forward if we do not have a strong base. Unfortunately though, it is almost impossible for the younger generation to realise that we once had an opulent movie heritage, as we have no trace of some of the classic Bangla movies. For instance, we have no existing print of the legendary movie, Joi Bangla. Directed by Late Faqrul Alam, this movie was made in 1970 on the Chhoi Dafa Dabi (Six Point Demands) and it was released in 1972. Likewise, no negatives, let alone prints of classic movies such as Akash Aar Mati and Matir Pahad, can be found.
It is an avowed fact that movies and documentaries are an integral part of a nation's history. Then how come we have become so nonchalant about our own movie heritage, our history?
According to Dipen, "We can't point fingers at anyone in particular. The affluent have been ignoring the mainstream Bangla movies for decades now and are indifferent towards the issues of movie collection and preservation.
"Very often the producers and directors do not provide prints of their films to Bangladesh Film Archive."
Lodi adds, "The government needs to take the issue of film preservation seriously. The Book Archive operated by the government requires that every publication must be submitted but there is no similar regulation regarding movie prints. It should be mandatory for the directors to turn in their movies' prints to the Bangladesh Film Archive.
"The film archive needs people with a commitment to our movies. The government has to allocate more funds to film collection and preservation."
To celebrate the 250th episode of Amar Chhobi, an informal get together was held recently at the Balaka movie theatre.
Lodi and Dipen reflect, "We need all the help we can get in generating awareness about the lack of movie preservation and collection."
Let's hope they can attain their goal through public efforts.