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Muktir Gaan: Some Thoughts of

LubnaMarium

December 7, 2009Leave a comment

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by Lubna Marium

We normally dont talk about 1971. We dont discuss the war. It remains a morass of unconsolidated

memories, laid aside for 25 years, to be classified and labelled at some point in our lives; at some pointwhen we can feel sufficiently detached and rational about the events. So when Muktir Gaan was

released, we were forced to open our Pandoras box and confront emotions carefully locked away at

the furthest reaches of our hearts.Predictably, fiery emotions wracked away, yet again, to be quickly

repacked into their unamed recesses. Today, I feel compelled to write in response to Nusrat Huq and

Iresh Zakers article, Muktir Gaan A Triumph of the Bangladeshi Spirit, which appeared in The

Daily Star on Friday, 9th August, 1996. To these two teenagers and to all our children, closest to ourhearts, I address my thoughts.

Frankly, I have some reservations about Muktir Gaan, especially when it is called history in its

purest form. Since, all around us, history is in theprocess of being authenticated, lets get our facts

straight about Muktir Gaan.

The Bangladeshi Mukti Shongrami Shilpi Shangstha was totally based in Calcutta. Troupes or singers

were sent, to refugee camps in India, on day trips mostly, to motivate and inspire the demoralised, and

heart-broken refugees. There were performances in Calcutta, Shantiniketan and Delhi, too, to increasethe awareness of the plight of Bangladesh. A far cry from the battle fields of the war. Never once was

any member of the troupe in any danger of shedding a single drop of blood.

The scenes included in the film, at least where I can be seen, were shot over a period of a maximum of

five days. During that time we never once stayed overnight on the truck. We used to commute from aguest-house in Bahrampur, as far as I can remember.

The date of the above event should be sometimes in the month of September 1971, after which Nailaand I, accompanied by our mother, left for Maldah to join our father, who was then the Sector

Commander for sector seven. The Muktibahini camp closest to Maldah was Baliadighiin the borderregions of Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi. Our freedom fighter brother, Nadeem, was based in Baliadighi.

The scene where Benu Bahi and Tariq Bhai are seen receiving permission, from a Bangladesh

government official in Calcutta, for traveling into the free region of Bangladesh was shot after this

time. The point being, that the question of receiving a written permission to travel into these territoriesdid not arise.

The scene which I most vehemently oppose is the one where Tariq Bhai is seen being interviewed by

Gias Chowdhury for a possible vacancy in the Mukti Bahini. The truth is that it was a scripted and

rehearsed scene. Men and young boys from all walks of life, participated in our freedom struggle. Nonewere ever interviewed; at least not the hoi polloi and the question of leaving a contact address is

laughable. Did anyone receive a signed and sealed contract for employment in the Mukti Bahmi? Of

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course a group, of young men were later selected by the Indian army for training to become officers,

but that is true for a totally insignificant handful, in comparison to the hordes of unnamed, forgotten

masses who actually fought a war, irrelevant of age or handicap. Proof of this is Nadeem, who was 16years old only, at that time. I also cite the example of Shahadat Chowdhury, present editor of Bichitra,

who fought as one of our valiant freedom fighters inspite of a genetic disorder in one eye. I repeat what

I have remarked on various occasions, anyone who seriously wanted to fight, could have fought.

Propaganda is a vitally necessary tool during war. We remain grateful to Sree Debdulal Bondhopadhayfor painstakingly and feelingly reading out prepared scripts all throughout 1971, thus motivating young

and old to take up arms to defend their motherland. The truth, however, is never so heroic. I wonder

if any of our boys willingly gave up his life for another. I would dearly like to meet the real -life Daktar

Babu of Sree Bondhopadhays script. To pass off war propaganda as history cannot be part of the

process of authentication.

So, why do I of all persons, feel the unpleasant need to shatter the euphoria surrounding Muktir Gaan,

an undoubtedly moving account of 1971?

Foremost among several reasons is my conviction that, truth is more beautiful than fiction. Tariq and

Catherine are to be lauded for their Herculean effort. Muktir Gaan is a piece of art while the footageviewed in the raw is stark. With the film-makers efforts: the story-line and the unvoiced implications,

its a joy to watch. However, we cannot escape from the fact that it is not the whole truth and nothing

but the truth.

Secondly, I feel there is an insidious movement to intellectualise the war of 1971. It was not an

intellectuals war. It was a war fought by a people totally defenseless and unprepared. One may cite the

historic call for building fortresses in every home but, truthfully, does rhetoric count as preparation?

And, how skilled we are at spewing rhetoric to incite and motivate the man in the street to lay his life

down in the name of some ism or other, while we run away to our personal havens of safety.

However, deepest in my heart, I know I write today, because I am a coward. Today I too, have a 16

year old son, whom I will do all, in my power, to prevent from joining any war. Son, I love you too

much. I want to tell you what war really is about, though a part of me dies every time I remember.

War is not beautiful. It is about brutality and death. War is about your baby brother telling you how

scared he is to face death. Its about the trembling of a teenager relating the horror of the gouging of an

enemy soldiers eyes. War is about standing in front of the lifeless, blood-stained, bayoneted body of

someone you loved dearly. Its about crying and crying till you think your heart is actually going to

break into two. Sadly, war is about coming home to disillusionment. War is about forgotten heroes.

So next time they call you to lay your life for some cause or other, tell them to leave us alone. Tell

them to let my child and every mothers child live in peace. Tell them to go sing for their freedom, and

pretend that they wanted a bullet through their hearts.

Lubna Marium was a member of the troupe featured in the film Muktir Gaan, and this piece isreprinted from an article that appeared in The Daily Star in 1996.