''Jibon Theke Neya'' () is a 1970 Bengali-language Pakistani film directed by

Zahir Raihan Mohammad Zahirullah (19 August 1935 – disappeared 30 January 1972), known as Zahir Raihan, was a Bangladeshi novelist, writer and filmmaker. He is most notable for his documentary ''Stop Genocide'' (1971), made during the Bangladesh Liberatio ...

. The film is a

political satire Political satire is satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where Political discourse analysis, political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing ...

based on the Bengali Language Movement under the rule of Pakistan metaphorically, where an autocratic woman in one family symbolizes the political dictatorship of

Ayub Khan Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...

in East Pakistan, and stars

Shuchanda Kohinoor Akhter (known by her stage name Shuchanda) is a Bangladeshi film actress and director. She started her career in the mid 1960s and acted in about 100 movies. She won Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Director for the film '' Hajar ...

, Razzak,

Rosy Samad Rosy Afsary (also Rosy Samad, 23 April 1946 – 9 March 2007) was an actress in the Bangladeshi film industry. She was awarded the Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress in its first ceremony in 1975 for her role in the film '' ...

and

Shawkat Akbar Shawkat Akbar ( bn, শওকত আকবর) was a Bangladeshi film actor. His career in the Bengali film industry began in 1964 with the film ''Eito Jibon''. He is considered one of the best co-stars of the film industry of Bangladesh. From 19 ...

. It is the first

political film Political cinema, in the narrow sense of that portray current or historical events or social conditions through a partisan perspective in order to inform or to agitate the spectator. Political cinema exists in different forms, such as documenta ...

of Bangladesh. According to Ahmad Ishtiaq, writing in ''The Daily Star'', the film is considered to be Zahur Raihan's best. ''Jibon Theke Neya'' has been described as an example of "national cinema", using discrete local traditions to build a representation of the Bangladeshi national identity. It is considered a milestone for Bangladeshi cinema and also a classic.

Plot

The story of the film is based on a very ordinary family of Bengal. In one family there are two brothers, Anis (Shawkat Akbar) and Farooq (Razzak), the elder sister Raushan Jamil and the sister's husband Khan Ataur Rahman. Elder sister Raushan Jamil is married. She lives in her father's house. Her husband is very innocent. All the power in the world is in the hands of Raushan Jamil. By abusing this power, she continues to have some kind of dictatorship over her husband and her two brothers. She walks around with a bunch of keys in the area. The housemaid walks around with a drinking bowl behind her. Everyone is restless in her dreadful glory. The character of the then Pakistani dictator has been portrayed in this metaphor. Raushan Jamil's husband Khan Ataur Rahman works as a court employee. Khan Ataur Rahman arranged the marriage of his brother-in-law Shawkat Akbar on the advice of one of his friends. The bride is a quiet, polite girl named Sathi (Rosie Samad). But Raushan Jamil sat completely bent. She is reluctant to marry her brother. He was afraid that the key of the world would not fall and his hand slipped into the hands of his new wife. As a result, Khan Ataur Rahman married his brother without informing Raushan Jamil. Raushan Jamil's sword of oppression came down on her when she became his wife. On the other hand, Farooq alias Razzak fell in love with his younger sister Bithi (Suchanda). If brother-in-law and elder brother give permission, he can also marry Bithi. Sathy and Bithi's elder brother Anwar Hossain. Anwar Hossain is an activist of a political movement. He was imprisoned in the freedom movement. On the other hand, under the leadership of Sathy and Suchanda, everyone in the house became united. Posters are hung on the walls inside their houses. Raushan Jamil's bunch of keys went to the two sisters. The drinking bowl keeps turning behind them. Raushan Jamil lost his power and became crazy and began to make new conspiracies. In the meanwhile, when Sathy and Bithi became pregnant, they were admitted to the hospital. Unfortunately the partner gave birth to a stillborn child. The doctor fears that this grief may not be tolerated by the partner. So Bithi's child was placed in her lap. Thinking it was his own child, the companion began to nurture him. Raushan Jamil conspired and started a dispute between the two sisters. Tactically, he poisoned Bithi and put the blame on her partner. Although Bithi recovered, her partner was arrested on the charge of poisoning. When the case came up in the court, Shawkat Akbar fought the case against his wife, and Khan Ataur Rahman became the lawyer for her partner. Khan Ataur Rahman proved in court that his own wife Raushan Jamil was the main culprit. This is how the story of the film ends.

Cast

as Bithi * Razzak as Faruk *

Rosy Rosy is a given name or nickname and, more rarely, a surname. It may refer to: __NOTOC__ People Given name * Rosy Afsari (1946?–2007), actress in the Bangladeshi film industry * Rosy Akbar, Fijian politician who assumed office in 2014 * Rosy Ar ...

as Sathi *

as Anis *

Rawshan Jamil Rawshan Jamil (8 May 1931 – 14 May 2002) was a Bangladeshi actress and dancer. She was awarded Ekushey Padak in the dance category in 1995 and Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film '' Noyonmoni'' ( ...

Khan Ataur Rahman Khan Ataur Rahman (known as Khan Ata; 11 December 1928 – 1 December 1997) was a Bangladeshi film actor, director, producer, screenplay writer, music composer, and singer, best known for his role in the film '' Jibon Theke Neya'' (1970). He r ...

* Anwar Hossain *

Amjad Hossain Amjad Hossain (14 August 1942 – 14 December 2018) was a Bangladeshi film director, actor, scriptwriter and lyricist. He won the Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Director twice, for the films ''Golapi Ekhon Traine'' (1978) and ''Bhat De ...

as Modhu *

Baby Zaman Baby Zaman (28 January 1933 – 26 January 2013) was a Bangladeshi stage, television, film actor and producer. Biography Zaman was born Chowdhury Badruzzaman on January 28, 1933, in Burdwan, the second of eight siblings. His father Choudhury Azfar ...

as Ghotok

Production

The film was originally titled ''Tinjon meye o ek peyala bish'' (). At the request of film producer Anis Dosani,

Zaheer Raihan Mohammad Zahirullah (19 August 1935 – disappeared 30 January 1972), known as Zahir Raihan, was a Bangladeshi novelist, writer and filmmaker. He is most notable for his documentary ''Stop Genocide'' (1971), made during the Bangladesh Liberatio ...

took over the responsibility of making the film. Zaheer Raihan decided that in the story of the film, one sister will poison another sister. Writer

could not accept this story because he thought that making a film with such a story would not be hit. However, instead of writing the story as per the words of Zaheer Raihan, Amjad Hossain continued to write the story as his own. Amjad Hossain later said in an interview with ''

Prothom Alo ''The Daily Prothom Alo'' ( bn, প্রথম আলো) is a daily newspaper in Bangladesh, published from Dhaka in the Bengali language. It is the largest circulated newspaper in Bangladesh. According to National Media Survey 2018, conducte ...

'' that he could not write the story as directed by the director as he could not continue making a documentary film about Amanullah Asaduzzaman due to government objections. Shooting for the film began on 1 February, 1970, but some scenes were recorded a year earlier. Pakistan's military government had repeatedly tried to stop the film. The government threatened the film's director and actor Razzak. The director also received death threats for this film.

Music

was the music director of this film. Although the use of

Tagore Songs Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resha ...

was banned by the

Information Minister An information minister (also called minister of information) is a position in the governments of some countries responsible for dealing with information matters; it is often linked with censorship and propaganda. Sometimes the position is given to ...

of Pakistan

Khwaja Shahabuddin Khawaja Shahabuddin (31 May 1898 – 9 February 1977) was a politician of Kashmiri-Bengali descent from East Pakistan who was a minister in the Government of Pakistan and member of the Dhaka Nawab family. He was the younger brother of Khawaja N ...

in 1967, a song by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

has been used in the film in defiance of that ban.

Release

The film was not released on the scheduled date due to government restrictions. As the film was not released, the people of East Pakistan staged protests and demonstrations in various places. So the government cleared the film and released it. The government banned the film after it was released. The military junta later lifted the ban on the film in the face of protests. The film was shown in East Pakistani cinemas for about six months. The film was also screened in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, capital of Indian Bengal in 1971.

Reception

Critical reception

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian director, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, author, essayist, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligrapher, and music composer. One of the greatest auteurs of fil ...

Mrinal Sen Mrinal Sen (''Beng.'' মৃণাল সেন; 14 May 1923 – 30 December 2018) was an Indian film director, and screenwriter known for his work primarily in Bengali, and few Hindi and Telugu language films. Regarded as one of the finest Ind ...

Ritwik Ghatak Ritwik Kumar Ghatak (; 4 November 19256 February 1976) was a noted Indian film director, screenwriter, and playwright. Along with prominent contemporary Bengali filmmakers Satyajit Ray, Tapan Sinha and Mrinal Sen, his cinema is primarily remembe ...

and

Tapan Sinha Tapan Sinha (2 October 1924 – 15 January 2009) was one of the most prominent Indian film directors of his time forming a legendary quartet with Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak and Mrinal Sen. He was primarily a Bengali filmmaker who worked both ...

praised the film. Exactly one month after the release of the film, film journalist

Ahmed Zaman Chowdhury Ahmed Zaman Chowdhury (28 December 1947 – 6 March 2013) was a Bangladeshi film journalist, screenwriter and lyricist. He won Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Screenplay for the film ''Jadur Banshi'' (1977). Besides, he won Bachsas Award ...

wrote in the weekly '' Chitrali'' magazine, "Zahir has the ease of editing a film, but lacks overall skills. As a result, there is not always an equation of how long a shot will last. So the application ends before it is spread." According to Bidhan Biberu, the film was able to represent the then Bengali society of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Criticizing the film, Alamgir Kabir said that the character of the elder sister in the film is arranged in the style of

and the family shown in the film is compared with the politics of Pakistan at that time. However, according to him, such a family is not realistic in the true sense. He noted that many scenes showed in the film were not perfect.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jibon Theke Neya 1970 films 1970 drama films 1970s political films 1970s Bengali-language films Political satire films Bengali-language Pakistani films Bangladeshi political films Bangladeshi drama films Films scored by Khan Ataur Rahman Films directed by Zahir Raihan Poisoning in film Films based on Bengali language movement