''Muktir Gaan'' ( bn, মুক্তির গান ''The Song of Freedom'') is a 1995

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

i documentary film directed by

Tareque Masud Tareque Masud (6 December 1956 – 13 August 2011) was a Cinema of Bangladesh, Bangladeshi independent film director, film producer, screenwriter and lyricist. He first found success with the films ''Muktir Gaan'' (1995) and ''Matir Moina'' (2002), ...

and Catherine Masud. This is a documentary film which explores the impact of cultural identity on the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, where music and song provided a source of inspiration to the

freedom fighter A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objectives ...

s and a spiritual bond for the whole emerging nation.

Background

During the Liberation War in 1971, a cultural troupe, named ''Bangladesh Mukti Sangrami Shilpi Sangstha'' used to travel to refugee camps and different areas in ''Mukta Anchal'', perform patriotic songs, arrange puppet shows and stage dramas to inspire the freedom fighters and people with the spirit of war. Muktir Gaan, 25 years in the making. Tareque and Catherine used original footage by American film-maker Lear Levin, as well as other archival

footage In filmmaking and video production, footage is raw, unedited material as originally filmed by a movie camera or recorded by a ( often special) video camera, which typically must be edited to create a motion picture, video clip, television show or ...

collected from the UK and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Crew

* Tareque Masud, director, co-producer * Catherine Masud, co-producer, editor * Lear Levin, Cinematography

Synopsis

In 1971 the people of

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wi ...

(now

) waged a war of liberation against

West Pakistan West Pakistan ( ur, , translit=Mag̱ẖribī Pākistān, ; bn, পশ্চিম পাকিস্তান, translit=Pôścim Pakistan) was one of the two Provincial exclaves created during the One Unit Scheme in 1955 in Pakistan. It was ...

, which ended in December 1971 with the foundation of the country of Bangladesh. The film Muktir Gaan is a special and rear archive of footage of this war. Firstly the footage taken by American filmmaker Lear Levin shot of a group of young musicians and actors who at the time travelled through the country with battle songs and political puppet shows. The film follows the group not only during their performances for refugees and guerillas but also during their travels, which has produced many melancholy pictures. Levin's material is available for the first time thanks to two filmmakers from Bangladesh who, being discontent with the present regime, wanted to remind the Bengal people of the initial motives of the war of liberation: freedom and democracy. The film was screened in Bangladesh where it was a resounding success.

Music

The songs in ''Muktir Gaan'' have been sung by various singers of the country. The film also features Brig Gen (retired) Giasuddin Chowdhury, Aminul Haque Badshah and other nameless freedom fighters who fought for liberation of the country. * Bipul Bhattacharjee * Debobroto Chowdhury * Dulal Chandrashil * Laila Khan * Lata Chowdhury * Lubna Marium * Mahmudur Rahman Benu * Shaheen Samad * Sharmin Murshid * Swapan Chowdhury * Tariq Ali

References

External links