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Popular Bangla Cinema: Hiding Reality, Foregrounding Fantasy

Introduction Aspect: Cinema Culture Rationale: The study will be conducted to assess why there is a mass acceptance of Bangla Film among a specific class. Thesis Statement: Commercials film in Bangladesh is one of the major sources of entertainment in the rural/ the sub urban area. Due to the monotonous story, plot and acting it has lost its glory and attraction to the educated part of the society yet a large number of people each day watch these films with great enthusiasm. This paper will discuss on the virtual world of 35 mm screen where the marginalized class fight and win against the elites and thus seek their solace. Objectives: The paper will analyze the mass popularity of the so called bangla films in the lower/poorer/minority/un-educated class of people and thus analyze the aftermath or influence of these films. Methodology: Content analysis and survey. The study will be carried out through watching commercial Bengali films, studying the plot and focused audience, purpose of the films and the aftermaths. Moreover it will also include some library work regarding the history of Bengali films and the change of themes, plots and technology with time. Scenery,

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Popular Bangla Cinema: Hiding Reality, Foregrounding Fantasy

Introduction Films are one of the most important sources of entertainments in almost every corner of the world. It is the media that can sew people from the gloomy slums to the magnificent palaces in the same rope. Due to an extensive margin and versatility films also resemble the culture and daily life of common men largely than any other media and therefore films are considered as important texts for so many academic disciplines such as, literature, sociology, cultural studies, philosophy etc. Through a dialogue of an actor to a glittery dress, a film has the ability to change a fashion, even to some extent a specific cultural element. In a developed country like Bangladesh where the number of entertainments is very few, films play a great role in shaping the lifestyle of mass public. The poor people who work from hand to mouth to bring bread in the table construct their wild fantasy through these films. It gives them a temporary pleasure of winning against the authority.

What Does A Marxist Critic Do? A Marxist critic tends to find out the class distinctions and the struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed. According to Marxists, literature reflects those social institutions out of which it emerges and is itself a social institution with a particular ideological function. Literature reflects class struggle and materialism so Marxists generally view literature "not as works created in accordance with timeless artistic criteria, but as 'products' of the economic and ideological determinants specific to that era".(Abrams 149). Literature reflects an author's own class or analysis of class relations, however piercing or shallow that analysis may be.

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Popular Bangla Cinema: Hiding Reality, Foregrounding Fantasy

What Is Bangla Cinema? Apparently Bangla Cinema refers to the films produced Bangladesh but interestingly it is not that transparent. Bangla Cinema specifically indicates to the mainstream commercial films that are produced and directed by the illiterate, ordinary persons and the film stars are completely mediocre, the story is based on the conflict between poor and rich, the targeted audience is mainly the rickshaw pullers or the garments labourers and ultimately there is no message or artistic elements in the films. Needless to say the films that are abstract and convey a message are not called as Bangla Cinema though they are also produced in Bangladesh. For example, Matir Moyna or Third Person Singular Number do not fill in to that category of Bangla Cinema since they have that artistic element and convey a message. And as Raymond William defines popular culture as inferior kind of work, well liked by many people and work deliberately setting out to win favour with the people, these commercial films certainly can be tagged as popular culture (Storey 2). And therefore it can also be said that these commercial films are one of the channels to visualize the people living in the lower part of the society, but the question is whether it is the authentic presentation or not?

Why Cinema Is Important? There are a couple of entertainment medias in Bangladesh. Apart from films we can name radio, television, newspaper and magazines and nowadays social networking sites. However, radios and televisions are mainly based on drama serials, musical program and package programmes like political talk shows, celebrity gossips etc. Except for the national television channel all the

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Popular Bangla Cinema: Hiding Reality, Foregrounding Fantasy

channels in Bangladesh are commercial and run on TVC. As a result their first priority becomes making profit and therefore their programmes are targeted for the rich audience. The drama and other programs are mainly based on their lifestyle and therefore remains the representation of the high class of the society. So the poor is clearly neglected here since they do not bring profit. For the reason films become the only source of entertainment that represent their life and on the other way it is also an easy way to manipulate these minds ideologically by the bourgeois society. These cinemas therefore work as ISA (Ideological State Apparatus) which actually is a key to hallucinate the poor and keep them under domination.

A Passage To Desirable Reality The plot of the Bangla Cinema somewhat circles around the conflict between poor and rich. In most of the cases we see at least one of the major actors is poor (mostly the hero) and the other is rich. They accidentally fall in love with each other but the family or society does not allow them to do so. Then the story continues with tension between the two counterparts and ultimately the poorer one wins over the rich. The film is full of entertaining elements such as four to six songs, dance and fights. As we have already said earlier, the main audience of the commercial Bangladeshi films are the poor people who cannot afford the luxury of owning a DVD or music player. They work from the dawn till the dark of the night and look for that entertainment which can mitigate their day long hard work. On the other hand these people are usually supervised by the upper group of the society and their earning depends on them. Being a marginalized section of the society they cannot speak for their proper rights and needs. These films give them a temporary contentment which they cannot do in real life (eg: slapping a car owner or eloping

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Popular Bangla Cinema: Hiding Reality, Foregrounding Fantasy

with the beautiful lady). As a result Shakib Khan or Manna becomes the superhero in their ordinary life. However this super heroism of one distorts the ambitions of thousand others. This myth of achievement backgrounds their daily chores, hard work and suffering and engraves them in to a fantasy world. Another interesting element of these films can be the name of the characters. Analyzing the movie it can be easily seen that usually the name of the protagonists are like Raja, Badsha, Nobab, King Khan, Bahadur etc. These names imply their affinity to climb the highest position of the society. Rolland Barthes argues, myth making removes from an object all of its history, also it tries it fix reality in one place and in one form (Pinto). These films captivate their gaze in the silver screen and the triumph against the rich intoxicated them with a fantasy and thus hides the reality. As a result they somewhat do not feel the domination of the society and remain silent. Referring Barthes, these commercial films are therefore creating the myth of contentment and overcoming the struggle which ultimately reside them in to more suppression and domination. For example we can take two different movies and differentiate them by their plot and theme. Koti Takar Kabin (2011) a film starred by Shakib Khan was a massive. It was a film based on how a poor fall in love with a beautiful girl who is on the other hand, the fianc of a rich corrupted businessman. The cinema ends with the rise of the hero from poor to rich and portrays the defeat of evil. On the other hand, The Speed a film starred and directed by Anonto Jalil was released in 2012, which also visualizes the fight between good and evil with abundance of songs and dance, yet fail to create attraction among the poor since all the characters represent the upper class. This indicated the mass want to see them, their lives in the big screen, want to see

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Popular Bangla Cinema: Hiding Reality, Foregrounding Fantasy

them win against the poor and the persons in power exactly take this opportunity to influence them and to manipulate them in order to keep their mouths shut.

Titles Talk Bangla Cinema is in/famous its title and dialogue. Titles are meant to attract/ surprise the audience and to allure him/her to explore it. For bangle Cinema it is completely true. The titles may not have a very aesthetical meaning but to grab the audience they are striking elements. A simple title possesses the story line of the film. Some popular titles of the films Beder Meye Josna, Shami keno Ashami, Rikshwalar Chhele, Koti Takar Kabin is a clear indication of the crisis between the poor and rich and also presents the picture of their lifestyle. The first one Beder Meye Josna indicates a film based on the gypsy and their lifestyle while the other two suggest a sense of conflict between good and evil or between rich and poor. So definitely these titles are a key source to attract the people who less care about the artistic elements. We can also get a very hazy impression of women of the society through these titles. For example, Ek Takar Bou or Meyerao Manush implies the position of women in their society. Though the women in the lower class take a great part in the economy whether it by working in garments or working as a house maid, yet they are the subject of domination by the male group. Physical assault is a very common thing and women hardly can protest against the males. However the contribution of women remain disguised in the cinemas by the heroism of the male as almost all the films centre around the hero and describes his masculinity. King Number One or Banglar Lathial is the example of the representation of male chivalry in bangla films.

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Popular Bangla Cinema: Hiding Reality, Foregrounding Fantasy

Implying Fantasy One of the major features of commercial films is the bulky heroine which is completely opposite with the current trend. While in Hollywood and Bollywood, the heroines are concentrated with their figure and maintain a balanced diet interestingly in Bangladesh, the heroines are bulky and chubby. For them popularity/ success is proportionate to chubbiness. We hardly see a slim girl in a commercial film. Why is that so? Is not that contradictory? However the target audience of these films are mainly male, more specifically the poorer class such as rikshawala, garments worker etc. As mentioned earlier they have a few elements of entertainment and definitely sex is one of them which they can get free from their wives whenever they want. Usually these women are skinny and may not fulfil the physical demands of their husbands for in health and sickness. As a result the obsession transforms to the 35 mm screen where they find a pretty woman who can sing and dance alongside with making love with the hero. On the other hand the clothes of the heroines, generally very tight and short evokes a fetishism which also controls the gaze of these men and for a certain period blurs the reality. According to Laura Mulveys Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema the chubby heroines in the films provide a scopophilic pleasure and take the sexual imagination in a different level. Nonetheless, these commercial films have been marked as vulgar/ obscene by different film critics, however they still manage to run business because of the demands. Not only for the female body, scopophilia occurs in some other ways too. In most cases some part of a film, sometimes a song or an action scene takes part in abroad, in a location with scenic beauty. The setting also thus offers them a non-physical scopophilia.

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Popular Bangla Cinema: Hiding Reality, Foregrounding Fantasy

Creation Of New Signs The bangla cinema got some very famous dialogues that have created a whole new system of "sign" (Barthes, Rolland: Mythologies). For example, if a girl playfully says " , " it stands for the helplessness of a Damsel in Distress. Even the name "Chowdhury Shaheb" has become identical as this name indicates to the "naive" upper-class blood sucker. And today, the memes and trolls are using this very concept of "Chowdhury Shaheb" for portrayal of any kind of Protest. So, whenever the distressed want to convey his desired protest againt the man in power, the meme/troll must contains "Chowdhury Shaheb" which is the new sign for protest through pun.

Religion Matters A very common feature of the commercial films is abundant elements of religious examples. As per these films a whole night praying or sacrificing something in the name of God can create miracles. Like Karl Marx states, religion is the opiate of the masses, the film directors and producers utilize the notion of religion to integrate the concept that being religious is more important than being a protestor. Making a wish in the name of a saint can make something

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Popular Bangla Cinema: Hiding Reality, Foregrounding Fantasy

happen quickly which is in real world never possible. We can also relate this concept with Barthes the process of myth making. Using this myth of religion these films disguised the harsh real world and present a utopia for the audience.

Conclusion According to DeCerteau in The practice of Everyday Life, the power or the authority constitutes the consumption of a specific group and the best example would be these people who are left with no other option rather than National Zoo or Botanical Garden or Movie Theatres. They cannot afford going anywhere else and thus, these movies are the only way which can re-channel their dreams and desires. As a result they become the easy pawn of the elites to be constructed and dominated by them. These movies are therefore one of the best options to control them ideologically and keep them far from reality.

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Popular Bangla Cinema: Hiding Reality, Foregrounding Fantasy

Works Cited Abrams, M.H. (1999). "Marxist Criticism." A Glossary of Literary Terms. (Ed. 7, pp 147-153). Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Pinto, Anil. (Monday, February 07, 2011) Myth Today- Roland Barthes from http://anilpinto.blogspot.com/2011/02/myth-today-roland-barthes.html Storey, John. (Ed.), Cultural Theory And Popular Culture: A Reader (Ed. 3). London: Longman. De Certeau, Michel. (1984). The Practice of Everyday Life. In Storey, John. (Ed.), Cultural Theory And Popular Culture: A Reader (Ed. 2). London: Longman. https://www.facebook.com/moja.losss