On "Hasina - A Daughter's Tale"

Bangladesh is a land of possibilities; here nothing is impossible and I say these both in a positive and negative light. Till now, as a person I grew up learning more and more about this country every day. I was a child when the Liberation War took place in 1971; so my maturity to understand the depth and the truth of our war history was finite.

After independence, our country went through many phases of political unrest and corruption, where the true story of our Liberation War and the person who dedicated his life for this country remained untold.

Many facts and truths were manipulated and misstated by many people throughout the decades, under different regimes; and all these had been done in a well-planned manner to wipe out our true history. The generation I grew up with fail to recognize and feel the intensity of what people have been through to achieve this freedom.

The history got faded with every generation. If someone did not take the step to revive the true story about our country's freedom, then no one would have ever been exposed to the truth.  I always remain in dilemma, and several questions arise in mind when I think about the story of our Liberation War. I often wonder why I have never tired to look into the credibility of the story of our war for independence.

The recently released docudrama Hasina: A Daughter's Tale has moved me completely. This is the first time, I felt, the true history of our glorious Liberation War has been truthfully portrayed. This docudrama is based on the life of the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the struggles she had to endure to fight for the truth.

The film encapsulates the testimony of Sheikh Hasina and Sheikh Rehana on the assassination of their father, our Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with most of their family members in 1975. After watching the docudrama I realized that this is a timeless masterpiece, because it portrays the true story of the long struggles of the family of our beloved Bangabandhu, through the eyes of the two people who witnessed everything first hand. They are the people who went though indescribable pain and were part of the struggles that our history did not allow us to know.

Why is Bangladesh a land of possibilities?

I stated earlier that we, as a nation, have the ability to attain any objective; and I say this because we are the ones who are responsible for the death of the Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who dedicated his life to achieve the freedom of this nation. He was the driving force behind the independence of Bangladesh.

We as a nation are accountable for taking his life.  We took away the life of his entire family, even the youngest child, Sheikh Russel, who was just an innocent little boy – who had no grudge against anyone, and who had caused no one any harm. We as a nation presented him with the biggest betrayal; we showed him and his family our unfaithfulness and ungratefulness in return for his devotion for this country.

After watching the movie, I have only one question for us: how can we be so merciless as a nation?  I wonder in astonishment how our honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came back to live in this country knowing the cruelty which we inflicted on her family.

I am amazed to see her emotional strength; the way she managed to have so much courage and forgiveness in her heart that she came back to this country to realize her father's dream of building a prosperous Bangladesh. She is also brave and fearless because she was in constant threat and she has been living knowing that the murderers of her family are living as free people, ready to strike the blow anytime. Over the years, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina nurtured the patience and the hope that she will get justice.

She took the support of law and punished the heinous murderers, according to the dictates of the law. It was a long process but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina kept her hopes high and sought justice. She had all the powers in her hand but she never misused them to seek revenge.

And it is possible only in Bangladesh that we repaid our nation's leader who brought our freedom, by murdering him with most of his family members.  On the other hand, the justice dealt to the murderers teaches us that truth and justice always prevail.

An Apology

When I went to watch the docudrama, I stepped into the hall with curiosity – I had so many questions in mind. But by the time I had left, all my queries had been answered. The director made this film in such a manner that it contained the essence of simplicity in it.  The story was a testimony told by the victims themselves; I could easily put myself in their story and feel what they were trying to tell. The setting was effortlessly brilliant, and it was narrated from the place where everything happened.

Thus, I could feel that I was part of the story witnessing everything. I was becoming the character and I was witnessing this untold part of history. I was in tears and felt rage burning inside me. I am not serving any particular political party; just as a human being I am sorry. I still wonder how our honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her younger sister Sheikh Rehana have endured this pain in their hearts for so long. Where did they find so much strength and courage to live with this?

Acknowledging the hard work

The list of people who are involved with this project through and through is long, but there must be particular mentions without whom this movie might have not been on the big screen.  The joint production of CRI and Applebox Films, the producers Radwan Mujib Siddiq and Nasrul Hamid Bipu, the director Piplu Khan, the cinematographer Sadik Ahmed, editor Navnita Sen and music director Debojyoti Mishra are the ones we must acknowledge for the hard work.

I want to applaud for the director Piplu Khan for the thought he has put into the making of this film – the honesty and the simplicity that have been so pronounced in the film have strongly appealed to my emotions. The entire story line was kept realistic and minimal to manifest the authenticity of the direction. Piplu Khan did not exaggerate the plot and the entire story was a tale of real life experience.

The music was one of the important aspects of the docudrama. It helped in adding to the ambiance of the film, which appealed to the emotions of the audience. I have high hopes for Piplu Khan, the director, for his future endeavors.

By Rafi Hossain Editor, Star Showbiz