Philosophy in Film

Photo: Prabir Das

From being a computer engineering student to one of the most popular film analyst and critic of this generation, Bidhan Ruberu has set an example of how passion can drive one to a new direction. A journalist by profession, Bidhan Ruberu is one of the first in our country to showcase film analysing through psychoanalysis and philosophy. His books and blogs on cinema are considered to be text books for film school students. He is currently working as the feature editor of ntvbd.com and also runs the online film portal named oncinemabd.com.

Though Bidhan had a soft spot for writing from an early age, his passion towards cinema grew when he was a student of Notre Dame College. "The college was about to celebrate its 50 year anniversary and for that there was documentary that had to be made," says Bidhan. "I was very involved with that documentary, working as an assistant director. That was the first time I got up close and personal to film making. From pre production to editing in a Linear editing panel, I fell in love with every bit of it." After his HSC, Bidhan got admitted in IUB (Independent University of Bangladesh) to study computer science.

"After graduation I wanted to study something that interested me, for which I got enrolled into Stanford University's Film School for my Masters degree," says Bidhan. "There I had the chance to dig deep into the world of cinema and it also built my foundation in cinema. It was also the time when I started oncinemabd.com." After his academic life, Bidhan has gone on to work with popular television channels throughout the course of time. "Television was the closest I could get to cinema. Every time I would work on a report, I felt like I was working on a short film."

Though his writings are now praised by film enthusiasts all over, the book that gave him the spot light was Chalachitra Path Shohaika. "I write to fill the blank spaces we have in our industry," says Bidhan. "There was no proper write up analysing films, especially in a philosophical way. That is why I chose this way to spell out my concerns". In the book Chalachitra Bichar, Bidhan wrote about different eras of film and how it portrayed human philosophy. Bidhan's interest towards combining psychoanalysis and film comes from his interest in human metaphysics and his mentor, writer Salimullah Khan. The interest portrays in his book Leonardo Lalon Lacan where he signifies how all three of these philosophers tried to break the aura of human behaviour. "From Leonardo's painting of virgin of the rocks, to Lacan's effort to bring back Freud to even Lalon's songs on humanity, we can see that they were all trying to break the circule of misled society," says the writer. "They were all pro people, which, from time to time, have reflected in their work. That is what my book was about."

As film, as an art, still struggles in our country, Bidhan Ruberu is hopefull towards our industry. "Our film industry has never been treated as an art. This is ironic because film is the ultimate form of art. In my opinion, we have fallen behind in this industry because we never had institutions for proper schooling. But things are going on a different and better path now, as more and more film schools are being created."