Sanitised version of biopic

Johnson Thomas

‘Mujib: The Making of a Nation’, the biopic heralding the formation of Bangladesh through the life and times of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is a disappointment and fails to live up to the hype surrounding it.

Directed by veteran Indian New Wave auteur Shyam Benegal, the film takes viewers on a journey through the life of a historical figure but, unfortunately, the depiction is piecemeal. The drawing room intrigue fails to give us a sense of the activism and political craft that led to the liberation of Bangladesh.

In the film, that has been made under the first co-production treaty between the Indian and Bangladesh governments, Mujib has been presented as a lily-white statesman without any flaws. The script by Benegal-faithful Shama Zaidi and Atul Tiwari is devoted to establishing Mujib as family-centered — from the time he was a little boy to when he took up the cause of the Bangla language.

The narrative is encrusted with family moments even while the agitations for the formation of Pakistan, and later on Bangladesh, are on.

Since Sheikh Fazilatunnesa Mujib, aka Renu, his childhood friend and life-long partner, is the sutradhar here, the narration ends with her death. There’s no tension or rhythm in this telling.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s belief in language-based inclusive nationalism became the pivot around which several agitations were launched. He believed that all Bangladeshis are Bengali and that Bengali language was the first pillar of nationalism. The narrative makes that issue the main reason for his emergence as the future President of Bangladesh.

Sheikh Mujib’s political views were formed by his experience and participation in the liberation movements during both the British and Pakistani periods, but we don’t get to see much of that except in passing conversations. His friendship with Frontier Gandhi, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, is referred to rather casually. The other notable influencers of his life and views, like AK Fazlul Huq, Abul Hashim, Subhas Chandra Bose and Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, are mentioned merely in the form of window dressing.

The film’s portrayal of history is riddled with frivolous milestones that just don’t lend enough weight to Mujib’s growth as a statesman whose policies of nationalism, socialism, democracy and secularism were fundamental to the birth of a new country.

The narrative doesn’t have the larger-than-life scope of a cinematic event. It feels more like one destined to play out in a live theatre format. While the cinematography is competent, it’s not sweeping as one would expect of an epic life story. Art direction and costumes don’t make a mark and the background score feels out of sync with the dramatic byplay.

The film stirs up controversy with its one-sided depiction, struggles to find a firm footing with its rather theatrical performances, and falters majorly in its ordinary production value. For a film helmed by the likes of Shyam Benegal, it falls way short of expectation.