Kolkata :

Syed Mustafa Siraj’s elder son Abhijit Siraj has alleged that a Bangaldeshi director has made a film based on his father’s story without acknowledging the renowned writer.

Murad Parvez, director of ‘Brihonnola’, has rubbished the allegations.

The allegation of lifting comes close on the heels of an “inspiration” controversy regarding a short story of Mustafa.

Speaking about the controversy, Abhijit said, “I have not watched the movie yet. A person from Bangladesh drew my attention to the similarity between the film and Baba’s story titled ‘Gaachta Bolechhilo’. That’s when I came to know about the overlaps.”

Murad, Abhijit pointed out, is not unknown to the Siraj family. Earlier, he had directed a movie titled ‘Chandragrahon’ which was based on Mustafa’s story ‘Ranir Ghater Brittanto’. Director Anjan Das had made his Bengali film ‘Faltu’ in 2006 based on the same story.

“My father was alive then and Murad had officially taken the rights of the story from him to make ‘Chandragrahon’. I don’t know the exact figure but I am sure that the rights must have been sold for a few lakhs of rupees. Baba died in 2012. Thereafter, I feel he (Murad) never felt the need to ask for rights and made this film without crediting my father,” Abhijit alleged.

Siraj’s ‘Gaachta Bolechhilo’, which was later translated in English as ‘Die, said the Tree’, is the story of some myths surrounding a tree in a village.

The tree, which is believed to be gifted with strange powers, becomes the pivotal metaphor in the story that explores the psyche of villagers plagued by superstition.

‘Brihonnola’ is a tale of the goodness inherent in human nature prevailing over religious prejudice and racial dogmatism. The film, starring Ferdous Ahmed, Sohana Saba, Azad Abul Kalam and Jhuna Choudhury, is set in a village where everything goes well for ages till an ancient banyan tree becomes the focal point of dispute between the two sections of the village community.

Siraj’s younger son, Amitabh Siraj, had spoken to a fan of his father in Bangladesh who has watched the film and read the story as well.

“According to that person, this film is a very skillful and careful adaptation of my father’s story. The germ of the film is from there. Subsequently, a lot of other subplots have been added to give the film a new dimension. Some cinematic characters seem to bear a lot of resemblance with the characters in baba’s story. I wish Murad had acknowledged baba’s story somewhere in his credit line,” Amitabh said.

However, Murad insists that giving credit is out of question since he has not even read ‘Gaachta Bolechhilo’.

“My film was based on a self-written story titled ‘The Poisoning Sap’. I was inspired by the Babri Masjid incident while writing it. I had read Siraj’s ‘Ranir Ghater Brittanto’ in 1998 and bought its rights in 2007. ‘Brihannola’ has also bagged the Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay awards at the Jaipur International Film Festival,” Murad said.

Abhijit countered Murad saying, “The core of the film is undeniably my father’s story. In order to give a contemporary relevance to the screenplay, I’m guessing that Murad has added some political and religious dimensions. But, baba’s story transcended all these issues to reach another level.”

It’s not just plays and movies. Even publishers happily violate copyright norms, say Mustafa’s sons. Abhijit pointed out, “At the last book fair, we were zapped to find that a new publisher had mentioned his name as the copyright holder of ‘Payer Shobdo’! We don’t want mud-slinging. Expecting credit is just part of decent behaviour.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Priyanka Dasgupta, TNN / September 04th, 2015