A JOURNEY THROUGH A DIEING POET'S HEART....

PREFACE :

“Avante Garde, isn’t it”? Sid said! “This is cinema of Yore”. “Bengali movie making is changing, the dimensions have increased and the literary inclusions are without doubt mesmerizing”, affirmed Debby! “Hmm, the violent poet and his misunderstood poetry, such a masterstroke”, I complemented, “the new rhyme killer is just such a relief from the oxy-moronic movies we have seen so far”.

Well Just out from Baishe Srabon, another masterpiece post Autograph, and we three were literally blowed away with the discussions of the narration that stood apart! I mean admixing poetry with serial killing and justifying it with a mere untold movement of Bengal’s so called violent poetic revolutions should deserve all the bravados and on screen it sizzled like anything! True, the movie might not be a masterpiece like “ Autograph” but the two can’t be compared either, what, can be compared, is indeed the literary brush up the director has done so as to make the movie poignant and enterprising in equal measures.


The nemesis of the movie is indeed a psychopath poet who, out of failures of his poetry, starts visualizing Rabindranath Tagore and idealizes Tagore’s verses as a means towards the doors of the other world, starts killing innocent victims along with the death date of Bengal’s most famous Literary poets and finally kills himself on Baishe Srabon, the date at which Tagore Died! Fascinating concept which indirectly came out from the infamous “Hungry Generalist Movement” of Bengal’s untold Poetic revolution (1961-1965).


THE UNTOLD MOVEMENT:


Before 1960’s Bengal’s Poetry was one dimensional! It mainly consisted of poets from the soil who had predefined thoughts of expressing themselves in uniform manner, though they were rich literary bureaucrats but the breadth of fresh air was not there! The “Hungry Movement” post 1960’s changed it all. Helmed after the famous line of Geoffrey Chaucer, “ In Sowre Hungry Tym”, the hungry quartet ( Shakti Chattopadhyay, Malay Roy Choudhury, Debi Roy and Samir Roy Choudhury) formed the hungry generalist movement. The basic tenet was the idea that a non linear time in a particular culture of philosophical revolution is required. They changed the atmosphere of Bengal’s poetry all together by bringing different literary verses and fresh adaptations including different Indian Languages, their poetry was dynamic and nature oriented. During 1960-1965, more than 100 manifestos were published, and they included fresh poetic bloods from North Bengal, Tripura and Benaras. But the then bureaucratic and short-sighted poetic society did not accept the inclusion of fresh bloods of poetry in the nicest manner, in fact according to legends, the movement though enriched Bengal’s poetic culture, was subdued by the fundamentalists and the actual poetic renaissance did never happen on popular view, untill Tagore came and changed things! Post 1969’s it is only Rabindranath Tagore and Tagore himself who so called gave birth to modern Bengali Poetry, in more than one ways he was blessed, because he then could become the lime light of the tricky socio-poetic climate of Bengal and ruled the same abruptly ever and after!


END NOTE:

The Reason of my discussion about Hungry Movement of 60’s and “Baishe Srabon” movie is in the plight of innocent talented poets who could never took the lime light; though they were the one who brought the new age Bengali poetry to us. In 60’s these Hungry liberal poets were termed as “Violent poets” by the so called socio-democratic civic poetic society who strictly ignored inclusion of other languages and adaptations in Bengali poetry at that time. These creative people were not only ignored but gradually subdued and thus all their earnest efforts did last for merely five years! In the movie, the psychopath poet tried to exemplify by his brutal murders one hard-hitting fact when he says in the climax, “ look the poetry is long dead, not because of lack of talent, but because of ignorance and bureaucracy which is even worst than all the blood and gore the generations have received”, highly philosophical, but true, isn’t it”…………….