LALON | Part 2
(a feature film on Fakir Lalon Shah)
length: 120 minutes
format: 35mm.
photography: Anwar Hossain
editing: Mahadeb Shi
art direction: Uttam Guha
sound: Abdus Satter
music: Syed Shabab Ali Arzoo
presented by : Anjan Chowdhury Pintu
cast: Raisul Islam Asad, Shomi Kaiser, Azad Abul Kalam, Tamanna Yasmin Tithi, Chittralekha Guha, Vaswar Banerjee, Ramendu Majumder, Khurshiduzzaman Utpal, Wahida Mallik Joly, Fakir Anwar Hossain Montu Shah, Kartik Das Baul, Pagla Bablu, Naresh Bhuiyan, Saidur Rahman Bayati, Fakir Balai Shah, Krishna Ghosh, Orko, Ornisha Guha Nairit and others
production year: 2004
script & direction : Tanvir Mokammel
Synopsis of the film
Lalon Fakir (? – 1890), a doyen among the Baul-Fakirs of Bengal, composed few hundred songs of profound depth and an excellent sense of music. Buddhist Tantricism, Hindu Vaisnavism and Islamic Sufism all have their shares of influence on Lalon. Throughout the decades Lalon’s songs, depicting asceticism and transience of life, have expressed the pathos and pangs of the caste-ridden subaltern rural populace of Bengal. Lalon's secular ideas and enchanting lyrics left deep influence on the subsequent generations of the different trends of Baul-Fakirs of Bangladesh and India. Though Lalon died only a hundred years ago yet not much details of his life is clearly known and some aspects are still shrouded in mystery. By portraying the milieu of Lalon who was a kind of a Guru during his life-time, the film aims to catch the social ethos of his period. Some historical personalities, who were prominent in the cultural history of Bengal of that time and came in touch with Lalon, like Jyotirindranath Tagore, Kangal Harinath and Mir Mosharraf Hossain, also figure in the film. The film tries to portray Lalon's life, persona and ideas mainly through the lyrics of his songs.
* Shown in the Fukuoka (Japan), London film festivals and in the competitive section of Goa (India) and Dhaka international film festivals.
