Farooki reveals the Doob mystery
The controversial film Doob : No Bed of Roses, directed by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, will hit the screens tomorrow (Friday). Starring famous Indian actor Irrfan Khan and Bangladeshi Nusrat Imroz Tisha, the film was thrown into hot water, accused of making Humayun Ahmed’s biopic without his family's consent.
But the director told Prothom Alo that the film is not a biopic, it is inspired by experiences from the director’s own life.
The interview is taken by Rashel Mahmud and rewritten in English by Toriqul Islam.
Prothom Alo: So the film is inspired by your real life experiences.
Farooki: No story comes from outer space. Even fiction writers get their stories from real life. That's the essence of my work. I did the same thing for my previous films - ‘Bachelor’, ‘Made in Bangladesh’, ‘Third Person Singular Number’, ‘Television’, and ‘Piprabidya’. The scripts of the films were based on real life stories.
PA: What about the allegations brought about by Humayun Ahmed’s wife Meher Afroz Shaon?
Farooki: Meher Afroz Shaon’s allegations are baseless. She alleged that I’ve distorted history. Recently a French film, ‘Redoubtable’, was made, based on a French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard. It was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. I talked to the viewers after watching the film. Some of Godard’s fans were hurt by the film. It was based on a diary of his divorced wife Anne Wiazemsky. Director Michel Hazanavicius claimed it was Godard’s biopic.
PA: So you mean it a biopic like Godard’s?
Farooki: Once the film has been termed as a biopic, people seek truth in the story. There is a misunderstanding over the concept, biopic, among us. Humayun Ahmed’s wife Shaons made the same mistake in this regard. That's why we have skipped the word as we are not ready to take the responsibility of the so-called truth.
PA: How did the two female actors, besides Tisha, act in the film?
Farooki: It is delightful that world famous critics wrote wonderful and positive reviews about the film in the Hollywood Reporters and the Screen Daily. They lauded every actor in the film. Every one said it was a ‘strong work’. I’m grateful to all of them.
PA: What do you think of Bangladesh’s critics?
Farooki: I don’t care about the critics in my country. I’m looking for young viewers. They are our future. The film is made for those who want to something out of the box.
PA: Why young people?
Farooki: I haven't erected any fence around the movie theatres. I even didn’t say that only the young viewers are welcomed. Youth is a perception and does not depend on age.
Prothom Alo: How did Humayun Ahmed’s life inspire you to make the film?
Farooki: Humayun Ahmed is the greatest hero of our time. His popularity rose along with us. I got the news of his death while I was at a restaurant in Seoul. I went there for a film’s post-production work. Tears welled up in my eyes and I was saddened.
We rented a place 150 miles away from Seoul. On the way there, we used to play The Beatles’ ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. After his death, it came to me as ‘While His Pen Gently Weeps.’
His pen was crying silently, while a sad and heartless drama was being enacted over his burial there. It broke my heart and shocked us.
Once Humayun Ahmed and I lived in the same city. But, we felt his influence on us even after his death.
And you know about his burial. It is no more secret and so is his second marriage. So anyone can write a story in this regard. There is no hard and fast rule that the story must be true.
For example, Rituparno Ghosh’s ‘Abohomaan’ was inspired by Satyajit’s life and even my film ‘Television’ was inspired by my real life story. There are thousands of films of this kind across the world.