India-BD relations recovery is possible only through honest introspection: Farooki

Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, filmmaker and cultural adviser of Bangladesh's interim government, has said India-Bangladesh relations have reached their lowest point, so respect for Bangladesh's internal political choices is an essential foundation for rebuilding regional trust.

"Recovery is possible only through honest introspection," he said in an exclusive interview with Indian magazine - THE WEEK. 

Farooki's interview was released in the online version of the magazine on February 15. Following is the edited excerpts: Question: As a filmmaker who has brought real-life experiences to the screen, how do you see society in Bangladesh changing today? Farooki: Any mass uprising or revolution is essentially a cultural event to me. Yes, it has a political expression and political results are the apparent goal, but it is the cultural fault lines that cause the political earth to shake. 

Big uprisings offer people an opportunity to reflect, to think about who they are, where they have come from, how they have reached here, and where they need to go from here. In this process, many things come out which were probably swept under the carpet for years. This is a challenging phase, to process all this and find a balanced path for the future. Question: Cinema is largely influenced by the society we live in. How has it shaped your storytelling?

Farooki: If I look back and try to understand my creative process of making a film, it starts from a trigger point. It can be a singular image, a key moment in a story, or a certain condition of a character. 

When I am moved by these, it starts giving me anxiety and sleepless nights. I let this anxiety grow in me. After a period, if it fades and doesn't give me pain anymore, I know I don't need to make a film out of it.  If the pain or anxiety or emotional distress still stays with me, I know I have to make the film and transfer the pain onto the audience's shoulders. 

This is my way of self-healing. Which is why I think my films are like my diaries. All my characters seem to have popped straight out of the world I live in, interact with, or come to know about.

Question: Bangladesh has a powerful history shaped by language, resistance and liberation. Today, edifices that once defined it have crumbled. 

Farooki: We have a long history of living under oppression. We lived under double colonialism-of the British and the zamindars. We saw how the dream of an independent state of Bengal was shattered and Bengal was divided, which left us with a singular option of having an independent state of our own, Pakistan. Soon, we realised that 'freedom' was still a far cry. So our history has been a complex one. 

However, in recent years, we were forced to accept a one-sided narrative of what actually happened. After the uprising, it naturally resulted in some chaos, as has happened in many countries. But at the same time, it is also true that Bangladeshi people took control of things quickly, which is a sign that we are heading towards evolution. We will go through rough rides, but we will get there.