Boli: Showcasing Chatgaiya heritage to the world

The Bangladeshi independent cinema landscape has improved quite a bit over the last decade. It's true that the number of international accolades is still low, but progress has been steady and it won't be long before the silverware also starts coming our way.

Very recently, two Bangladeshi films by two budding directors, made it to the Busan Film Festival 2023 in South Korea, where they will be premiered. 'Boli' [The Wrestler] directed by Iqbal H Chowdhury, Agantuk [The Stranger] directed by Biplob Sarkar were chosen under the 'New Currents' category. Both the films were made with the help of government funding.

The Business Standard recently sat down with Iqbal H Chowdhury and Piplu R Khan, the director and producer of Boli. The duo pulled off something they say is quite close to their heart: a film made in the raw Chatgaiya dialect.

'Boli' was originally planned as a short film around 40 minutes long, with its first draft  written in 2014.

"We were done with the pre-production but just before the day filming was to start, our main actor backed out, leading to the cancellation of the shoot. Also, we were out of budget," said Iqbal. He has directed three other shorts titled 'Teeth' (2015), 'Dhaka 2.0' (2017) and 'Rowai' (2018).

'Boli' was inspired by real life - a sport called 'Boli Khela' – a form of traditional wrestling from Chattogram. 

Iqbal had always been interested in the sport since his childhood. Over the years,he gradually realised that the sport was not just about brute force. Upon learning more about the styles, skills and techniques required to excel in the sport, Iqbal's fascination grew.

"Once a Boli trainer told me, 'You can even smack an elephant if you know the technique,' revealed Iqbal. 

The producer Piplu believes that the application of the Chatgaiya dialect in the film will not only add to the authenticity of its characters and storyline, but it will also help preserve the dialect. 

Piplu said, "the younger generation from Chattogram doesn't speak the dialect that much anymore." 'Boli', he hopes, will aid in reviving the dialect.

As a first time producer, Piplu greatly helped Iqbal deal with the subject matter of the story.  From the director's standpoint, on the other hand, Iqbal had to ensure the aesthetics of 'Boli', portray very complex human agendas, show mythical elements and carry out character studies. 

"As a filmmaker, I tried to create a 'world' as immersive, interesting or unique as possible," said Iqbal.

Acting-wise, Nasir Uddin Khan took up a completely different approach to how we see him.

"The way this film uses Nasir's approach to acting is vastly different from his claim-to-fame (Myself Allen Swapan). When he acted, he was not who we know him as. As for Iqbal, his decision to remain honest to the film's authenticity makes it stand out," Piplu added. Actress Priyam Archi did her absolute best next to Nasir, according to Iqbal.

The film is calm and metaphorical in many ways. This was what attracted the Busan Film Fest jury. 

"This story is extremely hyperlocal, meaning its messages revolve around the localities of Chattogram. This is what attracted me the most to agree to become its producer," Piplu said. 

Iqbal did not start out his career as a director. Before this, he was a full-time journalist who harboured a dream to direct films one day. Veteran directors like Amitabh Reza, Redoan Rony, Mesbaur Rahman Suman and Animesh Aich were his friends and inspiration. In 2014, he travelled to Cannes as a journalist with the sponsorship of the editor of the newspaper he was working for.

That was a big opportunity for him to learn about international cinema. Primarily being a journalist and screenwriter, he had a brief portfolio as a director and later, he attended film school in Canada.

"For me, directing is about showing your vision or imagination. I'm so lucky that I got Tuhin Tamjul as my cinematographer in Boli. His artistic style was essential to creating that late 90s look in the film," said the director. 

The entire film was shot in 14 days, a mammoth task to undertake for a full-length feature film. It was initially planned to be shot in Cox's Bazar but to make it look as authentic as possible, shooting location was moved to the Kadam Rasul beach in Bashkhali. 

"This executive decision was made by our Apple Box team. To portray nature in the story, it had to be shot in a serene location, so we chose Kadam Rasul as it has the pristine ambience of a village and originality in the villagers," Piplu added.

"There are two films from Bangladesh this year in the new currents section. Also, Mostafa Sarwar Farooki's film is in the Kim Jiseok section. It's a great momentum for Bangladeshi cinema, as the Busan official website and many other places in world media have mentioned it," Iqbal added. 

'Boli' will be released in Bangladesh by the end of this year.