Controversial Bangladeshi Film To Be Released In India

KOLKATA: Victor Banerjee and Jaya Bachchan starrer 'Meherjaan', about a Bangladeshi woman's affair with a Pakistani soldier in the backdrop of the 1971 Liberation War abruptly withdrawn from theaters in the neighbouring country, will soon be released in India.

"We are looking for a distributor in India. We are also trying for a DVD release in India and Bangladesh," the film's director Rubaiyat Hossain, who has tied up with Anticlock Films owned by Sanjay Suri and Onir to sell the film in India, told PTI from Dhaka.

The film which also has Pakistani and Bangladeshi actors and depicts certain pitfalls of nationalism that create conditions to justify war, killing and violence was withdrawn from theatres in Bangladesh after a week's screening in January despite impressive box office earnings.

A section of intellectuals and freedom fighters criticised the film for allegedly distorting the country's independence war and humiliating freedom fighters and 'Biranganas' (Bangladeshi women raped by occupation Pakistani troops).

"The censor board was clearly reluctant to have any further discussions with me. The removing of 'Meherjaan' from theatres has been jointly done by the cultural and political elites and the armed forces," the debutante director said.