Tareque Masud’s Kagojer Phul, an unfinished project based on his father’s life sketch during riots in Calcutta and the partition of Bengal in 1947. Tareque and Catherine Masud co-wrote the screenplay.
Tareque Masud, “Cinema Feriwalla” (Vendor of Cinema), was the first Bangladeshi director to be awarded the International Critics’ FIPRESCI Prize in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Masood studied in a madrasa (Islamic school) until he was 15. Since then, he plans to make a feature based on his childhood experience during the late 1960s in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). After making several shorts and documentaries, Masud’s first feature film, Matir Moina (The Clay Bird) was released in 2002. The film is set against the backdrop of an unrest period in the late 1960s leading up to the Bangladesh War of Liberation. It received positive reviews from critics, viewers, and film connoisseurs. Most commented on its historical and social impact. It was the first Bangladeshi film to be nominated in the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 75th Academy Awards.
Kagojer Phul
A prequel title, Kagojer Phul is set in the younger life of Masud’s father. Who is portrayed as Kazi (Anu’s father) in Matir Moina. The story begins with the life sketch of his father between 1945 and 1947 in Calcutta (now Kolkata) during the partition of Bengal. The film would portray how Kazi’s character was changed by the turbulent period in the history of Bangladesh.
Initially, the film was planned to be shot in Kolkata and Manikganj. Since Masud, Catherine, and other film crews have visited several locations. Lastly, Shaljana village under Shibalaya Upazila in Manikganj was recalled for Masud’s next title. On 13 August 2011, Masud and media personality Mishuk Munier got into a road accident and died. While there, we were returning to Dhaka from Manikganj on the Dhaka-Aricha highway after visiting the filming location of the upcoming title, Kagojer Phul. After Masud’s death, the project was postponed. In 2012, it received a National Film Grant award from the Bangladesh Government for producing the film. However, Kagojer Phul remains an unfinished project of Masud.
