An irreparable loss for Bangladeshi cinema

A scene from “Matir Moina”.insetTareque Masud

I had first met director Tareque Masud in 1995 at a screening of his famed documentary “Muktir Gaan” (The Song of Freedom) in Dhaka where I was posted as a journalist and I have since then retained the image of his as a young man bubbling with energy and passion for filmmaking.
Since then, I got to see him during the screening of his feature films at the India International Centre in Delhi a couple of years ago and Tareque had retained that image. It was hard to believe that the director died in a road accident on August 13. His death is undoubtedly a major blow to Bangladesh's fledgling meaningful cinema whose flag has been kept high in modern times by a handful of directors like Tareque, Morshedul Islam, Tanvir Mokammel, Abu Sayeed and Golam Rabbani Biplob.
Tareque was one of the finest on-screen storytellers of his time, upholding the values of secularism and liberalism. That is something remarkable given the fact that he had his early education in a madrasa.
I got the chance to watch Tareque's “Matir Moina” at the India International Centre in Delhi a couple of years ago. To me, it is his best film. It aptly brought out the social tensions in erstwhile East Pakistan of late 1960s, leading up to Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan. I think “Matir Moina” has a timeless relevance. The story is brilliantly told and the message comes out strongly without risking the tag of being didactic. The sensitive subject was dealt with great restraint.
I also got to see Tareque's “Ontorjatra” whose subject was also very sensitively handled. I felt it was “Muktir Gaan” which gave ample indications of the potential of Tareque as a feature film director.
Death cut short the career of a director whom Bangladeshi cinema badly needed for its survival in view of the fact filmmakers like him struggle to find funds and cinema halls for making films and screening them.