ONE-MAN ARMY

Photo: Prabir Das

Vincent van Gogh, during his brief career, sold only one of his paintings during his lifetime and became famous only after his death. On the contrary, fame and a huge amount of wealth came to Pablo Picasso during his life time. At the age of 28, he was free from any monetary worry. Without doubt he was an exceptional case, since artists belonging to any form of art, be it painting, photography or film direction, have always had to cope with money issues at least at one time or another.
But money is not a problem for a filmmaker who started his career nearly 100 years after Van Gogh and Picasso. From the very beginning of his career, he was an actor, scriptwriter, producer and director. Standing in salute, laughing or chuckling in appreciation – no introduction can be enough for him. He is the one and only film director, producer and actor all rolled in one and can also claim to be a highly successful businessman judging from the way he spends his cash. Let's give a round of thunderous applause for MA Jalil Ananta!
Audience, critics and journalists criticise him a lot, but at the end of the day, all of them go to the cinema hall to have a good time, come back home feeling uplifted, and if they are lucky return with a new definition of love.
Does that indicate that our mainstream films have become more realistic and palatable from its former days? We may still be far - far away from that ambition, but there's no denying that we enjoy the clear screen, digital sound projection, bizarre story line, horrendous pronunciation, pathetic acting and unbelievable (literally) special effects of Jalil's films. The entire experience of watching a Jalil film is so much fun that the audience just stops looking for any signs of reality in the whole story.

MW- 2
He is the self proclaimed one man army of our cinema. Every year his film budget is sky high, hoping to shake the imagination of film producers. After last year's big battle at the box office, Ananta Jalil with his “Nis-shartho Bhalobasha” quakes again at the box office. With one big-budget movie after another, he has also secured a big fan group within a short span of time. But for some unknown reason, he never reveals his film budget so the box office hit or profit margin calculation remains a mystery.
How he presents himself on the screen is really not the point. He may seem funny on screen but the fact remains that he is the one to drag the audience into the cinema halls. And of course we have to appreciate the fact that he is also creating job opportunities inside the film industry.
Recently a fan club celebrated the success of Ananta's latest film 'Nisshartha Bhalobhasha' at the Radisson Blu Water Garden Hotel. The film was released during the last Eid-ul-Fitr at over 200 cinema halls all around the country. Interestingly, it is still running in a number of theatres.
The function began with a round of applause as requested by the anchor. After the minute long applause concluded, the trailer of Ananta's upcoming film MW-2, an action packed love story featuring Ananta and Borsha in lead roles was screened. The trailer ended with action filled stunts but the anchor insists, despite agonised sighs from the crowd, that the trailer is shown again as many people were asking for an encore.

For the first time in his career, Ananta's fans will see him in police uniform and a huge mustache like those celebrated South Indian actors. According to Ananta, this time he will be coming up with a new look and an even bigger budget. “Nisshartha Bhalobhasha is the biggest hit in our film history and broke all previous records. The movie also received high ratings on IMDB. We believe our next film Most Welcome- 2 will be a blockbuster as well,” he added.
Over the last few years, from social network to mainstream media and every communication site was flooded with Ananta's news and criticism, but he has not been happy with the media coverage. According to him, the media was not supportive towards his creative work and unnecessarily criticized him without comprehending his cinematic style. However, he believed that the presence of journalists in the programme proved him wrong. “I take my words back. During an interview on a TV channel, I said that the media was not being supportive towards us. But, now, I am grateful to the journalists.” Ananta mentioned that he had taken Bangladeshi films to the international film arena, “It has all been possible for the love and support of my fans,” he remarked.
Once again Ananta Jalil has proven that if you can make the young laugh then your film can be a blockbuster. He is, without doubt, a smart businessman who is taking full advantage of the fact that there is a huge market for hi-tech films. Now all he needs is a better script and a better director to produce a film which will make people laugh for the right reasons.