The poster of Bauddhayan Mukherji’s upcoming film Marichjhapi was unveiled online yesterday. Marichjhapi is based on an incident that is considered a dark chapter in the history of Communist rule in West Bengal.
In 1978, a large number of refugees, mostly Hindus, fled Bangladesh to settle in West Bengal. Almost 40,000 of them settled in Marichjhapi, an area protected under the Forest Reserve Act.
Considering them illegal occupants of reserve forests, the Left Front government then ruling West Bengal set out to evict them. In January 1979, the government put in place an economic blockade of the refugees. On 31 January, the police reportedly opened fire on refugees trying to break out, causing the death of a large number of people.
After the Calcutta high court lifted the economic blockade, the government set out to forcibly evacuate the people in May, causing the death of a larger number of settlers. According to unofficial estimates, around 1,000 were killed in the incident and the survivors were deported to the Dandakaranya region further south.
Mukherji’s film is going to highlight the love for the motherland that led the refugees to return to Bengal and fight for their land. The director is yet to decide on the cast.
The poster has an abundance of red in it, perhaps hinting at the bloodshed caused by the Left Front government. A plot of land with a few coconut trees has been juxtaposed on the head of a face in silhouette, suggesting that the painful memories of the dark episode are still alive in the minds of the survivors. The coconut trees lend the land the picture of an island.
Marichjhapi is going to be jointly produced by Little Lamb Films Pvt Ltd and a foreign company with which the director is still discussing the subject.