Titumirer Bansher Kella
New TV serial in the making
Ershad Kamol
Romantic hero Tauquir Ahmed riding a horse, commanding his troops to "fight bravely" and Jayanto Chattapadhyay wielding his sword against British forces -- all this and more will feature in the upcoming TV serial Titumirer Bansher Kella. The serial, by Shakhawat Hossain, is a biography of the legendary Titumir, a character well-known for his revolt against the oppressive British Raj. To film the serial, Shakhawat with his crews and artistes spent 20 days shooting at Kaliakoir. Scriptwriter as well as director of the play, Shakhawat says, "The story of Titumir is linked with the revolution by the peasants. To picturise the authentic scenes, we made a bamboo fort in the jungle at Kaliakoir. Designer Zunaid Eusuf made a fort 35 feet high with bamboo and the Fort Gate was 50 feet high. There was also a 60-foot watchtower. We hired 20 horses and an elephant for the shooting. To portray a king's palace, we have used Srifaltali zamindar palace at Kaliakoir. Moreover, we made an iron cannon creating the authentic fort ambience during the war. "A huge crowd was needed for realistic shooting. So over 100 enthusiastic villagers took part in the shooting. Three war scenes have been picturised. For the combat scenes I took support from Film Development Corporation (FDC) technicians. We used dummy pistols, explosives and rifles. However, no direct war scenes have been picturised, as it is tough to present an authentic war scene with limited technical facilities. Cameraman Siakat has done a great job." Any calamity during the shooting? Shakhawat says, "Tauquir fell down from the horse and was badly hurt." Debendra Udash plays the character of young Titumir and Jayanto Chattapadhyay enacts the role of adult Titumir. Mamanur Rashid will don the role of an evil police officer who is a British collaborator and is responsible for a Hindu-Muslim riot. Ferdausi Majumdar, as the queen, is also hostile to Titumir. However, Tauquir Ahmed, the prince, helps Titumir in the fight against British and their collaborators. ATM Shamsuzzaman in the role of a beggar is sympathetic to Titumir. Other remarkable cast members of Titumirer Bansher Kella are Khairul Alam Shobuj, Fazlur Rahman Babu, Rokeya Prachi, Dr Inamul Haque and others.
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A replica of the bamboo fort |