Film Review

Tribute to Doctors

Muhammad Mehdi Hassan

Shafiq, a young, energetic and enthusiastic doctor of his time, was a meritorious student. He got scholarship to go to London for higher studies. On the night of March 25, 1971, a patient came to him with severe chest pain. Shafiq needed an injection to save the dying patient but no one intended to bring the injection at the critical situation. Then, Shafiq decided to bring the injection himself listening to his inner soul. Though Shafiq was able to save that patient, he could not save himself.

Like Shafiq, many doctors put their life at sake but history paid less tribute towards them. That's why “Sphuron”, a non-politician cultural body of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College took this initiative to highlight the sacrifice made by doctors. They made a short-film named “Ebong Amaro” to highlight the contribution of doctors at 1971. This was the first ever short film made on doctors in the history of medical colleges in Bangladesh. The script was written and directed by Shamsul Arefin Shakti, Rezwanul Alam Sohel and Tonmoy Charobarty. Shakti, Mouri, Tonmoy, Bonna, Shabab were the cast. It was supported by Dr Uttam Kumar Barua, Co-ordinator of Bangladesh Medical Association.

Rezwanul Ahmed Sohel, one of the directors of the short-film said, “The main purpose of the film was to showcase the great contribution made by doctors during the liberation war. The only thing we should be proud of is our liberation war. The blood sacrificed by the freedom fighters is incomparable to any other elements of our history. 'Ebong Amarao' was made keeping that spirit in mind.”

They started planning for the movie since late December. Because of financial crisis and some other unavoidable circumstances, they could not manage to finish the work within the expected time frame. After sometimes, they collected some funds from Dr Uttam Kumar Barua and started working. Another director of the film, Shamsul Arefin Shakti stated, “After getting ensured by some of our prominent contributors, we started shooting for the film in a small room at the emergency depertmant of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College.” When asked about the film's target, he emphasised on letting the young generation know about the nobility of doctors and also to pay tribute to them.

The film was premiered at the auditorium of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College on March 26, 2011. For the first time Sphuron organised another premiere on Februrary 2, 2012 at the lecture gallery-1 only for the newcomers.

(The writer is a student of Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College.)