Sadhana Ahmed provides insights on the making of Bangabandhu biopic

Bangla Academy Sahitya Puroskar winner Sadhana Ahmed worked extensively in Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's biopic, "Mujib: The Making of a Nation".

She is a dialogue writer, script supervisor, and dialogue coach on the anticipated film. The zealous writer has written numerous screenplays for television projects, films, and plays.

In a conversation with The Daily Star, Sadhana reflects on the research regarding the biopic, and her experience of working on it.  

How did you get to become part of the Bangabandhu biopic "Mujib: The Making of a Nation"?

I got a mail from the PR team, asking about my work. I sent them the script of "Gang Kumari", a story that highlights the aftermath of the assassination of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.

Gias Uddin Selim, Anam Biswas, Shihab Shaheen and I were selected to be part of the dialogue writing process. Asaduzzaman Noor was the advisor of the script writers' committee. The main screenplay of the movie was written by Indian writers Shama Zaidi and Atul Tiwari.

They wrote the screenplay based on Dr Growhar Rizvi's research on Bangabandhu. They also came to Dhaka and had conversations with different politicians, including Dr Kamal Hossain and Mujahidul Islam Selim to know more about Bangabandhu's philosophy and ideologies.

How much research did the team had to conduct for the making of the biopic?

In terms of writing the dialogues, we faced some minor problems with legal terms, especially for the "Agartala Conspiracy" case.  We would ask Noor bhai for help and he would immediately call Barrister Amir-ul-Islam and Dr Kamal Hossain to discuss the issues.

When we had to write dialogues for the character, we talked with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to have an in-depth idea about Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. There we got to know that he would often mix Hindi, Urdu, and English in his speech.

During the Kolkata riot scene, we wrote lines by which Suhrawardy tells the family to send Renu back to Tungipara, with the words "Renu ke Taratari Tungi Para Pethiye dao" instead of "Pathiye Dao."

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Trailer of "Mujib: The Making of a Nation" released

The trailer of "Mujib: The Making of a Nation" was released at the Cannes Film Festival 2022. While some lauded it, many called out the trailer for its inaccuracies.

We have researched extensively for the film as everything was checked by experts. There is no scope for any sort of discrepancy in the biopic, as the honourable Prime Minister read the script 2-3 times to check the facts.

However, some abusive comments by a few filmmakers of our country have really hurt me. One of them even abused Shyam Benegal on Facebook.

There were also comments on why Freedom fighters were carrying 'National Flags'. If you see the Liberation War Documentary "Muktir Gaan", it is apparent that the men were carrying flags with them, because of their emotional attachment.

Social media users believe that Bangabandhu never said "Bangladesh Bharot Bhai Bhai" in his speech.

This was from his speech on January 10, while coming back from Delhi -- we didn't change a single line from it.

He said it while coming back from Delhi, and we highlighted some parts from that speech in the trailer.

People also questioned Bangabandhu's presence in the 1952 Language Movement, when in reality he was in jail.

Bangabandhu was arrested in front of the VC's house, when the students surrounded it. During his time in prison, he fasted and withheld himself from drinking or eating till his demands for Bangla as the state language was fulfilled. 

One cannot simply assume that Bangabandhu was present in the protest with just 2-3 second shot in the trailer. Audiences will get to see his arrest scene soon in the movie.

Which dialogue touched you the most in "Mujib: The Making of The Nation"?

When Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was born, everyone was wondering what to call her. We wrote this dialogue for the movie, "My daughter is so radiant, I will call her Hasina: The Beautiful."  This scene made me cry, as Arifin Shuvoo did a wonderful job enacting it.