Africa in the Bengali literary and cinematic imagination: Kamaleshwar Mukherjee’s 2013 film adaptation of Bibhutibhusan Bandapadhyay’s African adventure novel, Chander Pahar (1937)

ABSTRACT

As part of the recent worldwide cinematographic trend in adapting children’s fantasy and adventure stories into films, this article offers critical insight into contemporary West Bengali film industry’s reworking of this trend in its 2013 cinematic adaptation of Chander Pahar (1937) by the Bengali novelist Bibhutibhusan Bandapadhyay (1894–1950). I argue that in this adaptation the filmmaker deliberately expands on the author’s original vision of the intricacies of race relations. The film’s staging of the fateful encounter of Bengal with Africa is grounded on a common history of the past between India and Africa linked by migration and settlement and of more contemporary large-scale ventures in commerce and investment. A comparative analysis of Chander Pahar from fiction to film will shed light on the strategic shifts in Indian-African relations. The film’s updated vision of the growing affiliations between Africa and India is not only influenced by the impact of the Indian diaspora on the Indian economy but also by India’s changing role as an aspiring economic and political powerhouse.

KEYWORDS:

• Bengali cinema
• African adventure
• colonial fiction
• adaptation
• race relation
• diaspora
• bhadrolok

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Mahruba T. Mowtushi completed her BA (2007–10) and MA (2010–11) in English literature from Queen Mary, University of London. She completed her PhD from King’s College London in 2016. Her PhD thesis traces the history of Africa as an idea and historical reality through the writings of five Bengali authors from 1928 to 1973. The thesis is currently being revised for publication as a research monograph. She teaches at the department of English and Humanities at the University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh.

ORCID

Mahruba T. Mowtushi http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7979-9924

Notes

1 I have retained all references to Bibhutibhusan Bandapadhyay by way of his forename, as he is widely known in the Bengali-speaking regions of West Bengal in India, and in Bangladesh.

2 All references to the city prior to 2001 retain the old spelling ‘Calcutta’, where after, the legislated ‘Kolkata’ is used. Similarly, ‘Dacca’ is retained with regards to all references to the city prior to 1982, after which it came to be officially known as ‘Dhaka’.

3 In the Wergaia or Wemba-Wemba language of Aboriginal Australia the ‘Bunyip’ (meaning ‘evil spirit’ or ‘water spirit’) is part of the folklore of the southeastern regions of Australia (Holden 2001; Clark 2014).

4 Such as the Bengali children’s writer Hemendrakumar Roy.

5 In his diary Bibhutibhusan mentions wanting to travel to Africa, a wish that could not materialise due to financial drawbacks and the constraints of working as a schoolteacher in Calcutta.

6 The film stars Gerard Rudolf as Alvarez and includes Martin Cito Otto, Peter Moruakgomo, Andrew Stock and Ramambila Muladelo among others in supporting roles.