'Ghore Fera' and 'Ghraan': Short films that play on the mind for long

A friend once said, "There's no such thing as a short story or a short film. If a short story or film conveys a complete message within, say, 30 minutes or 30 pages, it's a complete film or a complete book." I pondered over it for some time.

After watching the 2016 National Award winning director (Short Films) Kamrul Ahsan Lenin's 'Ghraan', which itself is a National Award winning short film and 'Ghore Fera,' I was once again reminded of what my friend said once. I could not help but agree with him. 

The screenings took place at the Auditorium Nouvelle Vague of Alliance Française (AFD) de Dhaka from 4:30 PM on Friday. AFD Director M François Grosjean opened the screening with his characteristic charm. 

"I have screened Ghraan and Ghore Fera separately multiple times before, but this is the first time the two films are being screened together. I am a bit nervous about that," Lenin said before the screening. In his early days in cinema, he worked with late filmmaker Tareque Masud as camera and electronics technician in the 2002 film 'Matir Moyna'.

Ghraan won Best Short Film Award at the 6th Dadasaheb Phalke Film Festival in 2016. The film also won the National Film Award 2016 in the Short Film Category. In the film, a grown Ahkam (Tauquir Ahmed) travels through Shialbari and is reminded of his childhood memories with his father. He is chauffeured around in his car but he goes into flashbacks of his childhood in poverty. 

Ghore Fera was screened first, followed by Ghraan – arguably, the better of the two. Yes, of course I can say that, because of the array of prolific actors who acted in it, such as Fazlur Rahman Babu, Tauquir Ahmed and Saberi Alam. 

But it's sometimes the plot that ferries a film to greatness. Take Vittorio de Sica's 'The Bicycle Thief' for example or Satyajit Ray's 'Pather Panchali'. Which superstar acted in those? None! Yet they are what they are. 

These films are the best examples of the neorealist film movement, aka the Golden Age of cinema. Satyajit was a proponent of it. The category delves into human suffering from poverty and class struggle. I can say both of Lenin's films are characterised by neorealism. 

Ghore Fera, as the title suggests, is about a college-going Jaya Mitra's (Jessika Chowdhury Tanha's) homecoming from Dhaka. The short film has a warm ring to it: one is returning home after a long, long time. 

But in reality, the film's overtone is not warm at all. So is the case with Ghraan. The 'smell' here denotes the smell of beef kabab, a dear smell to non-vegetarians. Yet, it's the smell of kabab that triggers protagonist Ahkam's hurtful memory of betrayal.

In Ghraan, childhood is portrayed through sports – like hitting 'chara' with a ball, renting bicycles, bunking school. And poverty is interweaved in the very fabric of the two films, portrayed through working fathers who break their backs to make ends meet. 

An ominous letter comes to Jaya and she has to go back home, leaving behind her dreams of completing her education. In Ghore Fera, poverty deprives Ahkam the basic taste of kabab. One day he and his friends go to a kabab shop to eat 'daal puri' with the smell of kabab, because they can't afford it. While he is binging on the 'daal puri', Ahkam's father comes to the same 'hotel' and orders kabab and paratha – Ahkam's introduction to betrayal, that too, from his father. 

In both the films, the protagonists are young and emotionality applies to them more because they are young. Death and betrayal, especially from kinsmen, feel heftier to a young heart. Lenin conveys this message seamlessly here.

While Ghraan has a star cast, Ghore Fera is not. For the protagonist Tanha, it was her first time acting. However, 'Surja Dighal Bari' (1979) famed actor Naresh Bhuiyan's presence as Ashok Mitra, a village homeopathy doctor, Jaya's on screen father, made up for her visible shyness and rigidity in front of the camera. Ghraan is set in the 80s and Ghore Fera in the 60s.

"I have somewhat seen the 80s in my childhood but I have not seen the 60s. Bird's Eye production (Lenin's production company since 2012) and I did as much research as we could to make them look true and historically accurate," said Lenin. 

In fact, Lenin's use of the cinema jargon 'Mise-en-scène', meaning how props are used in a set to make it look real, are so true to life, one could essentially feel like they are in the 60s while watching Ghore Fera, especially because it was filmed in monochrome (black and white).

A scene in Ghore Fera shows a map of East and West Pakistan on the wall, accompanied by a portrait of Mohammad Ali Jinnah in the principal's office. Attention to such minute and subtle details gave the film authenticity. Even "paanch aana paisas" (five cents coins) were used in it too! How did Lenin even find them? 

The use of a variety of camera angles and shots, like long, mid and close up shots, along with pan shots and an excellent execution of photography and compositions made the films more stunning. Jump cuts and non-linear progression of the films reminded me of my Sergei Eisenstein's Montage theory from my studying of films at university. 

One scene that stuck with me is where the kids are riding bicycles to their heart's content through tall grass as the sun is about to set. With the light on their back, the children are just moving silhouettes in tall grass. Such is the beauty of cinema!