Ethical Encounters Elora Halim Chowdhury Ethical Encounters Transnational Feminism, Human Rights, and War Cinema in Bangladesh TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS Philadelphia • Rome • Tokyo TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122 tupress.temple.edu Copyright © 2022 by Temple University—Of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education All rights reserved Published 2022 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Chowdhury, Elora Halim, author. Title: Ethical encounters : transnational feminism, human rights, and war cinema in Bangladesh / Elora Halim Chowdhury. Description: Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Reading national cinema made by and centrally about women in Bangladesh, this book is an exploration of the intersection of feminism, human rights, and memory”— Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2021046377 (print) | LCCN 2021046378 (ebook) | ISBN 9781439922248 (cloth) | ISBN 9781439922255 (paperback) | ISBN 9781439922262 (pdf) Subjects: LCSH: Human rights in motion pictures. | National characteristics in motion pictures. | Women in motion pictures. | Feminism and motion pictures. | Feminist film criticism. | Bangladesh—History—Revolution, 1971—Motion pictures and the revolution. | Bangladesh—History—Revolution, 1971—Women. | Bangladesh—History—Revolution, 1971—Women—Personal narratives. | Bangladesh—In motion pictures. Classification: LCC PN1993.5.B3 C48 2022 (print) | LCC PN1993.5.B3 (ebook) | DDC 791.43082/095492—dc23/eng/20220111 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021046377 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021046378 The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992 Printed in the United States of America 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This book is dedicated to my parents, Fazlul Halim Chowdhury (1930–1996) and Shamsun Nahar Chowdhury, for their unwavering and principled commitment to justice. My mother’s art of storytelling about 1971 inspired the aesthetic and feminist imaginings in this book. Contents Acknowledgments ix Prologue 1 Introduction: National Cinema and Its Absences 25 1 When Love and Violence Meet: Women’s Agency and Transformative Politics in Rubaiyat Hossain’s Meherjaan 52 2 Ethical Reckoning: Gender, Vulnerability, and Agency in Nasiruddin Yousuff’s Guerilla 86 3 Ethical Encounters: Friendship and Healing in Shameem Akhtar’s Itihaash Konna 101 4 Muktijuddho Film as Disruptive Archive, Filmmaker as Witness 117 5 Muktijuddho Cinema as Human Rights Cinema 148 Epilogue 178 Glossary 191 Notes 193 References 199 Index 213 Acknowledgments This book has taken me on a decade-long exploration, leading me to unexpected spaces, archives, collaborations, and conversations. An incredible journey, it has taught me to see differently, look at marginal narratives, and peel away at familiar and cherished truths. In so doing, this research has opened up possibilities for more capacious imaginings of wom- en’s agencies, desires, and survival, centering on justice and responsibility. A book is always a collaborative undertaking, spanning multiple per- sonal and professional trajectories of one’s life. My curiosity about Bangla- desh’s Liberation War has its roots in my family’s experiences and encoun- ters during that tumultuous time. I grew up hearing gendered stories of anticolonial and national liberation struggles from my father, who was an academic and an activist, and my mother, who endured many losses during the war and was a passionate supporter of the freedom struggle. Their com- munity of friends, colleagues, and various associates over the years shared the inspiration and experience of the Liberation War, continuing to relive the trauma of the birth of Bangladesh yet instilling in us—myself, my sib- lings, and many others who were in our circle of kin, family, and nation—an enduring sense of ethical citizenship. My heartfelt gratitude to this com- munity of elders and multigenerational survivors for the hardship and wis- dom borne of that experience that they have passed on to so many. In the deeply intimate realm of women’s cinema about the liberation struggle—Muktijuddho—I found powerful stories of compassion, healing, and a sensibility for justice. Immense gratitude to all the filmmakers and