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Saturday, December 18, 2010

MANER MANUSH Establishes the FOLKLORE and Monopoly of Manusmriti Culture and KILLs LALON!

MANER MANUSH Establishes the FOLKLORE and Monopoly of Manusmriti Culture  and KILLs LALON!

In Maner Manush,Gautamda as well as the original Novel writer just RAPED the Aboriginal Baul Lalon tradition. I do not feel anything for Sunil Gangopadhyaya.But it is heart breaking as far as Gautam Ghosh is concerned.

It is AFPSA or operation Green Hunt or Operation Lalgargh!

Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams, chapter 572

Palash Biswas

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1.

All people ask what caste Lalon
belongs to in the human world.
Lalon says he doesn't know
what shape the caste is of....


2.


The water-dark bird, my kind one
I see him in water all day and night.
Almost drawn in deep water,
but never he get caught in mud...
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/lalon-fakir-selected-songs/

baul gaan - LUKE BOLE LALON FAKIR KUN JATER CHELE.

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Cherian Majar of Lalon Sain, the disciple of Siraj Sain is not Shantiniketan but Aboriginal Heart and Mind do indulge in its serene atmosphere where Lalon was cremeted without any Zanaza Namaz. Nor any brahaminical ritual was performed! Thus, he deprived himself of the Swaego or Zannat. rather liberated himself finally. The Achin pakhi is beyond any bondage, enslavement1

Lalon was neither Muslim nor Hindu. He was Maner Manush in its exact sense.

Shantiniketan is far away from the place which was a part of Tagore Zamindari and Tagores were NOT so liberal.

Kangal Harinath, the rural journalist had been constantly persecuted for his Exposure of the Tagores as Zanindar.Lalon was the Maner Manus of the Praja, subject of Silaidah.

But Gautam Ghosh has tried his best to link Cheuria with Shanti Niketan killing Lalon himself!And failed! It was NOt to be!This manipulation has killed the spontaneous natural flow of the stream, known as Lalon. Thus, all elements of aesthetics, art, intellect, objectivity, truth, beauty,genre,medium,location, legend,tradition, rhythm. music, folk and philosophy have been Annihilitated in defence of Manusmriti discipline of graded heirarchial social status!

Gautam opted for the Musical form and tried his best to transform the content in Popular culture. In that context also he could not Meet the demand of Consuner culture in global market.Gautam da has used Lalon songs quite extensively and created a few to meet the gap. All these songs fail to generate essential energy to Celebrate life of human being, Manab Janam.

Thus, the songs were translated lifeless and failed to evoke the public response which the Bauls in real life enjoy freely! The star studded cast including Prasenjit, Priyangshu,Paoli Dam and BB Russel did not help the storyline or the Busiess of the commercial film!

In Maner Manush,Gautamda as well as the original Novel writer just RAPED the aboriginal Baul Lalon tradition.

I do not feel anything for Sunil Gangopadhyaya!

But it is heart breaking as far as Gautam Ghosh is concerned.

It is AFPSA or operation Green Hunt or Operation Lalgargh!

Lalon is not a person or Individual as we are habitual to see.

Lalon is a tradition and continuity of aboriginal Indigenous Bengal, its Non religious Identity and Nationality which had been sustained by the Rural Bengal and its Sufi, Sant and Fakir Baul after the Brahaminical system introduced during Sen Dynasty which introduced the Brahaminical system and Manusmriti rule killing, marginalising, outcasting the Aboriginal Indigenous life.

Demise of Buddhism, Hinduisation with forceful conversion of the  aboriginal indigenous communities, SC, ST, BC and OBC and enforcement of Manusmriti rule was DONE simaltaneously.

The converted Dalits losing their social status as Buddhist were dubbed as Untouchables.

Lalon does represent that world of Black Untouchables, majority of which once again forced to convert themselves to ISLAM due to the Brahaminical system and its strickest merciless discipline and ritual rhetoric!

Lalon is not Lalon or Lalan for them, he was Nalon! He did not reincarnate but emerged on the footsteps of Siraj Sain, the continuity of aboriginal life and philosophy materialist!

Lalon`s songs, life, lifestyle, works, resistance, revolt, philosophy- Nothing has to do with Mysticism.

It is quite Materialist, Non religious in Nature.
But the epicentre of the theme in the film
revolves around the controversy of Lalon being Hindu or Muslim!

It is not Mystic nor Spiritual nor Abstract Sublime as Hindutva or Islam insists for. it is nowhere related to the Gods, Semi gods and their reincarnation.

It is life in its TRUE, original sense which Lalon and his so called excluded folk, folk Content original and the Rural materialist Aethetics and Music do represent!

It is Realism reigning top to bottom. All round!

Lalon is a Magis that unites the partitioned Bleeding Geopolitics of continuous Holocaust. His works links us to the Missing links of history, the dark period!

I do`t read Sunil Gangopadhyaya or Desh Patrika for years.In fact, I discontinued to read the pornographic metro urban sensual literature written in Benagli nowadays which is represented well by Sunil and Desh,both.Both do represent the Kalkataiya Bhadralok Brahaminical Market Dominating Metropolitan Consumer Culture and do not deserve to share the Lalon experience!

I have read Sunil`s so called great works like SEI Samoy and Bhorer Aalo and some other novels. His content is the deliberate manipulation of history and his style is quite sensual, sexual. But he is not Materialist as he poses. I seriously doubt his honesty to treat a so called suburban content involving Lalon and his philosophy.

Gautan Ghosh rather fucused on the works of Lalon to only dilute Lalon, the Representative Rural Aboriginal mainstream saga!It is typical academic brahaminical Methodology!

Lalon is not an individual as the individuality of lalon is focused so much and the mainstream superstar Prasensjit is used for acomplishment of the task.

However,as a character, Prasenjit astonished me and he adopted the rustic lifestyle quite artisticly. it is quite an experience after seeing in films like CHOKHER bali and DOSOR!

I simply did not read the novel MANER Manush, on which the Gautam Ghosh directed Indo Bangla film is created.

Since I consider Lalon as the architect of real Indian Renaissance, hence, I just entered Rathindra cinema in Sodepur to see the film.

It was quite disappointing that the only show was marked with absence of audience. A few devoted spectators were, of course, present but this proved that so much hyped PROMO has not helped the film. Lalon is a Magic.

Lalon  songs may gather Milions such is the Charishma!I don`t know whether Sunil or Gautam, the Brahaminical Monopolistic hegemony war planes have ever dared to be anongst the millions gatheringin Kenduli, Sati Mayer Mela in Ghospara, kalyani or Bhimpur in Nadia!

But the Charisma and Lalon as magnet, NONE does have any Presence in Gautam`s Maner Manush.

The LPG mafia Post Modern Culture may NOt dare to tread the Infinite landscape of Aboriginal Humanscape or psyche! As Ajhtaruzzaman Ilius, Jasimuddin, Mir Musharraf Hussain, Abbasuddin or Ritwik ghatak could.

The deabete aired with sophisticated urban civil society and intelligentsia have nothing to do with Lalon or his world. It is in the same process in which they pack foll and sell it off in the gloabl village of open market. But Lalon is quite an anti thesis for the Global Zionist Manusmriti rule!

AARSI Nagar, Teen Mahala Badi, ACHIN Pakhee are NOT simple Metaphors only. Neither the DEHATATVA, thephilosophical base of Lalon tradition does anything to do with Post Modern consumer culture, capitalism, capital Inflow or economic reforms.

It is quite different from Hindutva or Islan or any other religion in the world.

It simply establishes the supremacy of human being, his life, his body and his mind, individual sovereignty!

Gautam uses the Metaphors lifeless, meaningless and it dails to evoke the Lalon passion!

Lalon does represent the Aboriginal Indigenous folk roots which connect us to the Rural culture of participation, sharing, empowerment, awakening and celebration of life.

MANAB JANAM is supreme for Lalon and his clan, NOT EXCLUDED but closely associated with Nature and Nature associated communities. They have not to conect with the elite, market dominating, ruling class in a world on fire!

Mind you, Baul legacy is NOT any byproduct to be connected with so called mainstream!

For me Box office is no criteria to judge  film. But it highlights the MEMORY Loss of present day Bengalies uprooted from their real Aboriginal folk identity!

Market forces should not be decisive about the works of art!

I respect Gautam Ghosh as a director, though his film Padma Nadeer Manjhee had disappinted me because I had read the Novel and could not get it in the film.Which was also an Indo Bangla joint veture!He could not Transform Water in powerful expression and wasted the Padma.

Whereas the brief use of Padma in Ritwik`s Komal Gandhar does magnify the Partition Holocaust. Ritwik as well as Satyajit Ray, as in Pather Panchali and Aparajito, have used water as the most powerful medium of expression.

Whereas in Dekha,Gautamda has succeded to create Poetry out of Jungle.

In MANER Manush, Nature is rather MUTED and seems to be devoid of life, like the floating boat which carried the body of Hindu Lalon Chandra kar!

Gautam has failed to use water and forest as he was treating a life, to which the Novelist as well the Filmamker, both did not have any commitment.

None of them belong to the world and people whom Lalon did belong. This is the gap, theycould not cover with all bloody Gimmicks!

Lalon means Resistance, Revolt, Renaissance real and the Revolution. It means the dictatorship of Proletariate.

The film tresspasses Individual sovereignty and establishes the Supremacy of Bramin Zamindars whom Tagores do belong!

It is only a GIMMICK!

Marketing GIMMICK.

Nothing else!

Even Mallika, Maitrayee and the beautiful boring lady Rini Biswas present better shows!

Nevertheless, Some other films made by Gautam are specifically significant as they are great works in the visual medium. He used Ganges as the powerhouse in PAAR!He also used it excellent in DAKHOL!

For me,Dekha is not   a great theme, but the film was a real Poetry on Screen.

Well,Maner Manush is also created quite rhythmically in which the music is the story.Gautam da may defend the character assasination with his logic of Musical format. But this format has also lost the fragrance of the Forest!

As a Cinematographer and Music Director Gautam has succeeded to create the Magic a little bit, I must admit.

But he could not see Lalon beyond the Popular legend circled around the controversy of Lalon`s identity as Hindu or Muslim.

Nowadays, this controversy is focused across the Political border to Kill the Unity of Aboriginal Bengali culture marginalised by either Bangladeshi Islamic Identity or West Bengal Barnded Brahaminical Identity.

It is Brutal Slaughter of Lalon and his great legacy by the Dominant Monoplistic Culture of the market dominating peacock community, which has in fact always persecuted and Killed Lalon and his Legacy !

This Hindu Muslim dual identity, which in fact is the DENIAL of Both,legend has always been the epicentre of Lalon studies which is further considered as Folklore in Brahaminical academic circles. It is identical with the human documentation of hatred in which Tara Shanker Bandopafhyaya mastered.

Lalon represents our Mainstream Aboriginal Identity as Benagli, it is not to be accepted.As the role of Harichand Guruchand Thakur is denied in Indian Renaissance and full credit goes to the Anglo Saxon Colonial Feudal Bengali Icons.

The prespective Gautam chose to present Laon and Baul tradition, the aboriginal life and Philosophy, is the Bhadralok Bengali Ruling Anglo Saxon class Prespective, for whom Lokalata is London and Jorasanko Bukingham palace,represented by Jyotindra Nath Tahkur!

Why Lalon should  die for the Urban Zamindar recgnition at all?

This is quite against the theme of Lalon`s Non Religious Secular mode of Philosophy which denies Manusmriti as well as Islamic discipline and focuses on the Identity of Aboriginal Human Being.his quest is for the ideal man above caste and religious identity! He seeks Salvation in the Human bofy, not in any place of worship.

The Tagore character is misplaced,streotyped, lifeless from the beginning and it may be credited to the Original Writer Sunil Gangopadhyay.

To create the Image of the poet with the Jyotindra Nath Portrait is not such a necessity which should overlap the identity of Lalon!

At the same time, the characters like Kangal Harinath and Mir Mushraff Hussain are shpaed in  a pathetic helpless manner which undermines the Role of Resistance against the Brahaminical Social system. Kangal harinath resisted the atrocities of Zamindar Class and his role may not be diluted for any Cinematic cause, I insist. At the same time Mir Musharraf hussain has a definte role in Bengali Life and it should not be allowed diluted.

It is identical with the same proces in which the buddhist leagcy od bengal is wiped out and entire period of aboriginal supremacy is NEFATED as branding it as the Dark Period of History!

The story of EXCLUSION could have been symbolic but Gautamda deviated from the Resistance Character of the self exiled life of the proletariat Bauls and reduced them into FUN making gathering devoid of any philosophy whatsoever.

Rather Anarchy rules throughout the theme which is bascially the character of Sunil`s porn writing.

Thanks  Gautam that he did not experiment with the Sex Life but made a sense of DEHO Tatva, the central idea of Baul Sangeet whcih is again materialist in nature and rules out any Class or Caste  identity.

This is the life boat for the film.

But the story realting to the female cahracters as well as the cast seem to be handled with less care.

The Sati episode and the debate scene have nothing special, which might be expected from Gautamda`s expertise.

But the Urban Look and behaviour of the main female character KOMLI, played by Paoly Dam who is only noteable for her URBAN Sex appeal only, have devitaed the Philosophy and Resistance of  Lalon as a Leader, Poet and Philosopher.

It is known and established that the Tagore spiritualism for which he got the Nobel Prize in literature has never been original and Tagore owes it to none else than Lalon!

The Hegemony cultural Monopoly has to be justified at lalon`s stake and Gautam Ghosh has done it with surgical precision.

He reduced Lalon into an Anarchist Gypsy who owes his philosophy to a Brahmin Born  during Sen Dynasty and who established Baishnav Dhara of Brahaminical Hindutva superseding the Shakto and Shaiba Aboriginal tradition.

Bengali Brahaminical Academia takes pain to prove Chaitany Mahaprabhu as the Original Bengali Nationality Identity.

Gautamda has replicated the Anglo Saxon methodology in his research at the cost of Lalon`s Originality! This is Shame!

Moner Manush audio book novel on LALON FAKIR

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In top gere


Deepa Karmalkar / Mumbai September 25, 2010, 0:12 IST




Award-winning filmmaker and cinematographer Goutam Ghose is back with his twelfth film, a joint production between India and Bangladesh. And what's more, he tells Deepa Karmalkar that his next film may star Hollywood actor Richard Gere

It's difficult not to be a little jealous of filmmaker Goutam Ghose's tireless energy. Three decades and countless awards after he made his first film Mabhoomi, Ghose is ready with his twelfth film, Moner Manush. Starring Bengali superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee in the role of 19th century Sufi poet Lalon Fakir whose poetry and philosophy influenced Rabindranath Tagore greatly, the film is an Indo-Bangla production. But even before this film has hit screens, Ghose is already thinking about his next project, a film on the Narmada dam project, in which Hollywood actor Richard Gere has reportedly evinced interest.

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At the moment though, the filmmaker is completely submerged in the hectic post-production schedule of Moner Manush. "I wanted to make a film on Lalon Fakir just after the Babri Masjid demolition, but things didn't work out then," he says. "A year ago, Sunil Ganguly wrote a novel on Lalon Fakir. I combined my earlier research with his novel to create the script of Moner Manush. In these times of political, cultural and religious intolerance, it is most relevant," Ghose stresses.

The filmmaker is all praise for lead actor Prosenjit who shed his 'starry 'image for this "historic role which represents the soul of not only Bengal but India — totally liberal and truly secular". Prosenjit shot exclusively for Moner Manush for a couple of months — growing a beard, following a strict diet and generally getting into the skin of the character. "His role traverses the whole life span of Lalon ranging from his late thirties to ninety. He is going to spring a pleasant surprise on the audience," says Ghose. The film is set for a worldwide release on December 3.

The historical evidence of Lalon Fakir's age is found in a sketch by Jyotirindranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore's elder brother when he met Lalon, a nonagenarian at the time. It can be viewed in the local museum. Ghose elaborates,"Jyotirindranath was a scholar, proficient in Sanskrit, Persian, Portuguese and French. The basic premise of my film is the encounter between educated Bengali youth and an old man of rural wisdom." Ghose's research reveals that Lalon's sect rescued abandoned women and gave them an opportunity to live.

Bangladeshi Habibur Rahman Khan and Kolkata-based Goutam Kundu are the co-producers. This joint venture is "very important" from the business point of view says Ghose. "The joint venture makes a lot of sense for Bengali cinema as there is a great Bengali diaspora the world over." Moner Manush will be simultaneously released in the US, UK, EU, Australia and Middle East.

The additional benefit of a co-production is access to a larger talent pool. "I got young Lateef Shah from Bangladesh to record the main song of the film. He is the son of Khuda Baksh Shah, a great exponent of Lalonshahi gayaki (style of singing). This was his first recording and he rendered Lalon's famous song about how birds escaping cages and flying out to freedom. The first time he came into the recording studio, Lateef exclaimed, 'My god! There are cages all around (microphone, headphone), how can I sing this song.' But soon he got used to all the new technology," laughs Ghose.

A photojournalist turned cinematographer-filmmaker, Ghose has been making films since 1979. He remains unfettered by linguistic divides. In fact, his debut directorial venture Mabhoomi was a Telugu film depicting the Telangana peasants' revolt of 1948 against the Nizam. His second venture Dakhal was in his native language Bengali and told the story of the life of a nomadic tribe. His later films like Antarjali Yatra, Padma Nadir Majhi, Paar, Patang, Gudia, Dekha, Abar Aranyeand Yatra have been in Hindi and Bengali.

But no matter what the language, Ghose has always addressed social issues. "Cinema is the new language of the 20th century through which you can say many things: make news, tell stories, document events or make musicals. This language becomes art only occasionally," he says.

Asked about his penchant for rivers as a motif in his work (Paar, Padma Nadir Majhi, Antarjali Jatra and his forthcoming project), he says, "Govind Nihalani once joked that I must have been a fish in my earlier birth. As a child, I had heard riverside stories of our ancestral village, now in Bangladesh, from my grandmother. I was also fascinated by the songs of the boatmen. The river seeped into my being. And as I grew up I realised it is a fantastic metaphor for life — the ripple of the river is akin to the mind with its changing current."

His next project, Lala, too is based on the banks of a river — the Narmada , to be precise. Lala is an Indo-Italian production about a teenaged boy displaced from the Narmada valley. "This funny, little, Chaplinesque boy Lala goes to Mumbai with a dream to make enough money to buy his father a plot of land. He meets a European writer-filmmaker who is unearthing the truth behind the Narmada dam disaster," says Ghose.

There has been great speculation regarding the main cast of the film, especially about Richard Gere who has "evinced an interest" in the film but has yet not formalised the proceedings. Ghose met Gere once briefly in Dalhousie while shooting a film on the Dalai Lama. "It is now the producer's prerogative to negotiate with him," he says. Ghose plans to shoot the film in the Narmada valley, Mumbai, the Himalayas and Europe by next spring. "I need the monsoon for the film," he reasons. Medha Patkar who helped him while he was in Narmada valley for the research, may feature in the film, "I will ask her to play a cameo or use true footage," says Ghose.

[Deepa Karmalkar is a Mumbai-based freelance writer]














http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/in-top-gere/409041/

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Kushtia and Lalon Shah, 1997

A video montage from footage shot in December 1997 of Lalon Shah's mausoleum and surrounding areas in Kushtia, Bangladesh. Lalon's lifestory is narrated here by Phokir Nizamuddin Shah, the then keeper of the gravesite, who passed away earlier in 2008. The videography is by Sudipto Chatterjee.

Added: 462 days ago From Admin

global.duration: 334.00

Views: 264 | Comments: 0

Kushtia Hotta kando

x

Added: 806 days ago From Admin

global.duration: 82.00

Views: 255 | Comments: 0

Lalon Shah: Kachar Bethor Ochin Paki Kemne Ashe Jai

The only performance of this classic Bengali traditional song passed on through the generations by Baul singers in Kushtia, Bangladesh. Thanks to the Baul singers at Lalon Mazar Kushtia, Bangladesh. © 2009 Film Bengal

Added: 462 days ago From Admin

global.duration: 313.00

Views: 222 | Comments: 0

Lalon Song sung by bauls at Lalon Mela, Kushtia, 1 of 5

Every year death anniversary of Lalon Fakir is observed on 2nd day of the 7th month of the bangla calendar, Kartik. Here are some of the songs sung by bauls at the mela.

Added: 462 days ago From Admin

global.duration: 314.00

Views: 156 | Comments: 0

Lalon Song sung by bauls at Lalon Mela, Kushtia, 2 of 5

Every year death anniversary of Lalon Fakir is observed on 2nd day of the 7th month of the bangla calendar, Kartik. Here are some of the songs sung by bauls at the mela.

Added: 462 days ago From Admin

global.duration: 302.00

Views: 136 | Comments: 0

Lalon Song sung by bauls at Lalon Mela, Kushtia, 3 of 5

Every year death anniversary of Lalon Fakir is observed on 2nd day of the 7th month of the bangla calendar, Kartik. Here are some of the songs sung by bauls at the mela.

Added: 462 days ago From Admin

global.duration: 360.00

Views: 550 | Comments: 0

Lalon Song sung by bauls at Lalon Mela, Kushtia, 4 of 5

Every year death anniversary of Lalon Fakir is observed on 2nd day of the 7th month of the bangla calendar, Kartik. Here are some of the songs sung by bauls at the mela.

Added: 462 days ago From Admin

global.duration: 332.00

Views: 126 | Comments: 0

Lalon Song sung by bauls at Lalon Mela, Kushtia, 5 of 5

Every year death anniversary of Lalon Fakir is observed on 2nd day of the 7th month of the bangla calendar, Kartik. Here are some of the songs sung by bauls at the mela.

Added: 462 days ago From Admin

global.duration: 352.00

Views: 232 | Comments: 0

Sob Loke Bole Lalon Ki Jaat Shonghshare

Baul Nizammudin singing 'Sob Loke Bole Lalon Ki Jaat Shongshare' at the Kushtia Shoshan ghat by the bank of river Padma, next to Lalon's Akhra. Interestingly he used to write and sing songs for the Jamaati Islami cader groups, later he became repentant for it and joined the Bauls at the akhra.

Added: 462 days ago From Admin

global.duration: 126.00

Views: 284 | Comments: 0

http://www.banglaclips.com/search/detailed/?search_id=Kushtia

Lalan Fakir

Original title:

Lalan Fakir

Category

Classics

Year:

1987

Country:

India

Time:

133 minutes

Director:

Shakti Chattopadhyay

Cast:

Anup Kumar, Asit Baran, Robi Ghosh, Mahua Raychowdhury



Plot:

This is a story about a Hindu religious person named Lalan Kar (Ashim Kumar). He was a good musician who lived with his old windowed mother (Padma Debi) and a beautiful inocent wife, Tulsi (Mohua Roychowdhury).One day Lalon went to Puri with his friends. At the time of returning home he was seriously ill in a boat. He had chicken pox. The other passengers of the boat did not agree to travel with him. They threw him into the sea. But he was alive. A muslim woman picked him up from the seaside and brought him to her house. She was a poor muslim house wife named Fatema (Dipti Roy). She and her daughter Moti (Sandhya Roy) nursed him and after some time Lalon was totaly cured. A fakir (Asit Baran) also helped him. Lalon lost his memory. Fakir tried to recollect his own identity. After some time he remembered his past and came back to hom. But the Hindu society did not accept him because he had stayed with a muslim family. Again he refused his family and came back to his adopted mother's house. And he became a fakir "Lalon fakir". Lalon was tought music and knowledge about god by his master fakir. He left the place with Moti and travelled to different places to distribute his knowledge about god into all uneducated, general people. Some people agreeed with him but some cruel people tried to kill him. The master of Hindu & Muslim society tried to stop him, but they could not and he become famous in name of Lalon fakir among all people.



http://www.tollyworld.com/movie/card/13-lalan-fakir.html


WBRi On-Demand Audio Broadcast Service

Click play to listen to director GOUTAM GHOSH talk about MONER MANUSHGautam Ghosh, the world-famous film-maker from India, directed yet another masterpiece on film in MONER MANUSH (Bengali, 2010) - a film about the Bengali poet, singer, song-writer and folk-song icon Lalan Fakir. Tollywood movie super-star Prosenjit Chatterjee has delivered the role of Lalon in a way that critics are saying from now on, whenever they think of Lalon, Prosenjit's image will flash across their mind.

Subhomoy Mukherjee caught up with Goutam Ghosh in Kolkata and had a little informal chat about Moner Manush just after Ghosh returned from the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa,  where an international jury presented the revered Golden Peacock award to the film. The master film-maker talks about Lalon, Rabindranath Tagore, Prosenjit and Moner Manush in this exclusive audio broadcast.

ranscribed and Translated excerpts from the audio interview:

Washington Bangla Radio: When did you start considering a film on Lalon Fakir ?

Goutam Ghosh: I have been thinking about making a film about a mystic poet like Lalon, Dadu Dayal, Kabir or Guru Nanak for quite a while. I first started thinking about such a film when the Babri Masjid was destroyed (in 1992) and communal friction was on the rise. The fallout of that event on both India and Bangladesh hurt me deeply, especially because just before the Babri Masjid incident, I had completed a film on shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan ("Meeting a Milestone"); I have seldom met such an extraordinary musician, spiritualist and secular person. "I was really perturbed", says Ghosh when the ugly events around Babri Masjid unfolded right after his work with Ustad Bismillah Khan. Ghosh subsequently considered making a film on communal riots, but realizing that such a venture would mean having to dramatize gory violence, he then started thinking of a film about a symbol of the composite culture of south Asia. Lalan Fakir naturally came to my mind as one of such iconic personalities. I read up on Lalon, thanks to a large extent to my friend Munir who sent me a few books on Lalon from Bangladesh. A script began to take form, but for various reasons I did not proceed with the film at that time. I got busy making Padma Nadir Majhi - also a Indo-Bangladeshi co-production like Moner Manush.

Sunil Gangopadhyay and I have had many discussions about Lalon Fakir, as well as poet-mystics, Buddhist monks, Sufi saints, Bauls, Folk singers of Bengal and such subjects in general and thier lifestyles and philosophies. Sunil-da wrote a great piece in 2008 titled "Moner Manush" which charged me up - the literary work by Sunil Ganguly provided the source for a plot, and I ressurected my research in Lalon Fakir, travelling to Bangladesh and Kushtiya - the birthplace of Lalan. There I tried to get an deeper understanding of the fakir philosophy and lifestyle by associating with fakirs. Eventually, I came up with my screen-play for Moner Manush.

I believe Moner Manush the film is greatly relevant now - the world has seen an increase in intolerance, both religious and political partisanship is ubiquitous. Conflicts and divisions between people based on race, religion and politics pervade.

I am saddened by the contrast of technological progress we have made - you can see the world by pressing a button - and the parallel increase in divisions in people.

These thoughts form the basis of my making of Moner Manush. The film is not a biopic - my goal is to showcase the mindset and philosophy of Lalon and his fellow fakirs who have long transended such petty partisanship among humans.

Washington Bangla Radio: Lalan Fakir is a name that is perhaps not very well-known among non-Bengalis, and even among contemporary Bengalis. Why did you choose Lalan ?


Gautam Ghosh: I chose Lalon as the subject of the film because the film will be shown in India and Bangladesh, and then internationally, including the UK and the United States. Drawing an example from Rumi (the 13th century persian poet and sufi mystic), Rumi is a widely known poet across the world now. Rumi has gained much popularity after 9-11, as people started to try to understand what Islam really is. Like Rumi, Lalon is also a philosopher and spiritualist who will touch the hearts of a global audience.

When we completed the film and had the first print, I showed the film to Mrinal Sen. Mrinal Sen was ecstatic, and he said the film is an extrordinary work and would get to the hearts of people. I was a bit skeptical on the ability of Moner Manush to appeal to an western audience. But I was pleasantly surprised at the reaction of the almost completely western jury at the Goa International Film Festival - a jury composed of world-class film-makers and critiques who could easily and comprehensively communicate with the film. In a way that is not surprising - divisive forces are active world-wide but people want peace, love and compassion. It is great to see a global appeal of Moner Manush, and hopefully it will entice further studies of Lalon. Some great work has already begun, and people like Carol Salomon (a specialist in Bengali language and culture and faculty member of University Of Washington at Seattle, Carol Salomon passed away in March 2009) are bringing researchers into the Bauls and Fakirs of Bengal and of course, Lalon. Great work is being done in Germany and France, too.

One of the most striking aspects of Lalon and his fellow fakirs is that in spite of being in rural areas and not being part of any urban renaissance, they could make an impact of such a scale simply by their songs. Lalon Fakir did not go around delivering speeches in the fashion on political leaders. He has instead attended poetic debates and expressed his feelings through his songs. Though the educated class of that time did not really understand Lalon then, Rabindranath Tagore was greatly impressed and influenced by Lalon.

Though my film revolves around Lalon and the Tagore family, I could not find any evidence that Lalon and Rabindranath Tagore themselves came into contact. Rabindranath was very much influenced by Lalon's "Manobtotto", although never met him. Of course, Jyoti Thakur had met Lalon and subsequently painted a portrait of Lalon in 1889 - and my screenplay starts with that background.


Washington Bangla Radio: Some say that once in a bad year of crops, Lalan and farmers went to meet the Tagore family who were the Zamindars (landlords) to see if taxes can be waived, and during this time Rabindranath Tagore was present ...

Goutam Ghosh: It is extremely likely that Rabindranath Tagore and Lalan ever met in person - when Rabindranath visited their zamindary the first time, he was just a child, and Lalan had passed away before Rabindranath's second visit as a young man. I could find no evidence of Rabindranath and Lalon having met. But Rabindranath did meet disciples of Lalon, and learnt a lot about Lalon via his students. Also, there is a remarkable difference in Rabindranath's own thoughts that can be clearly seen in his work after his exposure to Lalan's philosophy.

Also, Lalan did get some exposure to the urban world via the Tagore family. Many people think Lalan only wrote songs - but Lalan is much greater than just some songs - he is a philosopher and the progenitor of a way of life. The genteel class of that time had pretty low opinion of fakirs and bauls, equating free sex and such things with them, totally missing out on the deeper philosophical implications and liberal thoughts behind their way of life.

Renowned writer Annadasankar Ray said that the contribution of Lalon Fakir towards propagation of the composite culture of rural Bengal is in no way any less than Rammohan Roy. This is a striking observation, given Lalon was from a background far removed from the royal elite social background of Rammohan Roy. Lalon's liberal values upholding Hindu-Muslim composite culture and rooted to ordinary physical existance in a very superstitous 19th century Bengal environment is indeed mindblowing.

Washington Bangla Radio: You based your screen-play on Sunil Gangopadhyay's Moner Manush. Given that some people believe Lalan's story as we hear today may partly be colored by the addition of myth over the decades, and the possibility of people writing their own songs and attributing them to Lalon, tell us about your perception of who and what Lalan was that you portray in your film.

Goutam Ghosh: I had the same questions and I did extensive research on this, and went and met many people, some of the authorities on Lalon. It turns out some Lalon scholars have identified and compiled a list of authentic Lalon songs - actually, it is pretty easy to identify non-Lalon songs if you know Lalon and his unique ways of writing lyrics and composing songs.

Another aspect of Lalon's songs is that, being propagated by hearing only in oral tradition for many decades, the tunes have changed. I met with Abdul Karim Shah, a senior fakir who is over 90 years old now, and listened carefully to the style of singing from Lalon's gharana. After listening to them singing the songs, I actually recomposed some of the songs in the film, having realized that the songs were originally based on some of the ragas like Bhairavi, Puravi, Khambaj, Bilawal and Desh.

Unfortunately, Lalan's songs have not been formally documented yet in any comprehensive way, though some sporadic attempts have been made, by people like Sudhin Das. It is very important that the songs be documented now by listening to the dissapearing senior folk and baul singers.

One of my goals in Moner Manush is to stay as true as possible to Lalon's original compositions, and only songs performed in the style of Lalan's gharana would do justice to his songs in my film. These are not song numbers, but part of their speech, their dialog, part of their way of life.

Washington Bangla Radio: We have watched Tollywood's only superstar Prosenjit Chatterjee perform brilliantly as Lalon. Tell us about your reasons for selecting Prosenjit for the role.

Goutam Ghosh: A lost of people were very surprised when I selected Prosenjit for the role of Lalan Fakir in Moner Manush. Many people said, "What is Goutam-da doing, selecting Bumba for this role!" Some came to me and asked, "It is possible to cast Prosenjit as Lalon ? What are you doing ?" After all, Prosenjit has an image as a superstar in commercial Bangla cinema.

But I had seen some aspects of Prosenjit - I had actually sketched Prosenjit as Lalon - that told me Prosenjit would be the perfect Lalon. His eyes would come in very useful, particularly if he could produce a certain look of calm in them, for example. So I selected Prosenjit, but on one condition - he would not be able to do any other work for a few months - and give all his time to Moner Manush.

Prosenjit followed my condition to the letter, as well as my instructions when I was preparing him. The audience is pretty surprised on Prosenjit's delivery of Lalon Fakir. Actually I never do casting of actors because they are stars - I always cast actors based on their acting abilities in acting - as I have done in my previous Hindi and Bengali films. I felt the role of Lalon Fakir will suit Prosenjit, and I can leverage his present age to actually portray Lalon in a variety of ages (given correct make-up).

In the end, Prosenjit Chatterjee has been accepted as Lalon Fakir in Lalon's home of current Bangladesh. Critiques have told Prosenjit that from now on, whenever they think of Lalan, they will visualize Prosenjit. I think, and I told Prosenjit, therein lies your award which is bigger even than an Academy Award.

Bumba is a great artist, very disciplined and wanted to work with me for an extensive period in time. He is a complete director's actor, listening to everything the director has to say. He did everything I told him to do to prepare himself - no questions asked.

Washington Bangla Radio: Moner Manush portrays certain stages of Lalon's life - why did you not cover the rest of Lalon's life ?


Goutam Ghosh: That is because I never set out to make a biographical feature film on Lalon Fakir. The film is about Jyotindranath Tagore and his conversation with a "man of native wisdom" - and Lalon's life coming into their conversation. I wanted to portray the contemorary social environment, and why Lalan became Lalan, transcending his Hindu or Muslim identity and starting his own sect in a forest with outcasts, forming an "anandabazar" (a word invented by Lalan). The structure is not unlike a ballad - events unfolding but not linearly, fundementalists going against Lalan and such things.



http://www.washingtonbanglaradio.com/content/121660310-interview-director-goutam-ghosh-many-were-surprised-when-prosenjit-was-selected-la

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Lalon Fakir: Philosophy

Philosophy

Lalon left no trace of his birth or his 'origin' and remained silent about his past, fearing that he would be cast into class, caste or communal identities by a fragmented and hierarchical society. Despite this silence on his origins, communal appropriation of this great politico-philosophical figure has created a controversy regarding whether he is 'Muslim' or a 'Hindu' -- a 'sufi' or a follower 'bhakti' tradition - a 'baul' or a 'fakir', etc. He is none, as he always strove to go beyond all politics of identities. Lalon sang, "People ask if Lalon Fakir is a Hindu or a Mussalman. Lalon says he himself doesn't know who he is."
Lalon does not fit into the construction of the so called 'bauls' or 'fakirs' as a mystical or spiritual types who deny all worldly affairs in desperate search for a mystical ecstasy of the soul. Such construction is very elite, middle class, and premised on the divide between 'modern' and 'spiritual' world. It also conveniently ignores the political and social aspects of Bengal's spiritual movements and depoliticizes the transformative role of 'bhakti' or 'sufi' traditions. This role is still continued and performed by the poet-singers and philosophers in oral traditions of Bangladesh, a cultural reality of Bangladesh that partly explains the emergence of Bangladesh with distinct identity from Pakistanback in 1971. Depicting Lalon as 'baul shomrat' the Emperor of the Bauls as projected by elite marginalizes Lalon as a person belonging to a peripheral movement, an outcast, as if he is not a living presence and increasingly occupying the central cultural, intellectual and political space in both side of the border between Bangladesh and India West Bengal.
To understand Fakir Lalon Shah is to understand the politics of lifestyl that he practiced. He never was a celebrator of the state of nothingness sometime associated the generic folk cultural movemets known as 'baul'. His position should not be construed, as a willing suspension of disbelief, nor a reckless abandonment of responsibility or that of becoming inordinately fatalistic. It is a living quest to go back to the dynamics of where it all began: to our infancy as much as the first moments of creation. It is a quest we cannot undertake without some prodding assistance, albeit to our well charted 'roots', if we have one? Clearly, life is a blessed moment of procreation and an extension of the continuous cycle of Mother Nature which rolls on over, when we know all too well, it is also a process that simply cannot be rolled back.
It is in context of looking for meanings to living, versus that of death which is as an instant, if not completely the end of reasoning, and the probabilities of a life devoid of answers to the future and where it ultimately places us, is the harrowing spectre human beings are condemned to life in his living. This premise of not knowing where 'everything' if ever ends is one that significantly dilates the implication and importance of NOW.


Related Resources : Lalon Fakir

  1. unnayannews.net/issue/conflictNpeace/lal : Lalon Fakir: Saint Lalon by Machizo Documentary on Lalon's Life and Philosophy. (UnnayanTV)

  2. scribd.com/doc/7253135/On-Fakir-Lalon-Sh : Farhad mazhar on Fakir Lalon Shah


Related Resources :: Lalon Fakir Philosophy

  1. Fakir Lalon Shah - of Lalon geeti songs In Bangla, The network for the Fans of Baul Shamrat Fakir Lalon Shah Lalon composed numerous songs and poems which describe his philosophy. Among

  2. loving-bengal.net - Tagore, who in his youth knew Lalon Fakir - one of the greatest Bauls that ever lived, was much influenced by the Baul music and philosophy in his poetry, music and thought.

  3. Lalon - Lalon Fakir Saint Lalon by Machizo Documentary on Lalon's Life and Philosophy. UnnayanTV Lyric of pabe samanye ki tar dekha in Manipuri translated by Konthoujam Suranjit

  4. Lalon Information, Lalon Reference Articles - FindTarget Reference - Fakir Lalon Shah Bangla , also known as This phase of his discourse is generally known as 'Nobitattya' the philosophy of wisdom. Lalon

  5. Wikiwak - Lalon - Lalon Fakir Saint Lalon by Machizo Documentary on Lalon's Life and Philosophy. Lyric of pabe samanye ki tar dekha in Manipuri translated by Konthoujam Suranjit


Related Categories

  1. Category:Bengali musicians

  2. Category:Bengali poets

  3. Category:Performers of Hindu music

http://www.museumstuff.com/learn/topics/Lalon_Fakir::sub::Philosophy

Prosenjit as Lalon Fakir in Bengali Film Moner Manush-Interview with SAMIR CHANDA

Posted by Calcutta Tube Team in Featured, Tolly-News

November 21, 2010 (Calcutta Tube): Renowned production designer Samir Chanda was in the city to discuss about his experiences about recreating the period of Lalon Fakir in the movie 'Moner Manush'.IBNS correspondent was Supriyo Hazra caught up with Chanda in an informal chat. Excerpts:


Tell us something about your experiences while working in 'Moner Manush'?

Experiences of working with Gautam da (Gautam Ghose) is itself very interesting. Especially when you are doing a period film. I feel that Gautam and the entire unit are like a family. I loved the experience. I enjoyed my work. Siliguri, where we shot was an excellent place. Given a chance I will come to North Bengal once again. It's like coming to your home land.
How did it feel to work in a period movie?
It is a period film, though the city and the model were not there in the film. We replicated Kushtia. Kushtia has changed a lot. We recreated the 'Akhara' with the present material. One after another bouls (folk singers) kept coming, which was real fun. Overall it was magical.
A period film needs lots of research. How did you prepare?
Unfortunately, there is not much reference of Lalon Fakir. Even his photo was a drawing that was done by Rabindranath Tagore. Moreover, it was the old age of Lalon that was drawn by him in his drawing. So we had to think about his young age and how he might have looked. With our basic knowledge, research we tried to put the ambience of the film as close as possible.
http://calcuttatube.com/prosenjit-as-lalon-fakir-in-bengali-film-moner-manush-interview-with-samir-chanda/131842/

Lalon (2004)

140 min  -  Musical | Drama

 7.0/10

Users: (11 votes) 1 review

The story of the life of Lalon Fakir, a great mystical saint, poet and folk singer, who is legendary in his native Bangladesh.

Director:

Tanvir Mokammel

Stars:

Raisul Islam Asad, Yasmin Tamanna Tithi and Arko

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Raisul Islam Asad

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Lalon

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Yasmin Tamanna Tithi



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Arko



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Bhaswar Bandyopadhyay



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Wahida Mallik Jolly



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Shami Kaiser

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Piyarinnesa

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Azad Abul Kalam

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Young Lalon

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Ramendu Majumdar



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Khurshiduzzaman Utpal





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The story of the life of Lalon Fakir, a great mystical saint, poet and folk singer, who is legendary in his native Bangladesh.

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Musical about the life of Lalon Fakir

4 January 2007 | by Shahbaz Nazrul (San Diego, CA) – See all my reviews

Lalon is Tavir Mokammel's attempt to portray the life story and philosophy of mystic baul poet of Bengal, Fakir Lalon Shah. 80% of the movie revolves around beautiful baul songs, although the songs are selected meticulously to fit the progression of the movie. Raisul Islam Asad portrayed the character of Lalon with perfection. Tanvir Mokammel also tries to touch in detail the philosophy of Lalon Shah in this movie. We come the know from the movie that one of the main goals of Lalon Shah in his life was to find the answer of purpose of creation of life in this world. His thoughts were influenced by Hinduism, Muslim and Buddha's teachings, although he kind of created his own way of explaining the mysterious nature of GOD, the reason of creating mankind and the relationship of GOD and mankind. The cinematography is exquisite. Acting of other performers is also good. A good movie to learn about this mystic philosopher's thoughts.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420727/
Fakir Lalon Shah also known as Lalon Shah (c.1774–1890), was a Bengali philosopher poet. He lived in the village of Cheuria in the area known as Nodia in the Bengal Presidency of British India, corresponding to the district of Kushtia in present-day Bangladesh. Lalon composed numerous songs and poems which describe his philosophy.
Among his most popular songs are khachar bhitor auchin pakhi, jat gelo jat gelo bole, dekhna mon jhokmariay duniyadari, paare loye jao amay, milon hobe koto dine, aar amare marishne maa, tin pagoler holo mela, etc.
The songs of Lalon give subliminal exposures to the reality/truth that lies beyond our material plane/realism. They give a feel of the indescribable. To an engrossed listener, his songs briefly open and close a narrow passage to peep through to the other world beyond the opaque glass ceiling of this world.
Poet Rabindranath Tagore in his 1933 London Hebart Lecture first applauded Lalan Shah as a mystic poet who discovered "soul" and the meaning of "man". Tagore said: "I discovered that 'man' from the songs of Lalan who said that "(ai manushe ase se mon....) "....) the 'man' is within yourself where are you searching Him. Lalon Shah had a perceptible influence on the poet Rabindranath Tagore, who introduced the Baul tradition of Bengal to the world. His own music had been influenced by the diversity of Baul tradition. American poet Allen Ginsberg was inspired by Lalon Shah in writing his poem After Lalon, included in the poetry collection "Cosmopolitan Greetings." Ginsberg adopts a poetic style similar to Lalon's own style, frequently repeating his own name within the poem. Source: wikipedia

Few words from the Author

Fakir Lalon has been the greatest philospher poet of my life. His songs has inspired me for many many years. I always enjoyed sharing Lalon's songs and his phiosophy with friends. This time I would like to gather all the Lalon song lovers at one place, and this is it. read more
*Fakir Lalon Shah

http://www.fakirlalon.net/
Peace maker : Saint Lalon/ Lalon Fakir * * *

Written by Administrator     

Saturday, 29 November 2008 08:34

During birth what was your cust?

What race you took after come?

During death what will be?

Lalon was mystical poet and saint. He was devoted to love, freedom and peace that express in his songs. He taught the way of eternal liberation. He strongly emphasized to resolve the internal conflict and dominancy of false desires.

Razaul Haque, khadam of Lalon Shrine says, ''People aware about his word and philosophy. Now no need to explain. Literate people address him as baul king. To followers he is a per-murshid (saint). Someone jealous to his scriptures, most are come here with devotion….'

Around the age of sixteen Lalon was found as floating by the bank of Kaliganga River, during his suffering from smallpox. He was taken to the home of Malam Shah and his wife Matijan, and took care as their own son. Matijan was the first devotee of Lalon.


Assistant Khadam of Shirne, Karamot Ali says 'miracally Lalon came in the bank of Kaligonga River. He was sicked by pox and bedded at vala (banana boat). After morning pray when Mowlana Malam sha was walking in the river bank. He find him and checked his life by the thread of handkerchief on nose. By confirming his alive, he brought house and take care he and his wife, Motizan like real parents. Within two months vanished evidences of sickness. Malam sha regularly read the holy Quaran. During namaj when he mistook, Lalon sha made sound. As asking the meaning of sound, one night Lalon said to bring the Quaran, and shown the correct way of reading with excellent explanation. Malam sha was astonished to see formally illiterate Lalon's wisdom. He was moved and became irregular to mosque. Most of time spent with Lalon. Malam sha did not have any child. One day neighbor said, Malam sha now spent time only with others son. After hearing this rumor Lalan said, 'I will not live hear anymore'. Mother Motizan encountered Lalon by the love affection, 'we don't have child. You came as son, but now going!... '. After that Lalon changed his decision with the condition to live separated house. Malam made a round shaped new house with straw where Lalon lived and did meditation. Once Lalon tripped to west of the district and returned back with Beshaka Fakir. In the gathering, followers asked – who is she? Lalon said, consider she is your 'Guru Ma'. After that Beshaka Fakir lived here for forever. Brother, parents, relative, nobody came to looked her. In the mean time, Lalon sha's father Malam sha died. Lalon san said, when I will die, please take me to beside my mother (Motizan). They are now together. This land where we are now, was belong to Malam sha. Before died he registered this16 units land to Lalon sha. Before, during festival huge people could not be managed. Government has extended the space in the bank of river. Now here annually two ceremonies have been held. Once at dul purnima (full moon night). Another is at fixed pohala Kartik but fixed. In the light of full moon dul purnima's event is marvelous. How marvelous dul purnima's event in the light of full moon! Lalon geti , is not normal song. The songs are scriptures for human salvation.'


Hindu and Muslim both communities wanted to communalise him. Hindus said he was a Kayastha and adopted by a Muslim Moulobi. But Muslims said he was a Muslim by birth. Philosophically Lalon was none, as he always strove to go beyond all politics of identities.


Lalon composed about two thousands songs which still provide spiritual inspiration and awareness. By songs he guided peoples to be "maner manush" ( perfect man ), "shohoj manush" ( simple man ). He was the against to all forms of oppression, hierarchy, racism and caste system. He celebrates the freedom of mind and body. Lalon represents the "Baul".


The "Baul" is a revolutionary and secular community. They are formerly illiterate and wandering singers but have impressive wisdom. Baul deny all worldly affairs in desperate search for a mystical ecstasy of the soul with song by using Ektara (a one string musical instrument) and a dugdugi (a hand drum).

Fakir Babu sha, a devoted Baul singer says, 'since last 30 years I am singing. I love Lalon's songs very much. I found God's word and human spirit in song-scripts . I have invested my life to this way.

Young baul Nazrul sha say, 'since last 15 years I am singing. I am impressed by the songs. Not for musical rethym, I love Shigee and his for his spiritual deepness and expression of goodness.'

Rezaul Haque say, 'He did not write song. He did not believe to writings . When spirit came, he called followers and said to memorise the song-script. But some followers hiddenly wrote. Still now arround the country, there is many song only to people memory, the collection is going on. There is 13 pionner followers had been blessed by Lalon sha. His first follower shitol sha. He came to a moulana ( muslim prist ). But he came upstream! His works were aginst of current. He religion was, ' ujano dormo' ( challence to contemporarty ). He did not say about his religion. He believed to human religion. This is truth. Only it will sustain.'


The great Lalon was not famous in life time. But his baul philosophy was introduced by Rabindranath and contemporary scholars. He was the greatest mystic-singer of the subcontinent. Lalon believed, the 'body' is the universe and the universe is the body. He was revolutionary, challenged to contemporary life style, religions and practices with simple word of songs.


In Kushtia at the Lalon shrine every year held "Lalon Festival" the biggest gathering of Bauls and Bauls' performance. Nowadays in Bangladesh modern signers also following the folk approach and word of Lalon songs. All Bangladeshi appreciate very much Lalon song, particularly for its deep spiritual meanings and inspiration.

Shahjahan Siraj

19 May, 2007


http://www.kumarkhali.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51:peace-maker-saint-lalon-lalon-fakir-&catid=35:related-item

Lalon Fakir: Songs (19th Century)

Lalon Fakir was born in 1774 in an obscure village in the district of Kushtia, now in Bangladesh). One of the greatest mystic-singers the Indian subcontinent has ever produced, Lalon was perhaps the most radical voice in India during British colonial rule. Like Kabir, he had no formal education and lived in extreme poverty. Writing in nineteenth-century lyrical Bengali. Lalon composed numerous songs which still provide spiritual and political inspiration to the Bengali rural peasant--a class from which Lalon himself came, and also to freedom-fighters all over the world. He celebrates the freedom of body, soul, and even language from all repressive and divisive forces. Always opposed to casteism, sectarianism, and colonialism, Lalon represents and exemplifies the true revolutionary and secular nature of his community known as "Baul", a community of low-class, illiterate, wandering singers whose wisdom and wit do not come from academic training, but from an active contact with a life intensely lived.
What images are used here to symbolize mental freedom? Howare women used to argue against distinctions based on caste in the second poem?

A Strange Bird
Look, how a strange bird flits in and out of the cage!
O brother, I wish I could bind it with my mindís fetters.
Have you seen a house of eight rooms with nine doors
Closed and open, with windows in between, mirrored?
O mind, you are a bird encaged! And of green sticks
Is your cage made, but it will be broken one day.
Lalon says: Open the cage, look how the bird wings away!

Casteism
People ask, what is Lalon's caste?
Lalon says, my eyes fail to detect
The signs of caste. Don't you see that
Some wear garlands, some rosaries
Around the neck? But does it make any
Difference brother? O, tell me,
What mark does one carry when
One is born, or when one dies?
A muslim is marked by the sign
Of circumcision; but how should
You mark a woman? If a Brahmin male
Is known by the thread he wears,
How is a woman known? People of the world,
O brother, talk of marks and signs,
But Lalon says: I have only dissolved
The raft of signs, the marks of caste
In the deluge of the One!
Translated by Azfar Hussain

Back to table of contents

* This is an excerpt from Reading About the World, Volume 2, edited by Paul Brians, Mary Gallwey, Douglas Hughes, Azfar Hussain, Richard Law, Michael Myers, Michael Neville, Roger Schlesinger, Alice Spitzer, and Susan Swan and published by Harcourt Brace Custom Books.
The reader was created for use in the World Civilization course at Washington State University, but material on this page may be used for educational purposes by permission of the editor-in-chief:


Paul Brians
Department of English
Washington State University
Pullman 99164-5020
This is just a sample of Reading About the World, Volume 2. Reading About the World is now out of print. You can search for used copies using the following information:Paul Brians, et al. Reading About the World, Vol. 1, 3rd edition, Harcourt Brace College Publishing: ISBN 0-15-567425-0 or Paul Brians, et al.Reading About the World, Vol. 2, 3rd edition, Harcourt Brace College Publishing: ISBN 0-15-512826-4.
Try Chambal:
http://www.chambal.com/csin/9780155674257/ (vol. 1)
http://www.chambal.com/csin/9780155128262/ (vol. 2)
http://www.wsu.edu/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/fakir.html

A Strange Bird

Look, how a strange bird flits in and out of the cage!
O brother, I wish I could bind it with my mindís fetters.
Have you seen a house of eight rooms with nine doors
Closed and open, with windows in between, mirrored?
O mind, you are a bird encaged! And of green sticks
Is your cage made, but it will be broken one day.
Lalon says: Open the cage, look how the bird wings away!
Casteism
People ask, what is Lalon's caste?
Lalon says, my eyes fail to detect
The signs of caste. Don't you see that
Some wear garlands, some rosaries
Around the neck? But does it make any
Difference brother? O, tell me,
What mark does one carry when
One is born, or when one dies?
A muslim is marked by the sign
Of circumcision; but how should
You mark a woman? If a Brahmin male
Is known by the thread he wears,
How is a woman known? People of the world,
O brother, talk of marks and signs,
But Lalon says: I have only dissolved
The raft of signs, the marks of caste
In the deluge of the One!
Translated by Azfar Hussain
More details on Lalon are below:

Lalon Fakir was born in 1774 in an obscure village in the district of Kushtia, now in Bangladesh). One of the greatest mystic-singers the Indian subcontinent has ever produced, Lalon was perhaps the most radical voice in India during British colonial rule. Like Kabir, he had no formal education and lived in extreme poverty. Writing in nineteenth-century lyrical Bengali. Lalon composed numerous songs which still provide spiritual and political inspiration to the Bengali rural peasant–a class from which Lalon himself came, and also to freedom-fighters all over the world. He celebrates the freedom of body, soul, and even language from all repressive and divisive forces. Always opposed to casteism, sectarianism, and colonialism, Lalon represents and exemplifies the true revolutionary and secular nature of his community known as "Baul", a community of low-class, illiterate, wandering singers whose wisdom and wit do not come from academic training, but from an active contact with a life intensely lived.

Source

Related Posts:


http://www.razarumi.com/2008/03/05/songs-of-lalon-fakir-the-bengali-mystic/

Lalon Fakir: Bengali music personified

By Abhishek Sarkar on 03 December 2008

Lalon Fakir is considered to be one of the greatest exponents of Baul music – one of the most popular Bengali folk music traditions. His songs are filled with layers of understanding and metaphors. On the outside these songs may appear as naive and simple, attracting thousands of common rural men and women, but the inner layers speak of something very profound and meaningful. His chronicling of the simple joys and foibles of rural life is at once powerful and heartwarming. Perhaps the greatest influence was Rabindranath Tagore. ...

Religion in India has always provided free paths of worshiping for people from all strata of the society. The more staunch and orthodox the "mainstream" religions have become, more the number of sub sects and groups that have emerged through the ages. The same applies for Bengal as well, where centralization of power in the hands of the upper class forced "mainstream" Hinduism and Islam to evolve into different sub sects of worshipping which included Sufism, Auliya groups, Baul and many mores.

The Baul groups have a philosophy of their own (Dehatatwa) – that the human body is where everything resides, including the Supreme Being (Snai) as well as their man of heart (Moner Manush). These wandering baul groups throughout Bengal sing beautiful songs devoted on these philosophies of Dehatatwa and Snai. They also sing songs of universal equality and brotherhood.

It is also very evident that the early Bauls were the so called low castes like weavers, fishermen and farmers from rural Bengal. One might also understand that in the same way as those who cover Bob Dylan can not be called Dylans, all who sing Baul songs are not Bauls. Baul is a philosophy of leading life with music being an essential part of it.

Thus was the social backdrop when the master Baul of Bengal, Lalon Shah, was born somewhere in rural Bengal, in 1774. His place of birth and the identity of his parents or their religion are unknown. Around the age of sixteen he was found floating by the bank of Kaliganga River, suffering from smallpox, which resulted in his losing one eye. He was saved by Seraj Shah and his wife Matijan, who also brought him up. Lalon has always praised Seraj Shah through his songs by giving him the same respect as Shnai. Infact in his later years Lalon signed Seraj as his father in a legal document. He lived in the village of Cheuriya which now falls in Kushtiya district in Bangladesh; but likeRabindranath Tagore, he is one of the few people whom a mere political boundary cannot take away from his lovers and admirers in "Indian" Bengal . Lalon was neither a follower of Islam nor Hinduism. What he truly followed was a mixture of the postulates and philosophies from both these religions and very truly. "He was none of these so he was both". In the long course of his life he attracted a large number of followers, both Hindus as well as Muslims, mainly from the then demarcated lower strata of the society through his songs of universal equality and Dehatatwa.

Lalon always kept silent about his origin so that he does not get typecast into any particular religious group. He was observant of the social conditions around, and this reflects through his songs which spoke of day to day problems, in his simple yet deeply moving language. It is said that he had composed about 10,000 songs of which 2000-3000 can be tracked down today while others are lost in time and hearts of his numerous followers. Most of his followers could not read or write and so unluckily for the lovers of Baul, very few of his songs are found in written form. Lalon had no formal education as such but his songs can educate the most educated of minds throughout the world. Long before free thinkers around the globe started thinking of a classless society, Lalon had already composed around 1000 songs on that theme.

As one knows the proverb "Great men think alike", it would not be unwise to point at the similarities between Sant Kabir and Lalon Fakir at this point. However Lalon was much more mystic in his ways of encapsulating deep and allegorical messages in his songs which are filled with layers of understanding and metaphors. On the outside these songs may appear as naive and simple, attracting thousands of common rural men and women, but the inner layers speak of something very profound and meaningful. Lyrical mysticism apart, even on the front of artistic quality Lalon had a special style in his composition. All his songs carry his name and this is one of the means through which his songs are tracked now. The language is simple, crisp and bereft of linguistic ornamentations, even though purists may not find them to be grammatically correct. The melody of the songs, with its simple and rural based tunes, also has generates a deep appeal to folk music lovers.

Many a times Lalon, through his songs, has hinted various organs of the human body, metaphorically and in a very mystic and extremely subtle ways. The basic senses are termed as "6 thieves", and the Snai as "The Man of Heart". Even in the first of the translated songs (below), one can see the allegorical references of a house with eight rooms and nine doors which is nothing but the human body itself with various major organs and senses being compared to the doors and rooms. In the second translated piece below you can see the human body compared to a house where one can easily find the neighbor Shnai very near to his house, but Lalon is sadly lamenting that still now they have not meet.

A Strange Bird

Look, how a strange bird flits in and out of the cage! O brother, I wish I could bind it with my mind's fetters. Have you seen a house of eight rooms with nine doors Closed and open, with windows in between, mirrored? O mind, you are a bird encaged! And of green sticks Is your cage made, but it will be broken one day. Lalon says: Open the cage, look how the bird wings away!

(Translated by Azfar Hussain)

The land of mirrors

A neighbor is always staying there.But alas! Not even for one day could I see him.There is one land of mirror very near to my house...

Perhaps the greatest influence that Lalon has had was on India's greatest literary and renaissance figure and poet, Rabindranath Tagore. Tagore visitedKushtiya in 1892 just two years after Lalon's death and for the first time in his life experienced folk culture as a representation of society. In fact, Tagore managed to write and compose nearly 150 songs, influenced from those of Lalon, at his akhra (residing place) Cheuriya, from which only a few songs were published in the monthly Probashi as 'Haramoni' in 1920. Tagore said that here, in these songs, "Hindus and Muslims have been united under the same sky - there is no barrier of caste or creed..."

Tagore wrote that it is a fact that he infused the tune of Baul (Lalan) in many of his songs and dramas. Dusan Zbavitel, a Czeck Folklorist wrote that 'it is my firm belief that if Tagore had not stayed in the countryside (Selaidah in Kushtiya), he would not have become, what he was, as a man or a poet. Now the scholars are discovering the Baul-motifs in his songs, dramas and poems, which merit elaborate discussions (Folklore, II, Calcutta, vol. 14, 1961).

Tagore was the one who made Lalon known to the so called elites through his own songs based on Lalon's humanitarian doctrines .Though he never ever came face to face or in contact with Lalon, his respect for him was such that he asked the master painter of his era Nandalal Bose to draw a picture of Lalon based on the portrait drawn by Rabindranath's elder brother Jyotirindranath who is said to have met Lalon personally during a visit to the Tagore estate in Kushtiya.

In his Hebert Lecture in London (1933), Tagore applauded Lalon Shah as a mystic poet who discovered 'soul' and the meaning of 'man'. Tagore said that he discovered that 'man' from the songs of Lalon who said that "ai manushe ase se mon..." (The 'man' is within yourself where are you searching Him) (Folklore II, Calcutta, 1961).

Perhaps it would be better cite a song written by Tagore himself to show the similarities between their doctrines.

"Amar Praner Manush Ache Prane (He who is my soul-mate lives in my soul itself) Tai Heri Taye Sakal Khane (Thus I see him everywhere)Achhe Se Nayan Taraye, Alok Dharaye (He exists within my eyes, he exists in the stream of light) Tai Na Haraye ( So he is never lost) Ogo Tai Heri Taye Jethaye Sethaye Takai Ami Jedik Pane (So he is visible for me here there and at all places wherever I cast my eyes)

(Translator unknown)

American humanitarian and Beat poet Allen Ginsberg was influenced by Lalon's doctrines and wrote a poem named "After Lalon". Allen even followed Lalon's writing style by including the poet's name in his workings – which was essentially a form of Lalonesque so to speak.

Farida Parveen from Bangladesh, folk bands like Dohar and Bangla, and quite a few Bengali singers from India are doing noteworthy works now in recording different Lalon songs and bringing them to everyone's ears. If one remembers Lennon pieces like "Imagine" or "Give peace another chance", which also speak of classless society, he can easily appreciate how much ahead of his time Lalon was.

At the site of his shrine (Bengali: Akhara) in Bangladesh, a mausoleum and an academy of study on his work have been built. Thousands of his admirers visit twice a year – once during Holi and a second time on his death anniversary during October. There is a song festival (Mela) held on October's occasion which goes on for 3 days during which Bauls, Fakirs, people from rural and urban places all pay tributes to this great mind of Bengal.

Bengali Folk music is incomplete without Lalon and so is the Bengali renaissance which started with him, as a movement to abolish the darker aspects of our society, including doing away with demarcation with respect to religion or caste. Long before any of the eminent social personalities started to speak on these, Lalon sang about them in powerful yet simple verses. Tagore was deeply indebted to him for opening his horizons to rural and real Bengal. So, one can very well understand, the great difficulty of penning down Lalon's enormous contribution in one sentence.

The least one can say is, Lalon Is Bengali Folk Personified.

http://www.culturazzi.org/music/lalon-fakir-bengali-music-personified

PRIYANSHU ON MONER MANUSH

Posted by Vivek on Dec 06, 2010 | Leave a Comment
Moner Manush won the Golden Peacock Award this year just a few days back at the IFFI, Goa which is a huge achievement since the award comes back to India after 10 years. Here we catch up with actor, Priyanshu Chatterjee, on his views about Moner Manush. Priyanshu, the actor, you will recall was also seen in another historical Pinjar, a few years back, so he is certainly no stranger to Historicals. The new, mature Priyanshu was evident recently in Chintuji, so we look forward to seeing more of him in Money Manush. Now over to Priyanshu.
How come the decision to do a Bengali film?
The decision was larger than just the spoken language of the film. The decision was based on the Subject-matter, the Director and the Producer of the film. All three were of prime importance and in this case, a beautiful
What was the experience like?
The experience was moving and life-changing for me. To delve into a particular period has always been fascinating for me( as was the case with 'Pinjar' ). In this case. with Moner Manush, it was delving deep into the life and times of Lalon Fakir and the Tagore family as that is the point of debate and the structure of the narrative of the film. The physical experience of the shooting of the film was equally exciting as I had to travel to remote parts of Bangladesh.
Talk a little about the director?
The Director, Gautam Ghose is a renowned director who over the years has mastered the art of sharing his vision with the rest of the world. He is one of the few uniquely gifted Director-Cinematographers who do their own camera-work. It was an honor to become a part of his vision. He is in my opinion one of the most temperamentally and technically sound Directors that we have in the world today.
What is the film about?
The film is about the life and times of a mystic saint, Lalon Fakir. He like the other Bauls of that time India practiced a way of life which became their religion and embraced one and all with equal dignity irrespective of cast, creed, sex, religion, etc. all the man-made barriers that existed then. The film has beautiful songs that move the soul and at the same time ignite our minds with logical questions about life and the purpose of it. The film is about tolerance in an other-wise intolerant society. It is a visual treat as well and will delight one and all regardless of it being in Bangla language. Although it is sub-titled in English as well.
Talk a little about your role?
My role: Jyotirindranath Tagore, the elder brother of Rabindranath Tagore, is a real character in history that most people do not know much about. He was the person responsible to give the world Lalon Fakir's first sketch.In fact, the only picture available of Laon historically is the one sketched by Jyoti babu. He met Lalon and over a series of conversations with the saint realized that he was in the presence of unique greatness. Jyoti babu was known to promote talent, art, literature. Other than himself being a multi-faceted artist, in as a writer, painter, actor, singer and a whole lot more.
http://www.indianentertainment.info/2010/12/06/priyanshu-on-moner-manush.html

Kushtia: Tomb of Fakir Lalon Shah

Saturday, 8th May 2010


It was 11 at the morning. I have just visited the tagore lodge, and then I was moving forward to visit the "Lalon Akhra" where the tomb of the great "Baul", Fakir Lalan is located. The place is called "Cheuria" around 2-3 kilometers from the tagore lodge. You can take a rickshaw, or you can walk the road by feet.


Inside the premise of Lalon Akhra, there is a white tomb where the great baul sleeping. The tomb looks like it is made from wax. Also near the tomb area, you'll find several grave which are the contemporary baul of Lalon Shah, and some of them are the student or the followers of the Lalon Shah.


There is an academic building at the Akhra premise. This one is using to research about the Lalon Shah. I have meet a guy there who is doing PhD on Lalon. Also there is a museum which comprises of several materials like "Ek tara" and other musical instrument which are used by the famous baul.


I have enjoyed the songs at the akhra. Local baul used to perform there every time as their practice and to entertain the visitors. I have recorded 3/4 music from their using my video camera.
http://icwow.blogspot.com/2010/05/kushtia-tomb-of-fakir-lalon-shah.html

'Moner Manush' Movie Review: The Mystery Still Lingers

December 7th, 2010
December 7, 2010: Film: Moner Manush
Director: Goutam Ghose
Cast: Prosenjit Chatterjee, Paoli Dam, Priyanshu Chatterjee
Rating: ***1/2
'Moner Manush', Goutam Ghose's take on Sunil Gangopadhyay's novel of the same name, impresses but does not help to solve the questions which haunt the minds of the modern man. What exactly is the inner being? When exactly do we realize that we have come across a 'soul man'? These are questions put forward by Prosenjit Chatterjee's character Lalon Fakir in the film but unfortunately are not answered by him. The critics or the audience are not complaining though because they have realized that even a primitive man like Lalon Fakir harbored the same feelings as they do.
Indeed, Goutam Ghose's 'Moner Manush' introduces to us a man who could baffle the philosophers of the 19th century and was also an inspiration to literary stalwarts like Rabindranath Tagore. Yes, he did inspire Rabindranath Tagore in spite of the fact that he was not educated. All the preachings of Lalon Fakir were through his baul song renditions.
Prosenjit Chatterjee impresses as Lalon Fakir, this one probably being his best performance to date. Though there is hardly any reference to the legendary baul singer in our archives, Prosenjit Chatterjee plays his part with confidence and shows wonderful voice modulations as 'Moner Manush' shows Lalon Fakir's journey over a span of five decades. The supporting cast members Paoli Dam and Priyanshu Chatterjee performs well too.
Sampurn Wire
http://www.realbollywood.com/news/2010/12/moner-manush-movie-review-mystery-lingers.html

Fifty-year-old Kangalini Sufia sings of freedom and god.

The wandering minstrel from Bangladesh is a Baul folk musician of the Sufiana tradition - which is a blend of Bengali baul (village folk music) and the Islamic Sufi music which originated from Persia in the 13th century and subsequently travelled to India during the Muslim rule, was in the country recently to perform.

A disciple of the Bangladeshi Sufi-baul legend Lalon Fakir, Kangalini sings his songs and her own as well.

"I am a native of Kushtia district of Bangladesh," says the frail minstrel, clad in a yellow cotton sari in the traditional Bengali style with a red vermillion mark on the forehead. She plays a two-string instrument (do-tara) and a little wooden hand cymbal as she dances around the podium singing about "man's desire to be one with the almighty".

Kushtia, Kangalini's home, is located in the Khulna administrative division in western Bangladesh. It is known for its association with Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore who stayed at the Kuthibari (a mansion) in the district during his visit to Bangladesh. Kushtia is also home to the shrine of the Bengali Sufi mystic Lalon Fakir- and the Islamic University.

Kangalini had been initiated into the Sufi-Baul music early in life. "I have been singing for the last 40 years since I was 14. But I became a full-fledged musician after my brother's death in the Bangladesh Liberation war in 1971. I took my mother and set out to perform across the country; but my mother eventually died of the pain of losing my brother and my father," Kangalini said.

The musician, who has composed more than 500 songs, sang five numbers- three of her own compositions and two by Lalon Fakir. She began the recital with "Hawa dome dekho cheye, ke banailo rang mahal (take a look at the wind, who has built this palace of colours), a composition by Lalon Fakir and followed it up with her own songs, "Jeevan cholar Pothe (As we walk through life) and Matir Gachhe Lau Dorechhe (The garden is bearing fruit)."

"The Baul-Sufi songs of Bangladesh are more spiritual than those of Bengal because most of them are connected to the Islamic faith and emanate from the Muslim shrines that dot the land.

Baul is very popular in Faridpur, Kushtiya and Meherpur districts of Bangladesh," said Kangalini, who has performed in nine times in London, once in US and recently in Italy. "Sufi-Baul was a great hit in Italy," the musician said.

The singer claims to be self-styled. "As a child I used to sing by myself, but as I became professional, I realized that I needed a guru and trained under Halim Bayati and Deven Khaba, two Bangladeshi baul exponents," she said.

The Baul-Sufi tradition in Bangaldesh has been immortalised by Lalon Shah (Fakir),a Sufi saint, who knew Rabindranath Tagore in his youth. Most of his songs speak of self-understanding and have inherent messages which people often follow in their own lives.

According to Dhaka-based professor Anwarul Karim, in Bangladesh there is a category of Sufi mystics, who travel with folk musical instruments and an alms bag made of castaway cloth called "anchla". These dervishes, neither Hindu or Muslims, love music which speak of the human body as the microcosm and the soul as the elusive bird. Their songs are full of rural analogies.

"The Baul traditions of West Bengal and Bangladesh are different and yet similar. As Bangladesh is a Muslim country, the Baul singers are extremely conscious of the language- it is a monument of language which celebrates life and spirituality. Afterall, the Bangaldesh Liberation war was fought on the premise of language. In Bengal, Baul is a bit about nostalgia," culture activist and pro-tem chief of the Lalit Kala Akademi, Ashok Vajpeyi, told this writer.

Baul music was declared a Masterpiece of Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005.

--Madhusree Chatterjee and Jay Akbar
http://www.shvoong.com/entertainment/music/1885455-songs-freedom-love-god/

A rural ascetic brings India riches at IFFI

IANS, 02-Dec-2010 08:47:27 PM

Panaji, Dec 2 It took the story of a famed ascetic from West Bengal to wrest back for the country after a decade the International Film Festival of India's Golden Peacock in the form of renowned filmmaker Gautam Ghose's 'Moner Manush'.

'Moner Manush', an India-Bangladesh co-production which premiered at IFFI, is based on the life of Lalon Fakir or Lalon Shah, a revered rustic fakir, whose poetry and baul songs are considered classics in West Bengal.

Famous Bengali actor-producer Prosenjit Chatterji plays Lalon in the film, which received rave reviews at the fest.

The last time that an Indian film won the Golden Peacock at the IFFI was Kerala filmmaker Jayaraj's 'Karunam' in 2000.

Ghose, who received the award from Saif Ali Khan, said that the film was a positive sign as far as cross-country collaboration was concerned.

'It was an Indo-Bangaldesh joint production. The collaboration, where the two countries came together to produce a cinema is a new beginning,' Ghose said.

'My film is about tolerance, religion, politics and culture. The film will encourage co-production between India and other and other south Asian countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh; because politically we may be divided but culturally we are the same,' said the master director who has directed films like Naseeruddin Shah's 'Paar' in the past.

Lauding Lalon Fakir, details of whose exact birth and death are vague, Ghose said while Bengal went through an urban renaissance through thinkers like Rabindranath Tagore, it was fakirs and other mystics like Lalon, who earthy intellect captured and pervaded through the region's rurales.

Based on a novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay, the cast of the film includes Prosenjit Chatterjee, Raisul Islam Asad, Chanchal Chowdhury, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Syed Hasan Imam, Gulshan Ara Champa, Paoli Dam and Shubhra.

Prosenjit said that the biopic on Lalon fakir was receiving rave reviews all over the world and had opened new doors for Bengali cinema.

''Moner Manush' only proves that regional cinema has the potential for an international audience,' he said.

http://www.mynews.in/News/a_rural_ascetic_brings_india_riches_at_iffi_N115393.html

I slept on floor for months for 'Moner Manush' role: Prosenjit

Calcutta News.Net

Saturday 4th December, 2010 (IANS)

Bengali actor Prosenjit Chatterjee says he had shunned a life of luxury for five months during which he slept and ate on the floor to get into the skin of Lalon Fakir's character in the award-winning film film 'Moner Manush'.


'For five months I kept myself confined to home to prepare for this role. I used to sleep on the floor all these months. I used to have my food on the floor. I am not used to such things, but still I did it to go deeper into the character,' Prosenjit said about his much appreciated portrayal of the ascetic Lalon Fakir or Lalon Shah.


Prosenjit, son of yesteryear's Bollywood actor Biswajeet, said the role in Goutam Ghose's movie was not only challenging but altogether different from the characters he has portrayed so far.


'...I had to dedicate a lot of time for this role. I can guarantee that even after 40 minutes of the film, you won't be able to recognise me... I thank Goutam-da for offering me this role,' Prosenjit said on the sidelines of the movie's premiere.


The film, which bagged for India the Golden Peacock at the just-concluded International Film Festival of India, is an Indo-Bangladesh co-production simultaneously released in both the countries Dec 3.


'As I started going deeper into this character, I received immense support from my family and friends. I had asked them to think as if I am not present around. I had asked them not to bother me regarding any issues,' Prosenjit said.


The film is based on Sunil Gangopadhya's 2008 novel 'Moner Manush'. It revolves around the life and philosophy of Lalon Fakir, a 19th century Bengali philosopher poet. The film deals with his teachings, his separation from his family and creation of a settlement in a forest including people who have been pushed out of their society and family.


'The teachings, philosophy, love and compassion of Lalon is more relevant in today's world where there is so much of hatred and violence around us,' Prosenjit said.

http://www.calcuttanews.net/story/715407/ht/I-slept-on-floor-for-months-for-Moner-Manush-role-Prosenjit

How the Nameless Bird Enters the Cage

Aug 12, '09 6:57 AM

for everyone


Category:

Books

Genre:

Other

Author:

Samir Dasgupta



Baul is a mystic-group cult, which flourished on the soil of Bengal during the early process of Hindu-Buddhist-Islamic synergy. Its root may be traced back through time even to the pre-Vedic Tantric cults. Lalon (1774-1890), the great exponent of Baul philosophy, belonged to the mainstream of the original Baul cult and added a critical social dimension to the already spreading subaltern stream of consciousness. His songs inspired Rabindranath Tagore to 'plunge into the river of beatitudes.'


Unfortunately, Lalon's songs are yet to be translated in its full volume. Songs of Lalon by Samir Dasgupta presents a slim collection of English translations of 34 prominent compositions by Lalon along with the original text and an authentic introduction. The followers of Lalon in Bengal are free from all kinds of earthly temptation and social bondage. They are forbidden to accumulate private property and reproduce children. Male bauls have their sadhan sangini or female companion without having recourse to any formal rituals of marriage and they vow not to reproduce child. They beg in the day and return to their akhra (place where people assemble for religious discussion and worship) by evening. They quest for spiritual splendor through composing mystic lyrics and adding tunes to it.


The author Samir Dasgupta informs us in the introduction of the book Songs of Lalon that there already exists a recommendable amount of literature on the life and work of Lalon Fakir, which is mainly anecdotal in nature and virtually unverifiable at this distant point of time. An obituary article, appearing barely a fortnight after Lalon's death in the long-defunct Bengali journal Hitokari, in its edition of October 31, 1890 should be of particular interest. This unsigned article, titled Mahatma Lalon Fakir, tells us that at the time of his death Lalon Fakir was a familiar name, not only in and around his akhra, set up in 1823 at Chheuria, Kushtia. His disciples, numbering around 10,000, were scattered over places like Chittagong, Rangpur and Jessore. At the akhra, Lalon used to live with his wife Bishakha Fakirani whom he married after his devoted first wife was disallowed by Hindu zealots to join her husband following his conversion to Islam. In deference to the strictures of his newfound faith, Lalon didn't have any children by his second wife either. As the legend goes, Lalon was born of Hindu Kayastha parents and during a pilgrimage to Murshidabad with other Bauls of his native village, he contracted a virulent type of small pox and was abandoned by his companions in a precarious condition on the banks of the Ganges. A Muslim man of the weaver community, Malam Shah, and his wife Matijan took him to their home and nursed him back to life. At their home, Lalon met Siraj Sain, a Muslim rural philosopher -cum-Baul whom later Lalon mentioned in a number of his songs. The trauma of being abandoned by his own community and conversion to a new faith helped Lalon in attaining a very wide outlook on the question of religion. Asked about his religion, Lalon never answered directly and instead used to sing the following song:


They are curious to know what Lalon's faith is,

Says Lalon: The shape of religion eludes my vision.

Circumcision tells a Muslim from others,

But what is the mark of his woman?

The Brahman is known by his thread,

How do I tell who is a Brahmani?


Lalon's akhra was situated in the zamindari estate of Rabindranath Tagore and a local postman named Gagan (1840-1910), a direct disciple of Lalon, is believed to have been the poet's primary source of collection of Lalon's songs- songs that profoundly influenced his spiritual-philosophical ideas and were seminal to his finest poetic imagery. Some of the Lalon's best known lyrics such as Moner manush moner madhye koro anweshan, Amar e ghar khanay ke biraj kare and Khanchar bhitor achin pakhi komne ashe jay might have contributed largely in shaping Tagore's mystic philosophy and secular humanism. The last poem, incidentally, is alluded to in various writings of Tagore, including his celebrated epic-novel Gora (1910). In Dasgupta's translation, this widely acclaimed song reads:


Tell me how the nameless bird

Enters the cage,

Flies away…

If only I could catch it once,

I would

Throw my mind's chain around its feet.

This house has eight chambers with nine doors,

There are lattices on the walls,

And a Hall of mirrors at the top.


According to Dasgupta, the ever-intriguing phenomenon of the menstrual cycle and the seminal fluid (the archetypal water of creation' in Tantric-Baul lingo), and the five elements of the universe, including the human body imagined to be the abode of the Atma or the soul (achin pakhi or the nameless bird), are supposed to make for the ultimate communion with the Paramatma (Supreme Being). These constitute the cardinal features of Dehatatwa, the means to attain salvation through cultivation of the body. Tagore, a man of puritan Victorian learning, however, avoided the portion of cultivation of the body or Dehatatwa in his own adoption of Baul philosophy. Songs of Lalon would be a good hand out for the researchers.


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Gautam Ghose has directed many famous Bengali films. This time he is presenting a different kind of film, Maner Manush - based on a novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay. This novel is based on Lalan Fakir. Songs of Lalan Fakir still attracts Bengalees. Lalan expressed his love and compassion through his songs. In today's hectic world intolerance and hate has become an integral part of our life. Bengalees are forgetting their own culture. In such situation Lalan Fakir is very much relevant in our life.

Cast, crew and story of Bengali film Maner Manush


Prosenjit Chatterjee, Raisul Islam Asad, Chanchal Chowdhury, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Syed Hasan Imam, Gulshan Ara Champa, Paoli Dam.

Moner Manush

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An idealised 'inner being' derived from the baul concept. The idea of the Moner manush are mainly apparent in Bengali folk songs.[1]

The Moner manush is realistically an unattainable state since the idealised person does not exist, however it is used to compare to the realistic themes in folk literature and song; themes usually being love for the divine, loss and gain and wealth.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Āẏuiba, Ābu Saẏīda (1995). Modernism and Tagore. (trans. Amitava Ray). Sahitya Akademi. p. 114. ISBN 9788172018511. 

Sunil Gangopadhyay has written a novel on life and song of Lalon Fokir. The book titled Moner Manush was published in 2008. The book deals with his childhood; dramatic separation from his family; creating a settlement in the forest away from locality; growth of his follower community and simple philosophy of Lalon's life.

Lalon

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Fakir Lalon Shah (Bangla: ফকির লালন সাঁই), also known as Lalon Shah (c. 1774–1890), was a Bengali philosopher poet. His poetry, articulated in songs, are considered classics of the Bangla language. Fakir Lalon Shah lived in the village of Cheuria in the area known as Nadia in the Bengal Presidency of British India, corresponding to the district of Kushtia in present-day Bangladesh.

Contents

[hide]

[edit] Early life

Lalon is said to be born in the year 1772 October'17 in Harishpur village, shoilkupa upazila in Jhenaidah district. He was buried sewria, kustia.

The details of Lalon's early life are made controversial mainly by urban-educated scholars representing communal tendencies among both Hindu and Muslim writers. Lalon also recorded very little information about himself. As a result, accounts of Lalon's life are sites of speculative communal claims that has remained till today contradictory and unverifiable. Depending on the source, some claim Lalon was born of Hindu Kayastha parents and during a pilgrimage to Murshidabad with other Bauls of his native village, he contracted a virulent type of small pox and was abandoned by his companions in a precarious condition on the banks of the Ganges. Another story claims that he is Muslim by birth and his village and family links are still traceable. However, it is true that a Muslim man of the weaver community, Malam Shah, and his wife Matijan took him to their home and nursed him back to life. It is clear, however, that he never revealed his social identity because of his consistent opposition against all forms of communal identity. He refused all his life to be trapped into the politics of identity of any kind. When people, particularly members of the urban the middle class who were already divided into Hindu and Muslim during colonial period, asked about his religion, Lalon mocked them. Many of his songs make mockery of those who degraded themselves to identity politics that divides a community, thereby creating conditions that generate communal conflict and violence. It is important that his intention is retained in any attempt to reconstruct a historiography of this great saint who even refused to be nationalist during the apex of the anti-colonial nationalist movements in the Indian subcontinent.Lalon Shah married a Muslim woman and set up his ashram in Cheurriya to compose and practise his songs. With regard to identity the following song is fairly well known among his many other similar articulations:

They are curious to know what Lalon's faith is,
Says Lalon: The shape of religion eludes my vision.

Circumcision tells a Muslim from others,

But what is the mark of his woman?

The Brahman is known by his thread,

How do I tell who is a Brahmani?

[edit] Philosophy

Lalon left no trace of his birth or his 'origin' and remained silent about his past, fearing that he would be cast into class, caste or communal identities by a fragmented and hierarchical society. Despite this silence on his origins, communal appropriation of this great politico-philosophical figure has created a controversy regarding whether he is 'Muslim' or a 'Hindu' -- a 'sufi' or a follower 'bhakti' tradition—a 'baul' or a 'fakir', etc. He is none, as he always strove to go beyond all politics of identities. Lalon sang, "People ask if Lalon Fakir is a Hindu or a Mussalman. Lalon says he himself doesn't know who he is."[1]

Lalon does not fit into the construction of the so called 'bauls' or 'fakirs' as a mystical or spiritual types who deny all worldly affairs in desperate search for a mystical ecstasy of the soul. Such construction is very elite, middle class, and premised on the divide between 'modern' and 'spiritual' world. It also conveniently ignores the political and social aspects of Bengal's spiritual movements and depoliticizes the transformative role of 'bhakti' or 'sufi' traditions. This role is still continued and performed by the poet-singers and philosophers in oral traditions of Bangladesh, a cultural reality of Bangladesh that partly explains the emergence of Bangladesh with distinct identity from Pakistan back in 1971. Depicting Lalon as 'baul shomrat' (the Emperor of the Bauls) as projected by elite marginalizes Lalon as a person belonging to a peripheral movement, an outcast, as if he is not a living presence and increasingly occupying the central cultural, intellectual and political space in both side of the border between Bangladesh and India (West Bengal).

To understand Fakir Lalon Shah is to understand the politics of lifestyl that he practiced. He never was a celebrator of the state of nothingness sometime associated the generic folk cultural movemets known as 'baul'. His position should not be construed, as a willing suspension of disbelief, nor a reckless abandonment of responsibility or that of becoming inordinately fatalistic. It is a living quest to go back to the dynamics of where it all began: to our infancy as much as the first moments of creation. It is a quest we cannot undertake without some prodding assistance, albeit to our well charted 'roots', if we have one? Clearly, life is a blessed moment of procreation and an extension of the continuous cycle of Mother Nature which rolls on over, when we know all too well, it is also a process that simply cannot be rolled back.

It is in context of looking for meanings to living, versus that of death which is as an instant, if not completely the end of reasoning, and the probabilities of a life devoid of answers to the future and where it ultimately places us, is the harrowing spectre human beings are condemned to life in his living. This premise of not knowing where 'everything' if ever ends is one that significantly dilates the implication and importance of NOW.

[edit] Works

Lalon composed numerous songs and poems, which describe his philosophy. Among his most popular songs are "Sob loke koy lalon ki jat songsare" khachar bhitor auchin pakhi, jat gelo jat gelo bole, dekhna mon jhokmariay duniyadari, paare loye jao amay, milon hobe koto dine, aar amare marishne maa, tin pagoler holo mela, etc.

The songs of Lalon give subliminal exposures to the reality/truth that lies beyond our material plane/realism. They give a feel of the indescribable. To an engrossed listener, his songs briefly open and close a narrow passage to peep through to the other world beyond the opaque glass ceiling of this world. Lalon sublimates the findings of the principal schools of his time (a)the Nadia school iniiated by 'tin pagol' ( তিন পাগল),implyig Adaitacharya, Nityanando and Chaitanya. This school is different from the Achinta-vedavedbad of Lord Chaitanya (the anitonomous realism of individual soul and Supersoul, both of which eternally coexist) developed during the post-Nadiya phase of Sri Chaitanya. This latter phase has given birth to Vaishavism. Nadiya's movement is historically related to Vrindabon, but are two distinct schools. Fakir lalon Shah did not approve the re-appropriation of the popular political movement initiate by Chaitanya against caste, class and patrirachy by the upper caste elite during his time, and ultimately manifesting the decadence of the great bhokti moveet of Bengal. He always insisted on the 'Nadiya's discourse (নদিয়া'র ভাব)-- the philosophy of Nadiya's 'porimondol' (great popular circle of Nadiya.

Another major influence of Lalon is Islam. He approached and appropriated Islam from his Nadiya perspective providing fascinating interpretation of prophets and prophethood. These are done without forgetting his premises such as Jain, Buddhists and Shankhy philosophy. It was both a critique and appropriation. This phase of his discourse is generally known as 'Nobitattya' (the philosophy of wisdom.

Lalon always kept silent about his origin so that he does not get typecast into any particular religious group. He was observant of the social conditions around, and this reflects through his songs, which spoke of day to day problems, in his simple yet deeply moving language. It is said that he had composed about 10,000 songs of which 2000-3000 can be tracked down today while others are lost in time and hearts of his numerous followers. Most of his followers could not read or write and so unluckily for the lovers of Baul, very few of his songs are found in written form. Lalon had no formal education as such but his songs can educate the most educated of minds throughout the world. Long before free thinkers around the globe started thinking of a classless society, Lalon had already composed around 1000 songs on that theme.

Lalon's songs tersely refute any absolute standard of 'right and wrong', which claims to pass the test of time. His songs show the triviality of any attempt to divide people both materially or spiritually.

[edit] Legacy

Lalon's philosophical expression was based in oral and expressed in songs and musical compositions using instruments that could be made by any rural households from materials available at home: an ektara (one-string musical instrument) and a dugi (hand drum). The texts of the songs was explicitly written to engage in the philosophical discourses of Bengal continuing since Tantric traditions of the subcontinent, particularly Nepal, Bengal and the Gangetic plains. In Lalon critically re-appropriated the various philosophical positions emanating from the legacies of Hindu, Jaina, Buddha and Islamic traditions, developing them into a coherent discourse without falling into the mixes of being syncretic. Nevertheless he explicitly claimed his belonging to the great 'bhab'(discourse) of Nadiya—lead by 'ti pagol'(three passionate spiritual persons; thay are Chaitanya, Nityananda and Adaitacharya.

In 1963, a mausoleum and a research centre were built at the site of his shrine, the place of knowledge-practices. Thousands of people come to the shrine known in Bengali as akhra twice a year, Dol Purnima, in the month of Falgun (February to March) and in October, on the occasion of the anniversary of his death. During these three-day song melas, people, particularly fakirs (Muslim devotees) and bauls (section of Hindu believers) pay tribute to Lalon.

Among the modern singers of Baul music Anusheh Anadil is a baul song singer. She is known internationally for her songs of lalon

[edit] Gallery

[edit] References

[edit] External links



--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/

3 comments:

  1. BBC News
    The bad news is that 50 people died in a hotel fire; the good news is that we got exclusive footage.

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  2. Lalon Shah (1774–1890) was a well-known Bengali mystic and philosopher. His music, which he composed and sang, is filled with creative talent and is infused with a wealth of mystic contemplation. His songs, which are profound and remarkable and reflect the aspirations of human life, are written in straightforward language. Many poets, social critics, and religious intellectuals, including as Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Allen Ginsberg, were affected by his works. In his lifetime and after his passing, he received both praise and criticism. Most of his followers are concentrated in Bangladesh and India's West Bengal region. On October 17, 1890, Lalon passed away at the age of 116. His passing occurred on the first Kartik of the Bangla month, as per the Bengali calendar.

    Following Lalon's passing, the celebration known as "Dol Purnima," which he started, became a custom. Lalon Mela, conversations, and music are included. Through songs and musical compositions, he expressed his philosophical ideas using traditional instruments like the duggi and the one-string ektara (drum).

    In Bengali literature, film, television dramas, and theater, Lalon Shah has been depicted. Lalon was ranked 12th on the BBC's list of the greatest Bengalis of all time in 2004. No matter where they are from, thousands of people make long trips to attend this festival.


    We're working with visitors from home and abroad to explore the Lalon Folk Festival and many other well-known, iconic, and significant locations across the nation. As one of the best tour operator in the country, we already have a lot of happy guests, and we want more to travel the nation with us.

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