It was a blast from the past that saw cinema lovers in Kolkata keeping its date with history -- that of watching the Indian premiere of the 1959 Pakistani movie “Jago Hua Savera” (Day Shall Dawn) which has dialogues and songs by legendary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
Based on “Padma Nadir Majhi” (The Boatman of River Padma), a story by Bengali novelist Manik Bandopadhyay, “Jago Hua Savera”, directed by A.J. Kardar, is considered the first Pakistani film that had won international acclaim. It had won eleven international awards, including one at the Moscow Film Festival.
The film, whose young cast was drawn from India and the then East and West Pakistan, was screened at the Indian Council for Cultural Relations auditorium in Kolkata on January 12 as part of a tribute to Faiz Ahmed Faiz on his birth centenary celebrations.
The male lead was played by Khan Ataur Rahman (under the alias “Anis”) from then East Pakistan, and the female lead was played by actress Tripti Mitra (from Kolkata).
At a time when film production in the then East Pakistan was unthinkable, it was shot within 48 days at a tiny fishing village on the banks of river Meghna, not far from Dhaka.
Faiz's daughter Salima Hashmi, who was present on the occasion, said this was the first screening of the film in India.
“Personally, it's a very emotional moment because of the connections between Lahore and Kolkata and between Faiz, films and Kolkata. He (Faiz) spoke with great admiration for Satyajit Ray,” she said.
The first realistic and experimental film of Pakistan, “Jago Hua Savera” strikes poetic chords complemented by scenes showcasing the plight and misery of the lives of the fishermen of those times.
For Pakistan's most famous poet and leftist intellectual Faiz, it was his first brush with the medium of cinema as he contributed to dialogues and lyrics.
News Source:
The Daily Star