According to filmmaker Indranil Roychowdhury, the prevailing socio-political reality of our times is made up of contradictory circumstances. A party of lumpens have taken over the seat of power in our state and in a desperate need for a token of respectability, they have chosen Rabindranath Tagore. But at the same time, he points out that this tokenism is hardly a new phenomenon in Bengal politics. In the previous regime the so-called ‘Bhadralok’ image of dhuti-panjabi, accompanied by a superficial engagement with Latin American literature and substandard translations, is still fresh in memory. As in the present case, even the Tagore euphoria will also prove to be a passing political fad. Until then, the roadside butcher stalls will keep playing Rabindra Sangeet!
Previous Kaahon update on Indranil Roychowdhury:
Indranil sees the imminent end of the Bengali film industry (click here)
