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A debutant filmmaker, Sarbari Chowdhury is avidly interested in the cultural heritages of the world. Her mission is to document these global cultural idioms, with a view to preserve them. Her debut narrative documentary, Broto Alpona, deals with ancient socio-religious rituals of the Woman of Bengal, both in India and Bangladesh. Broto Alpona, by definition, is a finger- painted art form created during specific periods, coinciding with religious rituals. This film helps her to continue delving into the background of almost-extinct social mores of the native Indians, from Eastern and Northern areas. She collaborates with established film production companies to bring her films to fruition.

Sarbari has acted in several films, is a Director of theater and also a published author, of a book of short stories named “Earthen Angels”.  Her plays have been stages at various cities in the USA including Phoenix, Arizona, Houston, Texas, Los Angeles and San Jose. She has also worked as Chairperson of the North American Bengali Conference’s Film segment since 2012.

An Engineer by training, Sarbari has spent more than 25 years in the high tech industry and currently lives in Chandler Arizona, with her husband and two children. She divides her time between Kolkata, India and Chandler, USA.

Director’s statement

 

In 2015, the idea for this film germinated during a conversation with a 101- year old woman at a remote village in northern Bengal, India.  I was visiting there during the festival season. We watched as her teenage great grand- daughter drew a small but beautiful pattern on the doorstep – also known as an ‘Alpona’.  She was lamenting the fast pace of today’s life and the lack of interest the young people had in learning about the elaborate and specific Alpona patterns required for each festival. In her times, these rituals (Brotos) and the Alponas took up almost the entire day, as these were also occasions for socializing and entertainment for the community, as women visited each other’s homes for these functions. As I talked to more villagers in the nearby areas as well as my friends in the big cities, in India and USA, I realized that Broto Alponas, the specific finger painted designs for different rituals, were an art form, facing oblivion. My current research showed me that there was very limited available literature on this topic, and most of what little exists, was in Bengali.

Many of the specific rituals followed by the Bengali women traditionally are becoming irrelevant today, due to time constraints in a busy lifestyle, as well as the easy availability of other  competing channels of entertainment, like television. This has led to most Brotos being no longer practiced.  And of the ones that are still practiced, many have lost their relevance. The rituals have their roots in ancient times, a time even before the Aryans came to India, which are the pre- Vedic times. Due to these ancient origins, these rituals have basic similarities with rituals from other world cultures. They all include magic verses, magic ingredients and drawing of magic symbols. The magic symbols are the central topic of this film and this film is a narrative documentary, using enactments to emphasize the story.

The film follows a girl growing up in the early 1900s - a rural Bengali girl, in the undivided Indian state of Bengal. She is uneducated, superstitious and lives in a heavily male- dominated society. She has very little control over her own life, her goal is to secure a good husband and provide him with healthy sons and take care of his family. As she goes through life, her method of trying to achieve things she wants, is to pray to her Gods for them. Hence, she performs strenuous rituals, the Brotos, which involves drawing specific patterns for the Gods, reciting verses, called “chharas” and providing special offerings to their Gods. A few of the rituals and their corresponding Alponas practiced by our historical female protagonist is covered in this film. The rituals enacted are authentic as is their music. Typical songs and musical instruments played during the period have been used like bangla dhol, dotara, reed shahnai, dhak and kanshor and of course the flute.

There are more than sixty other Brotos and their local variations that were followed by the women of Bengal once. Many of these traditional Brotos have lost their last adherents; details about them are difficult to come by. This film is an attempt to preserve that part of Bengal’s cultural history.

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