Filmmaker Goutam Ghose and Bangladeshi producer Habibur Rahman Khan are planning a new film based on the life and legacy of celebrated poet Jibanananda Das.
The untitled project will be based on prominent writer and novelist Shahaduzzaman’s novel Ekjon Komlalebu.
It will mark another collaboration between Ghose and Habibur, who have previously worked together on acclaimed films including Padma Nadir Majhi, Moner Manush and Shankhachil.
Habibur recently revealed details about the planned project during a long-form interview with the YouTube channel Radio Gaga.
He said the film will explore Jibanananda’s life, literary world and inner conflicts.
According to Habibur, Ghose has already spent considerable time researching the poet and has also met Shahaduzzaman in London to discuss the project.
“Goutam and I are both obsessed with the film,” Habibur said. “We often discuss it over the phone. He has been researching the subject for a long time.”
The actor who will portray Jibanananda Das has not yet been selected.
However, Habibur said he has made one condition clear: the role must be played by a Bangladeshi actor.
“Goutam and I have discussed it, and the actor will be from Bangladesh. He was born here, and Goutam has agreed to that condition,” Habibur said.
Habibur also expressed his interest in casting actor Afzal Hossain as Bhumendra Guha, the poet and researcher who became closely associated with Jibanananda’s unpublished writings after the poet’s death.
Guha knew Jibanananda during the final years of his life and later devoted extensive efforts to working with the poet’s manuscripts.
He played an important role in preparing and preserving a large number of unpublished poems, stories and novels that had remained among Jibanananda’s belongings after his death.
The planned film will draw its primary inspiration from Ekjon Komlalebu, a novel that examines Jibanananda through the contradictions of his personal life and literary journey.
The novel explores the poet’s struggles as a writer, tensions within his family and the rejection and neglect he experienced during different periods of his life.
It has previously been adapted for the stage.
For Habibur, the project represents a deeply personal ambition as well as another chapter in his long creative association with Ghose.
Their previous collaborations include Padma Nadir Majhi, based on Manik Bandopadhyay’s novel, Moner Manush, which focused on Lalon Shah, and Shankhachil, a film set against the legacy of Partition.
Habibur has been involved with filmmaking since the early years of independent Bangladesh.
He was among the producers of Ritwik Ghatak’s Titash Ekti Nadir Naam, released in 1973.
His later production credits include films such as Hothat Brishti, which became a major popular success in both Bangladesh and India.
Habibur described the proposed Jibanananda Das film as a dream project that he hopes to see completed.
“I dream of making this film. I do not know whether I will live to see it completed,” he said. “But even if I die after finishing this film, I will have no regrets.”
For the veteran producer, the project is also an attempt to reflect on the hardships and neglect Jibanananda faced during his lifetime.
“Whatever we did to Jibanananda as a nation, the suffering he went through—if I can make this film, perhaps he will forgive us a little,” Habibur said. “That is what I believe. That is why this film should be made.”
