Mejbaur Rahman Sumon and his upcoming film ‘Roid’ has drawn attention through international festival selections and a new song release that blends Baul music, folk philosophy and contemporary composition.
Director Sumon, who has already established a distinctive place in Bengali cinema through his portrayal of folk culture, myths and human emotion, first gained wide acclaim with his debut film ‘Hawa’, which received both domestic and international recognition for its fusion of folklore, myth and contemporary reality.
His new film, Roid, which is awaiting release on the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha, has already attracted significant audience interest. The film has been officially selected for the Tiger Competition section of the 55th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), marking it as the first full-length Bangladeshi film in that category. It has also been selected for the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), one of North America’s largest film festivals.
The film’s first song, ‘Roide Aila Ga Juraite’, has already received a strong response on social media, and the second track, ‘Mon Chara Ki Moner Manush Roy’, was released this evening.
The song has generated anticipation online as it draws from Bengal’s spiritual folk tradition, Baul philosophy and human emotion. It is composed by Shrimat Matan Chaad Goswami (Gosai), a noted Baul figure and writer of Mahajani Padavali, while it is sung by Kanai Das Baul, a blind Baul artist from Tarapith, Birbhum in West Bengal.
Music director Emon Chowdhury has arranged the composition, combining traditional folk influences with contemporary western elements.
Speaking about the project, Emon Chowdhury said, “It is always a privilege for me to work with a finest director like Mezbaur Rahman Sumon Bhai. We have done many wonderful works together before. But this project is more special for me because we have been able to do a new song with the recently deceased saint and artist Kanai Das Baul.
From the beginning, we had a different feeling towards this song. There is a kind of lamentation in the song, there is a depth of silence. I and my entire music team tried to create an emotional fusion of modern sound with the emotion of local music. I personally tried to give an ‘infinite feel’ to the song.”
Sumon said, “I have been listening to Matan Chaad Gosai’s song Mon Chara Ki Moner Manush Roy for many years. The song is very dear to me and I have always heard it in the voice of Kanai Das Baul. When I was writing the script for Roid and the development of the film was going on, I used to listen to this song repeatedly. Kanai Das Baul sang the song with an extraordinarily enchanting voice.”
“The music of the song for Roid has been arranged by Emon Chowdhury. It is very sad that the song is being released after Kanai Das Baul’s death. Honestly, if I could have made him sing this work, I would have loved it. But he could not listen. But his enchanting voice will remain through our film,” Sumon added.
The song is already emerging as one of the most discussed tracks from Roid, bringing together folk heritage, Baul spirituality and modern musical interpretation.
