Padma nadir majhi videorecording a film by Goutam Ghose ; production, Government of West Bengal ; music by Goutam Ghose and Alauddin Ali ; directed by Goutam Ghose

Padma Nadir Majhi is an Indo-Bangladesh joint production feature film directed by Goutom Ghosh from the novel of the same name. Set in India before partition of 1947, the film is a saga about man's eternal struggle against hostile nature and society, and against his own dark wishes. Hossian Miya (Utpal Dutta) is a bengali muslim trader who offers his community an idealistic vision: He wants to establish a little utopia on an island (Moynadeep) in the Padma delta and offer them a better life there. It is apparent that Hossian Miya has a flourishing business there, because he has recently purchased a huge boat because of expanding business. He doesn't care if the people who populate it are Hindu or Muslim. It is 1947, just before the partition of India, and the Hindu fisherman Kuber briefly accepts an offer by Hossain to ferry some of the community's cargo from the island. He would be fishing, except that the fish he usually catches have been driven away by a big storm. In the process of getting the cargo, he gets to see what the colony is like and, even though he is fully aware of the gripes of a former colony member and the limitations of it, comes to share some of the utopian vision. When Kuber returns to his home and a variety of unfortunate events make it in his best interest to leave, he knows just where to go.

Asaad, Champa, Rupa Ganguly, Utpal Dutta, Rabi Ghosh.

DVD

In Bengali with English subtitles.

National award 1992