Didn’t tell to ban any film: Shaon

Actress and filmmaker Meher Afroz Shaon has demanded that she did not tell to ban any movie sending letter to the Bangladesh Film Censor Board.

She said this at a press conference at her residence ‘Dakhin Hawa’ in the capital’s Dhanmondi area on Sunday.

The wife of the legendary writer Humayun Ahmed arranged the media briefing with viewing to clear her stance regarding the controversy of Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s new movie 'Doob’.

 
“Humayun Ahmed is a noted writer of Bengali literature. Now, he is no longer with us. But it does not mean that fictitious story would be made based on his life,” she said.

Shaon also asked that if it would be ethical to make any film with the deceptive information on Humayun Ahmed which had been published in some tabloid newspapers.

The future generation will know the deceptive information if this type of film will be made, she said adding, “We have two children and they have future. Why they will face embarrassing situations for the deceptive information?”    

Citing she sent the letter to the sensor board on February 13 with this fear, Shaon demanded saying, “If any objectionable matter will be included in the film then I will request the sensor board to give it permission after respective change and refinement.”

On February 17, Variety reported that Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s “No Bed of Roses” (“Doob” in Bengali), starring and co-produced by India’s Irrfan Khan (“Inferno”) has fallen afoul of the Bangladesh administration and is effectively banned.

Speculation has been rife in the Bangladeshi and Indian media that the film is a biopic loosely based on late Bangladeshi writer and filmmaker Humayun Ahmed who divorced his wife of 27 years and married an actress 33 years his junior.

Farooki has denied that the film is a biopic. Variety has had access to the film. It begins with a disclaimer that the film has no resemblance to any real life characters alive or dead. Khan plays a filmmaker named Javed Hasan who leaves his wife and marries an actress who was his daughter’s classmate in school.