''Monpura'' (), is a 2009 Bangladeshi

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

film, directed by Giasuddin Selim. It is considered as one of the greatest Bangladeshi films ever made. Over the years, this film has been a cult-classic due to lead's performance and the music album. ''Monpura'' is a romantic tragedy film set in rural Bangladesh. It stars

Chanchal Chowdhury Suchinta Chowdhury Chanchal (born June 1, 1974), better known as Chanchal Chowdhury (), , is a Bangladeshi actor. He gained recognition with television roles in late 2000s, and went on to become one of the most popular leading men of Cinema of B ...

and

Farhana Mili Farhana Mili is a Bangladeshi film and television actress. Career Mili's acting career started with the drama serial ''Jhut Jhamela''. She debuted her film career as a lead actress in '' Monpura'' (2009). Personal life Mili is married to an eng ...

as the leading roles. The other supporting actors were Mamunur Rashid and

Fazlur Rahman Babu Fazlur Rahman Babu (born 22 August 1960) is a Bangladeshi actor and singer. He won the Bangladesh National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor a record five times for his roles in ''Shonkhonaad'' (2004), '' Meyeti Ekhon Kothay Jabe'' (2017), ' ...

. The soundtrack of the film was composed by Shayan Chowdhury Arnob. As Selim's large-screen debut and contemporary-folk soundtrack were released ahead of screening which was an instant hit, it received a huge media hype even before its release. It saw a record amount of box collections in the first week of release. It's soundtrack album became one of the most popular in the country. ''Monpura'' is the highest-grossing Bangladeshi film of 2009 and the 18th highest-grossing film of all time. The film received positive reactions from the fans, especially for its direction and visuals, which captured the rural life of Bangladeshi people. ''Monpura'' won the leading five awards in the 34th Bangladesh National Film Awards: Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actor in a Negative Role, Best Female Playback Singer, and Best Screenplay, became the only film from the 21st century to do so. The film was remade into Indian Bengali in 2010 as ''Achin Pakhi'', which was directed by Anjan Das.

Plot

Shonai is a man-servant in the house of Gazi, a rich man. The son of Gazi, Halim, is mentally unstable, and he murders a woman who worked in that house. But Gazi insists Shonai take the responsibility of the murder instead of Halim, and leaves him alone in an island named "Monpura", where he falls in love with Pori, the daughter of a fisherman. Gazi, seeing Pori one day, intends to marry his son, Halim, with her, although he pledged to Shonai that he would propose Pori's father for Shonai’s marriage. At first, her father did not accept the proposal, for he did not want to let her daughter marry a maniac. But when Gazi wanted to give his property to Pori, he accepted the proposal. When Shonai discovers Gazi's plot, he went to Pori's house to meet her father. But her father insults him for wanting to marry her being a poor with no land or property. Then Pori & Shonai decided to flee on the next night. Just when Shonai was about to leave for Pori, he got caught by the police for the murder case. Pori waited all night that went in vein. Subsequently Pori was married to Halim, against her will. She was very unhappy with Halim as he's a maniac. One day her chachi and father came to visit her, and chachi gave her hope. So Pori was waiting for Shonai. Shonai also wanted to be free to meet her. Upon realizing that Pori cannot get over Shonai, wife of Gazi said that Shonai would be executed on Friday at 12:01 am so that Pori might forget Shonai. However, Shonai was proven innocent and was released on Saturday, although Pori, who thought that he will be executed on Friday, killed herself by drinking poison at midnight that day. After Shonai arrives the next morning, he finds out and feels devastated by Pori's death.

Cast

as Shonai, a fisherman who lives on Monpura Island. He has a little house there, talks with animals, and falls in love with Pori. He is also a fast swimmer. *

as Pori, daughter of another fisherman. She falls in love with Shonai Mia but her father forced her to marry Shonai's bosses mentally insane son out of greed. *

as Pori's Father, another fisherman * Mamunur Rashid as Gazi * Shirin Alam as Gazi's wife * Monir Khan Shimul as Gazi's insane son

Production

Development

''Monpura'' made a huge media hype before its release. "A heart breaking story," as called by popular actor and director

Afzal Hossain Afzal Hossain (born 19 July 1954) is a Bangladeshi actor, director, writer and painter. He was awarded the Ekushey Padak, the second most important award for civilians in Bangladesh, in 2022. Early life Hossain was born in Parulia, Satkhira in ...

, its unusual songs and rural setting set the background of an artistic romance film. Monpura, unlike many other popular Bangla films, uses the rural settings of Bangladesh, something Selim says audiences have a strong attachment to.

Shooting

The shooting started in June 2007. The shooting took place in various locations, including remote areas of

Bogra Bogra (), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, officially Bogura, is a city located in Bogra District, Rajshahi Division, Bangladesh. The city is a major commercial hub in North Bengal, Northern Bangladesh. It is the second largest city in te ...

Kushtia Kushtia () is a city located on the banks of the Gorai River in Bangladesh. It serves as the headquarters of Kushtia District and is considered the cultural capital of Bangladesh. The city is known for its Tiler Khaja (sesame sweets), kulf ...

and

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

. The shooting unit faced problems due to Bangladesh's

rainy season The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Rainy Season may also refer to: * ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King * "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni * '' ...

and demands to shoot through such weather; several outdoor sequences were shot in the rain.

Reception

''Monpura'' initially released in four theaters in

and

Rajshahi Rajshahi (, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city and a major Urban area, urban, administrative, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous Rajshahi Division, division and Rajshahi Distr ...

, but it quickly opened in theaters in

Chittagong Chittagong ( ), officially Chattogram, (, ) (, or ) is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also the business capital of Bangladesh. It ...

Mymensingh Mymensingh () is a metropolis, metropolitan city and capital of Mymensingh Division, Bangladesh. Located on the bank of the Old Brahmaputra River, Brahmaputra River, about north of the national capital Dhaka, it is a major financial center ...

Rangpur Rangpur may refer to: Places In Bangladesh *Rangpur Division, one of the eight administrative divisions of Bangladesh. *Rangpur District, district of Bangladesh in Rangpur Division. *Rangpur, Bangladesh, metropolis and a major city in northern ...

, and

Sirajganj Sirajganj is a city in north-western Bangladesh on the right bank of the Jamuna River, located in Rajshahi Division. It is the administrative headquarters of Sirajganj District, and with a population of 500000, it is the 14th largest city in Ba ...

. Within three weeks of its release, Monpura broke the 45-year record of ticket sales in the Dhaka box office with over 50,000 tickets sold, surpassing the first Bangla language film made in Bangladesh, ''

Mukh O Mukhosh ''Mukh O Mukhosh'' () was the first Bengali-language feature film to be made in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). It was produced by Iqbal Films and directed by Abdul Jabbar Khan. Nuruzzaman (d. 1975) was the founder producer of Iqbal Films. The ...

'' (1956). On 22 May 2009, Monpura completed its 100 days of glory in the box office. Star Cineplex and Bolaka (Bolaka-1 & Bolaka-2), the busiest theaters in the capital, ran this film for 100 days consecutively. After 100 days, the movie kept running in about 50 theaters across the country. The film ran at Star Cineplex for nine months, Bolaka for six months, and Monihar for eight weeks. Theaters in

Pabna Pabna () is a city of Pabna District, Bangladesh and the administrative capital of the eponymous Pabna District. It is on the north bank of the Padma River and has a population of about . Etymology * According to the historian Radharaman Saha ...

Khulna Khulna (, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of the Khulna District and the Khulna Division. It is the divisional centre of 10 districts of the division. Khulna is also the seco ...

, and other districts in Bangladesh ran the film for six to seven weeks. Outside Bangladesh, the film was first released in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

on 8 August 2009, and then in other cities, including

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Remake

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

filmmaker Anjan Das made the Indian Bengali film, ''Achin Pakhi (2010)'', based on Monpura.

Awards

National Film Awards

''Monpura'' won in five categories at the National Film Awards, including Best Film. * Winner Best Film: Anjan Chowdhury Pintu * Winner Best Actor:

(Shared with Ferdous for ''Gongajatra'') * Winner Best Villain Character: Mamunur Rashid * Winner Best Screenplay: Giasuddin Selim * Winner Best Singer: Chondona Mazumder and Kazi Krishnokoli Islam

Meril-Prothom Alo Awards

* Winner Best Film Actor: Mamunur Rashid''BDTalks, 2009'
Winners of Meril-Prothom Alo Award 2009, Bangladesh
''Accessed: 31 October 2011''

Music

Bangla films rarely come under the spotlight by their music. It was thought that the music from ''Monpura'' was collected from Bangladeshi folk music, but almost all are original songs. The album has been noted for its depth, creative thought, and trend-breaking effort. "Shonai Hai Haire," written by director Giasuddin Selim, tells the story of a daughter's death, whose funeral is attended by her father and father-in-law. "Aage Jodi Jantam," lyrics and music by Krishnokoli Islam, also tells the story of a broken heart - leaving the house of a girl and her life of regret. "Shonar Moyna Pakhi," lyrics and music by Osman Khan and sung by Arnob, expresses the desire to see a loved one at any cost, even if it comes before one's death. The album was released in August 2008 by Laser Vision.

Track

সহকারি সঙ্গীত পরিচালক: অদিত। (Assistant Music Director: Odit.) বাঁশী: জালাল। ঢোল: নজরুল। সন্তুর: স্বপন।(Flute: Jalal. Dhol: Nazrul. Sontur: Swopon) দোতারা: শরীফ, গৌরব। (Dotara: Shorif, Gourob) Recorded: at Bengal Studio. AudioCD Cover Photography: Tanvir Music arranged & composed for songs by Arnob Script, Dialogue and Direction : Gias Uddin Selim Cinematography: Kamrul Hasan Khosru Edit & Music Direction : Iqbal A. Kabir Joel

References

External links

*
Monpura
at th
Rotten Tomatoes
{{Bangladesh National Film Award Best Film 2009 films 2009 romance films Love trilogy (film series) Bengali-language Bangladeshi films Bangladeshi romance films Films scored by Shayan Chowdhury Arnob 2000s Bengali-language films Best Film National Film Award (Bangladesh) winners Films whose writer won the Best Screenplay National Film Award (Bangladesh) Films directed by Giasuddin Selim