'Jonmo Sathi': Seeds of rape

There will come a time, when the actual witnesses of the horror unleashed upon Bangladesh, especially on the women and children during the treacherous months of 71, will be no more. However, along with the word of mouth, the documentation of these horrific events, in the form of art—cinema, songs, documentaries, paintings, etc—will stand as a testament against time, to educate the generations to come, about the genocide that we survived.

Born a year after the nation, Shabnam Ferdousi is one such modern day Bangladeshi warrior, who took the responsibility upon herself to carry the torch that will illuminate the way for the inheritors of our precious culture and heritage. From a model in front of the camera to a filmmaker behind the device, she has come a long way with thirty-five films and eight awards under her belt.

On Friday, her documentary film titled Jonmo Sathi (Born Together), which has already garnered three accolades prior to its commercial release, was screened at the theatre of The Liberation War Museum, which has also jointly produced the film in collaboration with Ekattor TV. Celebrated director Tauquir Ahmed, thespian Sara Zaker and filmmaker Samia Zaman were also present at the event. The focal point of her film was based on the children of war- babies that were born post-war, without any registered fathers. Shabnam Ferdousi was born in 1972 along with a few other newborns and at the age of 43, she embarked on a journey to learn the whereabouts and the struggles of her birth mates, some of whom were the outcome of the ruthless rapes during the Liberation War.

The documentary tries to acknowledge the hardships faced by these children of war; the children of the Birangona (the Bangladeshi state uses the term to mean 'war-heroine'). As the victims spoke of their identity crisis, a shiver of shame ran through my body as helplessness took over my feelings. Shunned by society, they live a life, lost in the trauma that has haunted them from birth. The void inside them somewhat reflects on the screen, but the severity of it was confirmed during the question and answer session with Shabnam Ferdousi that followed after the screening. The insightful documentary will surely evoke new thoughts, as it explores a phase of our Liberation War that is yet to unveil the wounds deep beneath the surface of our freedom.