BLACKOUT: A VIGOROUS-BOLD-EXPERIMENTAL STORY WITHOUT A TALE Fahmidul Haque ………………………………………………………………………………… A one-day-fine-arts-student and poet Tokon Thaakoor starts his journey in the premises of cinematography with Blackout. Not strictly a biography, though, it is a part of the same. He, here, himself apportioned into two, as does a bacterium; the two main protagonists Rafi and Madol are an artist and a poet respectively. In many way, they are identical with Thakoor- above thirty, unmarried, live on a garret (an attic), smitten with reverie-love-lust... all carnal desires. The way the poet (in the Blackout) is overwhelmed of his childhood, it seems, Thakoor is visualizing his autobiography. Though Blackout doesn’t show us the every details of an autobiography, it is certainly a documentation of a part of contemporary youth lifestyle and practice of dreamy obsession, the worse for intoxicating drug or liquor, unmet desire for sex. Specially, it is the documentation of artistry-love-lust of those fresh-blood youths, within a-some hundred yards between Dhaka Fine Arts Institute and Aziz Super Market, by whom the contemporary Dhaka-based art-culture-literature is being practiced and exercised. Rather the director didn’t follow the usual narrative of conventional documentary or feature-film; he went through the complex experimental course of metaphor-metaphysics in addition to animation. Probably, it is the Blackout presents before us with large-scale experimental relish ever in our country. The prime criterion of this digital fiction is its statelessness; self-perception dominates here as does in experimental short story. A used-to-viewer of simple narrative cinematography doesn’t feel ease here. This is rather an expression of feelings of this transition period youth- as a poetry, or as an artwork, partly revealed, the rest remains unrevealed. Blackout will definitely touch those young afflicted with creativity-love-lust-liquor-agony; also those non-young interested to realize the present-day youth. Others may refuse to accept Blackout, due partly to its unconventional complex type of presentation, and partly to its immoral (!) unaccustomed (!) commentary. Here, in Blackout, an artist sketches a mature penis and calls it missile; masturbation contexts are there; character here is both homo- and hetero-sexual. Films released from FDC shows raw nudity, unreliably though; even then, those easily pass the censor-board. In brief, the story of this film is: poet Madol and artist Rafi lives in a garret of two compartments. They sleep together, share all their weal and woe. Rafi named his room Tahiti, the name he borrowed from the Tahiti series of paintings of European Artist Gauguin. Rafi has a girlfriend, he imagines her as Tahiti-girl, loves her, and even wants to marry her. But the girl Miti, though doesn’t disregard him, not certainly loves him. Rafi wants to portrait Miti, he wants Miti offers him a sitting as a model for that. Miti doesn’t exactly want to be a model for him, but for commercial advertisement. At the end of the film, she flies away from Rafi’s Tahiti Island to the Island Bali; she becomes model of an advertisement. However, before that, their relation came off. Another protagonist, Poet Madol is a homebird, depressed; in many of his poetry, there is reference of a girl Shalmoli. Visibly, their relationship didn’t develop anyway. Shalmoli is in her imagination: far away from the town, laid down beneath thousands of Marigold flower on a foggy open meadow, he approaches her crossing the meadow, uncovers her face of flowers, and kisses her. The snapshot of her face covered with colorful flowers remains deeply static in his mind; nothing more than this he can remember. Rafi has got another world outside the room- Miti, Dadu (common Dadu, the living legendary Grandfather of all at Fine Arts Institute), many other friends he often meets on road, senior artist Dhruba Esh, and he has aimless walking on footpath. On the contrary, Madol has a world of one room, the top of the roof, standing on that bickering through beckoning with the little girl at the neighbor building, and a vast world of imagination, where he remember an incidence of his childhood- rubbing his nose on the ground as a punishment for smoking, the very moment of blowing the trumpet of the missing Baul, and some women like Shalmoli-Shokuntola. If Rafi’s room is Tahiti, then Madol’s room is Mokam, where he composes poetry in Photoshop instead of MS-Word. When Rafi goes on a dating with Miti, Rafi has got the option of masturbation. The rest of the film shows casual conversation between Rafi and Madol, sitting or lying on the bed; sometimes discuss on important issues however. In the film, there is no-story in the above-described story. No-story is the story of this film. So what is the film about? The director wanted to visualize his Time. Madol writes a poetry on a photoshop file: Time, you greeny witch/ you live across the earth/ in the twilight zone/ you sketch the picture of the sunken ship/ with the dead sailor’s bones. Here in Blackout, Dhaka Fine Arts Institute and Aziz Super Market is present as it is, as well is present contemporary singer Kofil Ahmed and his songs, artist Dhruba Esh, writer Ahmad Sofa and his Pushpo Brikshya and Bihongopuraan. This is how accurately the director wanted to present his Time before us. Multiple presence of the song Time, you greeny witch... also indicates that. However, he wanted to visualize his time, but only a part of that could he visualize. Except a still picture of the Buddhijibi Smritishoudho (Martyr Monument) at Royer Bazaar, no other context of his present-time own national politics or fanatic fundamentalism was visualized. The commercial usage of the female in this globalization era is presented through the character Miti a bit; something in reference to politics or others could have been represented through the main two protagonists. Through the two principal protagonists (probably the two halves of director himself), the references of cannabis-liquor-masturbation-homosexuality were visualized. These were so long been avoided carefully in the visual media of our country. The social structure and the viewers’ conservative mental structure might be the leading cause there. Tokon Thakoor, overcoming that conservatism, took a groundbreaking enterprise obviously. Homosexuality demands a further elaboration in this regard. The two main protagonists pass their casual time together, one leaning on another, or one makes another his pillow. Touching each other or passing one’s hand lightly caressingly over another’s is a very natural for them. Rafi makes inquiries whether Madol has taken something after taking liquor. Their attraction for each other is deep, but the expression is quite natural. Rafi has a Miti, Madol is devoid of any female mating. Once, Miti leaves Rafi. The only real friend remains is Madol, with whom Rafi can share each and everything in the world. Depressed Rafi expresses his pain to Madol; to let alone those pains, they together sings and dances. In the meantime, it is revealed that Madol is truly depressed; he expresses that to singer Kofil: he finds nothing good in anything. In a very sensitive moment of self-contempt, Rafi wants to kiss Madol. Madol says, “O my Elton John, this is Bangladesh”. In response to that, Rafi come back telling, “Oh I was about to forget that”. No other but this kissing scenario represents the homosexuality. Rafi didn’t get Miti, nor did Madol Shalmoli. The real friendship, the real love sustains between Madol and Rafi. Taking reference from Freud’s psychoanalysis, it is a sort of homosexuality. There are a number of artistic films on homosexuality and lesbianism in Europe and America. Specially, Gay-films are studied in queer studies. Moly Huskel terms these films as Buddy Movies. Tokon touches this special field in his artwork. In addition to the subject matter, he also experimented in relation to the artistry form. Let me repeat, it is the Blackout, the full-length video-film, presents before us with large-scale experimental relish ever in our country. The complex narrative is structured taking help from metaphor-metaphysics. Thakoor acknowledges and dedicates this film to Hrithwik Ghotok and Kuroshawa as his Murobbi (Senior) at title-card, though no sign of Hrithwik’s melodrama or Kuroshawa’s Samurai culture is observed. Rather, it seems he is a follower of Bunuel or Fellini. The horse presented here with a great metaphor. Thakoor’s production company is Astabol (a stable for horse) Love Factory. The calling-bell of Madol-Rafi’s garret sounds the neigh. The neigh sound is also used several times in the soundtrack of Ornob. At the end of the title card, a horse is seen coming from a mountain down along the valley. May be, it symbolizes youth, power, force and virility. Thakoor used foggy morning for his metaphysics. To symbolize blowing trumpet, to make the running of Rafi to flower-cover faces of Shalmoli dreamy, he used foggy mornings. Nevertheless, the limitations of the director must also be noted. One among those is: still pictures of Rafi and Miti are being visualized while in soundtrack, lovely poetic but enigmatic dialogues are being heard. After this sequence, Rafi and Miti is seen coming up on a staircase wearing wedding dress. After that, they stand before a gate. Rafi wants to open the lock on the gate, but the lock doesn’t response. Embarrassed Rafi told Miti that he had brought a wrong key. Here this dreamy scene came to an end. The scene is really nice as a concept that Miti is not going to be his life-partner. This scene could have been visualized in a more attractive and artistic way: let us visualize ourselves a white staircase, no wall around, only emptiness all around, at the end of the staircase there is a metaphysical gate, and a lock of that sort... We may rememorize the scenario of Federico Fellini’s Eight And Half. There are a number of long shot in Blackout, but the action of big close-up will be able to attract the vision of alert viewers. The question of excessive big close-up remains unanswered. Does Thakoor, this way, like to create his own cinematographic language? Visualization of adolescent and young Madol, dissolving the time boundary, is praise-worthy presentation of the director. The acting phenomenon here is very casual, so reliable and praise-worthy. Tanvir Hasan and Rahul Ananda deserves appraisal for working as Rafi and Madol character respectively. But, Tina as Miti is not so spontaneous. Specially, her dialogue throwing was weak enough. Bappi Ashraf, Borsha Bivabori, Belayet Hossain, Zuena Ferdous Mitul and Dadu worked very well. The conversation between Rafi and Dhruba Esh could have undergone more perfection. Dialogue in this frame seemed to be a bit irrelevant. Rafi comes out of Dhruba Esh’s residence, even then their conversation at floor is seen. Is it editorial problem, or unconventional whimsy of narrative, remains undetermined? One of the major contributions of this film is its music. Shayan Chowdhury Ornob is a young musician, known for fusion of Bangla songs. He used western musical instrument tremendously here, especially notable here is piano. He is also the sound director of the dreamy part of the film. Therefore, he could handle the music and literary part himself with proven creativity. He proved his excellence in singing the songs “why is the moment so long” and “Time, you greeny witch...”. The former he sang with his own characteristic tone and tune; and the later, actually a poetry of renowned poet Ronojit Das, “Time, you greeny witch...” carried us to a desert. Kofil Ahmed’s song “I eat fire, Sleeps in fire...”, “Be here friend...”, “Jesus....” made a different exaggeration in this film. His songs, non-romantic non-rebellious, are well-put in Thakoor’s film. Most of the videography, editing and sound editing was perfectly performed by young genius Sameer Ahmed. He has done a great job with tremendous perfection. The superimposition technique, ultimately mandatory for dreamy scenarios, used by the editor is excellent to acknowledge. Along with documentation of the script, like documentary, camera moved without prior preparation. Drinking scenario at garret is to be noted here. The editor proved his expertise in visualizing, at the end of the film, the artwork of Picasso-Dali-Van Gough-Matisse-Bonnard-Klee-Chagall-Jackson Pollock-Kandinski-and-others, photography of known-unknown faces, attractive and erotic images of female body-parts within moments. In the background of this kolas, along with journey-music soundtrack of Azarbizan-Iranian sufi singer Ashik Hasan Iskandari, there was soundtrack of Nigerian singer Fela Kuti and Femi Kuti, songs of Bimol Baul, Lalon’s songs, and Don Mackmillan’s Van Gugh song… Starry starry night... Another notable portion of Blackout is its animation and imagery. Sketching, art direction, playing card design and title animation- this Herculean job was done by Abdul Halim Chanchal. Such extensive animation works were never used in Bangla film before. The director visualized the metaphorical scene “a lonely eagle at moonlit night” with the help of animation, in addition to the title-card at starting and at the end. Chinmoy Devorshi paid his utmost care in visualizing this scene, and the scenario of coming down of the tired horse from the mountain along the valley. The animation at the end title card conceptualized from Dali’s “persistence of memory” is a nice creation indeed. Richard Rozario has done a great job in the field of still photography. A complete sequence was synthesized with the help of still photography only. Well, Blackout, a 97-minute-video-format film, is straight in its statement, is experimental in its form-technique. Director Tokon Thakoor proved his talent-maturity in his very first film. It seems, he had a long course of preparation before going in for Blackout.