CALCUTTA, 17 April 2004 — The ruling Marxists have roped in a prominent film director to shoot a documentary on the ‘silent revolution’ in the West Bengal countryside since the Left Front came to power in 1977.

Tarun Majumdar — one of Tollygunje’s most successful movie-makers — is directing a 40-minute long film produced by Communist Party of India (Marxist) for screening before the upcoming parliamentary elections in a bid to boost its image.

West Bengal’s 42 constituencies will go to polls on May 10. In 1999, CPI(M)-led Left Front bagged 29 seats, while Trinamul Congress Party, Congress party and Bharatiya Janata Party won eight, three and two seats, respectively.

The documentary is entitled “Rangamaatir Path” — a highly-evocative expression from a Rabindranath Tagore song describing the red laterite soil in many parts of Bengal, particularly Birbhum.

“Rangamaatir Path”, which is currently being shot in Birbhum, is Majumdar’s first documentary film.

It also enjoys the distinction of being the first ever propaganda film produced by the CPI(M) for electioneering.

The film will be ready for screening by today. CPI(M) Secretary Anil Biswas says that after the film’s premiere, CDs will be distributed to boost the party’s prospects in the parliamentary poll.

Assisting Majumdar in the novel celluloid project is another leading director, Goutam Haldar, and Shibaji Chattopadhyay who is scoring the music for the documentary.

The CPI(M)’s land reforms, particularly Operation Barga, which established the tillers’ right over agricultural land, has turned rural West Bengal into a red fortress which national parties like the Congress party or the Trinamul Congress have failed to breach. The film tells the story of the Left Front’s success in the countryside through the eyes of four young men who witness sweeping positive changes in their villages thanks to the Marxists.

“I am not a politician. But I closely observe the world of politics. I am recording on celluloid the radical transformation of rural Bengal after 1977”, said Majumdar.

CPI(M) leaders say that the party has traditionally banked on street plays and various cultural programs to win over the masses. But it decided to produce a documentary film to counter the opposition’s “sustained false propaganda”, particularly the “India Shining” campaign.

Meanwhile, in another pre-election coup, CPI(M) has won over famous actress Madahabi Mukherjee who will vigorously canvass for Left Front candidates in rural and urban areas.

Madhabi, the heroine in Satyajit Ray’s Charulata, has defected to the red party from the opposition Trinamul Congress.

Trinamul Congress pitted Madhabi against Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya in Jadavpur constituency in the 2001 state assembly elections in West Bengal.

Madhabi, who lost by a huge margin, showered fullsome praise on Bhattacharya and the Left Front at a CPI(M)-sponsored intellectuals’ convention in Kolkata.

Madhabi shared the dais with other leading Bengali film personalities who raised their voices against the communal BJP and its regional stooge, Trinamul Congress.

Ridiculing the BJP’s “India Shining” campaign, Madhabi said: “I really don’t know who is feeling good. I am not feeling too good. I don’t know of others who are feeling good. How can you feel good when minorities are being butchered as in Gujarat and factories are being shut down by the BJP-led national government.”