'Bow Barracks' courts controversy over Anglo-Indian portrayal

Aug 1, 2007 IANS



Kolkata, Aug 1 (IANS) "Bow Barracks Forever", a film on Anglo-Indians, has run into controversy for alleged portrayal of the community in a poor light even as a nominated Anglo-Indian legislator has demanded a ban on it.


The film, directed by Anjan Dutta and produced by Pritish Nandy Communications, portrays the joys and angst of Anglo-Indians living in Bow Barracks in central Kolkata, which had been constructed to house American soldiers in the city after World War II.


Barry O'Brien, the nominated Anglo-Indian MLA in the West Bengal assembly, has demanded that the film be banned unless it carries a statement that the story is a work of fiction.


"The Anglo-Indian community has been shown in a poor light. The storyline about land sharks trying to grab Bow Barracks is far from truth," O'Brien told reporters here Tuesday.


He said the Christians and the Anglo-Indians have been portrayed as an idle community, but many of them work in the IT and corporate sectors.


Dutta, whose affinity towards the community is well known, tried to play down the controversy. "The story of 'Bow Barracks' is fictional. I have celebrated the love and affection for the Anglo-Indians in the film," he said.


Producer Pritish Nandy, however, sounded a tad belligerent. "There is nothing wrong in the representation of facts in the film. If there is an issue regarding insertion of a line (that it is a work of fiction), I will fight my case but will do nothing under pressure from a politician," a local report quoted him as saying.


The barracks, located in a lane off Chittaranjan Avenue in central Kolkata, is home to 132 families - Anglo-Indians, Chinese, Goans, Gujaratis, Biharis and Bengalis.


The state government is planning to reconstruct the barracks - which had been declared unsafe by the Kolkata Improvement Trust - under public private partnership with nominal contribution from the present occupants.



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Bow Barracks Forever


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