Alienation and Exploitation in Padma Nadir Majhi

Name: Harun Or Rashid

Submitted to: Professor Dr. AJM Shafiul Alam Bhuiyan.

Course: TFS 501: Film Theory and Criticism.

A proposal for a research paper  about alienation and exploitation in  Padma Nadir Majhi (the Boatman of the River Padma.)

Selected Movie:  Padma Nadir Majhi (Boatman of the River Padma) (1993) which was directed by Gautam Ghosh.

Topic: Alienation and exploitation in Padma Nadir Majhi (Boatman of the River Padma.)  

Research Questions:

1. How class division was portrayed in the film?
2. How common fishermen were separated from fish that they caught?
3. How did Hossain Miah and Ajan Khura, representing bourgeois class, exploit Kuber?
4. Why did Kuber not revolt against the system?

Theoretical Framework:

To analyze this film critically, I will use “Marxist Ideology”.   From the Marxist point of view, Marx segmented human history in different societies: feudal society, tribal society, capitalist society and ancient society. In each society, there were existence of two general classes, based on relation to mode of production,   which are ruling class and working class.

 Marxist ideology explains all human relationships or activities in terms of distribution and dynamics of economic power between socio-economic classes in society. In a capitalist society, capitalists own and control the productive resources, while workers, the proletariat, were only virtual tools working for these capitalists who own the product and sell it at a profit. (Leena, 2018, p.86).  Unknown purchaser controls worker’s destiny.

Alienation and disalienation is one of the major themes concerned with the functional aspect of art. Fundamental traits of alienation during capitalist era are: the working person is separated from the product of work, competition for profits shapes the production process and condition of production process takes the worker further away from his natural capacities and recognition of his works.  

 How will I apply this theory in this film’s Maxsim

I will explain this film from Marxist point of view. Identifying two different social classes presented at that time, I will discuss their traits in the film. At the same time, using maxist ideological tool, I will describe the process of exploitation of the ruling class. The discussion of common fishermen’s alienation from their product of work (fish) will also be placed in this research. I will find out the reason of Kuber’s inability to make revolution against the society. For this research, I will take help from various journals   and books.