Tearjerker films and novels: our obsession with sadness as solace!

In Bangladesh, entertainment often revolves around tragic tales, where heroes perish and lovers are torn apart

The West has stopped making movies with bleak endings some time ago.

In short, protagonists do not die or end up losing the love interest and the audience do not leave the theatre with a grim face or moist eyes.

This is because the word “entertainment” has evolved quite a lot to solely mean relief, elation and joviality.

One goes to the cinema or cuddles up with a book not to end up feeling desolate, but to be revived.

That is perhaps the reason why there has been a surge of Hollywood super hero films in recent times.

A total escape from the drudgery of reality and getting lost in fantasy.

Evil is pulverised, and the decent have reason to feel optimistic because, out there in this mean world, someone with special powers is ready to come to their aid.

Add in a few romantic lines, mind-blowing action and there you have it – a recipe for a runaway success!

However, in Bangladesh, the word entertainment is still laced with sorrow, meaning, we get loads of movies or books where the protagonist dies or the lovers are separated, creating an atmosphere of doom and despondence.

In written fiction, shattering readers’ hearts with a tragedy is still a major motivation for writers.

Somehow, we cannot get “tragedy” out of our system!

If Shakespeare was around, he would be amazed to see the Romeo and Juliet impact surviving with such a vengeance among Bangladeshis.

Notice, I did not say South Asia because other countries have moved on from the tear-jerking format.

This Eid, of the top three movies, two saw the main characters bite the dust, although there was no need to plunge the audience into misery.

“Hey, relax, it’s just a movie,” one of my friends told me and I realised that in half an hour we would be forgetting it.

But then, while sipping the post movie tea, this obsession with death, tragedy and separation in fiction kept nagging me.

DESOLATION SYNDROME WOVEN INTO THE SOCIAL CREED

The desire to end entertainment with death or separation stems from the belief that sad endings make a lasting mark while happy ones do not.

Someone once told me, if Juliet had not taken the death-feigning potion and Romeo had not killed himself believing that his love had died, no one would have remembered the play.

Really?

Actually, after reading the play, I thought: “impetuous fools! This could have been planned better!”

If memory serves me correctly, in the mid 80s, the immensely popular BTV drama, Eishob Dinratri brought the issue of the tragic ending to the fore because Tuni, a child character, was heading to her death at the end of the series.

The series began at a time when the middle-class struggle all across the country had a homogeneous feel since the majority of families had to face the same socio-economic hurdles.

In the decade after liberation, life in Bangladesh was all about overcoming impediments and making the best with what was available.

While the choices were limited, the success of being content with whatever we had was actually impressive.

Anyway, the audience of Eishob Dinratri, anticipating the ominous ending, demanded Tuni be saved by some medical intervention or miracle.

The writer, the renowned Humayun Ahmed, reportedly did not listen to any suggestion.

The grim reaper was not diverted!

Entertainment ended with death and stifled tears.

The same happened in another early 90s BTV series, Kothao Keu Nei, where the character, Baker Bhai, a charming rogue, is sentenced to death for a murder in which he was falsely implicated.

Over the course of the television series, Baker Bhai, won millions of hearts with his gangster like dialogue and appearance but a solid ethical moral stand.

Naturally, when it became clear that he would be walking the gallows, protests erupted.

If the objection to the death in Eishob Dinratri was limited to civil comments then this time, there was a nationwide backlash with people bringing out rallies demanding Baker Bhai be saved in the last episode by a presidential pardon.

Nope, the writer was adamant to kill him, and so, there was another tragic ending with the female protagonist waiting like a living dead at the jail gate to receive the lifeless body.

The nation wept, we avoided seeing the last bit and as far as I remember, the writer reportedly avoided public appearances for some time.

The episodes of Kothao Keu Nei can be found on You Tube but as far as I know, most viewers never watch the last one.

Pointless tragedy, I should say!

In reality, unless someone’s role is definitively proved in a murder, the verdict of death is avoided.

Even if a death sentence is given, for a large number of cases, the original sentence is eventually commuted to life imprisonment.

Naturally, for a fictional work, the ending has to be dramatic or something that gives a jolt, triggering a feeling of despair plus a prolonged period of speculation, marked by a whole lot of “ifs” and “could haves”.

The tendency to revel in desolation became a driving force for the band music revolution of the 80s when hit songs of most bands dealt with the pining of the jilted lover.

ENOUGH TEARS, LET’S LAUGH A BIT!

Do readers and movie-goers want a grim ending? I do not think so!

The time when sadness was a pleasurable past time is gone.

By the way, film makers, writers can always choose the “alternative ending” option if they do not want to compromise on the original plot.

If people opt for the ending with a positive note over the ending with death and separation then the message will be very clear.

There is a famous Kolkata short film made twice by Sandwip Ray, called Bateshwarer Abodan, where a writer, determined to kill off a main character in a popular story being serialised in a magazine, is faced with a series of puzzling incidents.

Watch it and you will want to watch it several times.

The message in the film is something I leave for you to find out.

To be honest, life itself, despite a plethora of creature comforts and an increased income, still has too many low moments.

Hence, entertainment should be just that – a few hours of unvarnished, sometimes unrealistic pleasure.

In the end, people should come out feeling refreshed, reinvigorated and with a smile.

If Shakespeare re-wrote Romeo and Juliet in 2025 against a Bangladeshi setting, then he would have arranged for a WhatsApp strategy between the lovers.

How is this for an ending: Juliet wakes up, finding Romeo by her side and they make a run for it in a car belonging to a mutual friend.

And the last scene can be a sizzling dance scene with a modern rendition of Tumi jekhane Ami Shekhane!

Tragedy, take a hike!

[Towheed Feroze is a former journalist!]