Muktir Gaan
Director: Tareque Masud and Catherine Masud
Year: 1995
Country: Bangladesh
Language: Bangla
Duration: 80 minutes
Muktir Gaan, or “the song of freedom”, is a landmark Bangladeshi documentary film that captures the soul of the 1971 Liberation War. The documentary follows a dedicated travelling cultural troupe—the Bangladesh Mukti Sangrami Shilpi Sangstha (Bangladesh Freedom Struggle Cultural Squad)—as they travel through refugee camps and battle zones. Armed only with harmoniums and their voices, these writers, painters, singers, and stage actors performed patriotic songs and puppet shows to boost the morale of freedom fighters and war-affected civilians. Much of this footage was shot for a shelved documentary and later rescued from storage by the Masuds, who combined it with more archival material to make this film. Beyond its value as a historical chronicle, Muktir Gaan serves as a powerful reminder of how cultural identity can fuel a nation’s struggle for democracy and secularism. Its critical and commercial success, including the 1996 National Award for Best Documentary in Bangladesh and the 1997 Special Jury Prize at the Festival of South Asian Documentaries, secured its place as a definitive cinematic record of a nation’s birth.
About the Directors
Tareque Masud
Tareque Masud was a pioneering Bangladeshi independent filmmaker, screenwriter, and producer who helped shape the country’s alternative cinema movement. His films explored history, identity, and social change, most notably Muktir Gaan (1995) and Matir Moina (2002), which won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Cannes Film Festival Directors’ Fortnight. His work remains central to modern Bangladeshi cinema.
Catherine Masud
Catherine Masud is an American-born filmmaker, editor, and producer who lived in Bangladesh for two decades and collaborated closely with Tareque Masud. Together they co-directed several acclaimed films, including Muktir Kotha, A Kind of Childhood, and Ontarjatra, contributing significantly to the international recognition of Bangladeshi independent cinema.