BANGLA SURF GIRLS: BREAKING FREE

Lalita Krishna is an award-winning documentary-maker whose work on wide-ranging subjects has garnered acclaim nationally and internationally.

Her latest documentary, Bangla Surf Girls, features three determined girls from the slums of Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh who dare to dream of escape from their lives of poverty by joining a surfing program.

It’s an unlikely story – who thinks of surfing in Bangladesh? Or of girl surfers there? And that’s what caught Krishna’s attention.

“To me, it is important to show the empowerment of girls and through this unlikely sport of surfing we dispel many stereotypes about the country and religion.”

Bangla Surf Girls is an immersive documentary in which we witness the transformation of young girls who join a local surf club and dare to dream of escape from the threat of early childhood marriage. It captures the raw emotions, the family dynamics, and the complex pressures of poverty.

Surfing allows them, a young girl shares, to dream of the future, not dwell on the past. “Now I am free,” she says.

Shobe, 13, reveals that an uncle was willing to sell her for 50,000 Bangladeshi taka to a man in Oman. “I know everything,” she says, mature beyond her years. She points to a friend, now married and a mother of two.

She dreams of travelling and becoming famous. And of the day when her father might return, on seeing her on television.

Suma, 15, injured in a previous surfing accident, giggles while sharing that she applies make-up before going surfing, though her mother disapproves. The prize money she wins helps support her family.

Ayesha, 13, had been selling handicrafts on the beach for five years, but was inspired by another female surfer to try it herself.

Their coach, a young man named Rashed, takes them under his wing, looking out for them, protecting them from negative attention that comes their way, persuading their families to let the girls continue.

But admitting that they face obstacles from family, neighbours, as well as the larger community, he says the girls “can’t chase dreams without permission”.

Balancing the freedom of the waves with the restrictive realities of their circumstances, the documentary explores the thrill and struggle of coming-of-age in a developing country.

Moving, uplifting and tons of fun, with stunning cinematography, it has been invited to premier at the Hot Docs film festival this year.

Krishna worked with Dhaka-based Bangladeshi filmmaker Elizabeth D’ Costa on this doc.

“I met Elizabeth when I was making a different film called Untying the Knot about domestic abuse also in Bangladesh,” says Krishna.

Bangla Surf Girls was filmed between 2016-2019 by D’Costa.

Krishna travelled to Bangladesh in October 2018 with a Canadian crew and edited during COVID all of last year in Toronto.  She describes it as an ideal collaboration between a Canadian producer with a talented local filmmaker.

“I am the writer and producer and Elizabeth is the director and cinematographer.”

Untying the Knot premiered on CBC last year and is doing the rounds in the US now. Members of the community came from far and wide to attend the screening that was held at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers cinema in 2019.

Born in Kolkata, Krishna says she’s drawn to the region and to Bangladesh and its people.

And there are countless stories to be told, she says.

Krishna came to Canada in 1989 after having worked in television and advertising in Delhi and Mumbai.

While working at TVO, she was given a series to produce on anti-racist education. That was a tremendous act of empowerment, she had said in an earlier interview with Desi News. One that made her actively aware of racism in schools and in the workplace. She was going into schools and looking at the curriculum and was able to help her own children with issues they were facing at school. At the same time, she realized that just because we are people of colour, it does not mean we come with an understanding of what racism is or that we are not racist ourselves.

“I understood the class and caste privileges I’d enjoyed in India, and it made me question, who was I to point a finger?”

The work she did for that series has impacted all of Krishna’s subsequent work for it made her realize that one has to acknowledge racism if one has to move beyond it. “I was told by many people that it is very hard to break into the media scene here in Canada, but I believe if you really want to do something, you can. Just don’t let anyone dissuade you!”

 • If you’d like to share the story of your arrival in Canada, please write to desinews@rogers.com or call 416-695-4357.