Kolkata: To commemorate the club's centenary, Jamshed Nassiri said in the middle of the documentary "Shotoborshe East Bengal" that we didn't fully comprehend what this was all about until a few games into it.

In 1980, Nassiri played for an East Bengal club whose roster had been decimated. However, similar to Shyam Thapa, who recounted receiving a hilsa on the field during East Bengal's legendary 5-0 victory over Mohun Bagan in the 1975 IFA Shield final, Nassiri recalled the fans' intense adoration for the players who wore the red and gold jersey. East Bengal, led by coach PK Banerjee and driven primarily by the exploits of Nassiri and Majid Baskar, shared the Federation Cup and the Rovers Cup that year.

The documentary, which was helmed by renowned filmmaker Gautam Ghose, attempted to communicate this very point. East Bengal became an emotion, a symbol for a displaced population, because of their capacity to overcome the odds. According to Soumitra Chatterjee, the actor in the movie, it's a temple. In opposition to the Indian Football Association (IFA), when Bengal's highest body had attempted to delay East Bengal's elevation to the first division, one person's "mashal" turned into more than just a torch. The "mashal" turned into a sign of hope for the downtrodden.

According to Kalyan Majumdar, the club's longtime former secretary, those who had been uprooted from their moorings by Partition and then by the wars in 1965 and 1971 felt at home there. The "homeless people of the world" are the focus of the film.

As a result, it made sense that Jyotish Guha, who served as general secretary for 28 years throughout the Bengal Famine, World War II, and mass migration from across the West Bengal border, would challenge state chief minister Bidhan Ray and reject changing the club's name. The documentary claims that the name came from a defunct indoor sports club in the home of the liberation hero "Deshbandhu" Chittaranjan Das.

The beginning of the documentary, which was launched on Thursday in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, several former players, East Bengal's Indian Women's League (IWL) winning team, and current men's team coach Oscar Bruzon, is full of tales like this. It was a smart idea to use film from Bangla cinema ("Ora Thakey Odhare" 1954) to illustrate what East Bengal represented to those who were establishing themselves in Kolkata, as well as to show Uttam Kumar wearing the club's shirt in "Saptapadi" 1961, apparently at the urging of his heroine, Suchitra Sen.

It was also wonderful to see and hear from a number of those who have passed away, including Banerjee, Chatterjee, and Chuni Goswami.

The club's famous wins in India's blue riband competitions—most of which are now defunct—are discussed in interviews, along with the club's history of holding players in safe homes prior to signing for the team, a practice that was prevalent in Kolkata from the 1960s through the 1990s.

However, there are too many interviews, and the speed slows down as one former player speaks after the other. Other factual errors include Emeka Ezuego's participation in the 1986 World Cup, which took place eight years later, and the 5-0 game taking place at Eden Gardens when it was on Mohun Bagan field. The club's rich history in hockey is only mentioned as an afterthought, and many names are spelled incorrectly in the English subtitles. The release is also strange considering that sport is all about timing, and it occurs almost five years after East Bengal celebrated its centenary.

Nonetheless, it's worth seeing, warts and all, because the film chronicles the legendary history of one of the remaining clubs in Asia and is a unique undertaking in Indian sports. Ghose and the club should be commended in a nation where archival material is hard to come by and much less accessible. Although their work may not always be memorable, it is undeniably significant.

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