Amazon Obhijaan (আমাজন অভিযান)

Teacher! Letter for you!

The second largest continent in the world.

Africa!

The first signs of human life in Africa can be traced back to 7 million years ago.

Teacher!

Saraswati, where were the first cavemen found?

Africa. - Good.

What's the matter, Nokur? Why are you panting?

I have a telegram for you.

It's from Kolkata.

It's from an Italian maiden from Kolkata.

What's her name?

Anna Florian.

What is it? A love letter?

No.

She hopes to meet me.

Who knows what she wants?

Never!

Don't get involved with these foreign girls!

What will people say?

Ma... - Hmm.

...she's not coming to offer her hand in marriage.

You are too much!

She might as well have...

Would give you a chance to become a family man!

Then you would finally stop travelling all over the world!

You need to calm down.

Ma, this is the age to travel the world.

That's enough! Go to Kalighat and pray to the Goddess!

I've already sent the telegram.

Dear Anna! Welcome to Keutia!

Wow! What a nice car!...

Anna. Anna Florian.

Shankar Chowdhury.

I am an anthropologist from Italy.

Are you really an anthropologist?

Yes, sir. I love to work with tribal people all across the world.

Congolese, Africa, Mesoamerica,

India and so on.

I see.

Here in India, I have studied the Khasi, Naga,

or Munda and Toto people.

Really? That's incredible!

I would love to learn about ethnic people too.

But I've come to meet you for a different reason altogether, Shankar.

What is it?

Cauliflower curry and luchi (flatbread). Want some?

Luchi! Sounds so Italian. Love you Ma!

Hey! - Please...

Where will she stay at night? She's already made me her mother-in-law!

Ma... - I will return to Kolkata in the evening, Ma.

You can speak Bengali?

Yes.

Do you want some lentil cake curry?

Tell me...

We are from the island of Sardinia, Italy.

12 years ago my father brought me from Sardinia to Sao Paulo.

Brazil?

Yes, Brazil!

My father Marco Florian was a pianist.

He headed the keyboard section for the Theatro Municipal de Sao Paulo.

Philharmonic?

But in the last 2 years our lives have changed completely.

Why? What happened?

It was my father's dream...

He would become an explorer, a prospector, you see.

That's why he quit his job as a musician and...

...joined the Amazon expedition, two years ago.

He tried navigating the Amazon upstream.

Your father had set out to explore Amazonia?

But why?

Papa had gone out in search of Lake Parime.

Legend says, the City of Gold lies on the bank of Lake Parime.

City of Manoa!

El Dorado.

City of Gold... - Yes!

Francisco de Orellana, the navigator...

...one who explored the Amazon first,

had an anonymous co-voyager, who drew a map.

A piece of which my father had procured.

It mentioned the route to the legendary city.

Your father had a piece of the map to El Dorado?

Yes, but that map was tattered.

It was also torn and incomplete.

And no one knew where the other half was.

The exploration failed due to the emergence of a cyclone on the river.

It is the cyclone in Amazon that caused the shipwreck.

The piece of the map was lost.

And the rest of the crew died...

...while my father alone could swim and make it to the shore.

Your father's adventure sounds like a fairy tale.

Exactly!

My sick father was rescued by the Mura Indians.

They brought him back to civilisation.

My father was afflicted by the yellow fever.

It was a sand fly bite.

His old Portugese friend, Carlito Benitez...

...nursed my father and cured him.

How is he now?

Worse.

He has become an alcoholic.

A lonely and defeated human being.

No.

You cannot say that one is defeated if he fights and loses.

Because a man who is defeated can never fight.

Marco Florian still believes in the existence of El Dorado.

He believes that the City of Gold exists...

...in the valley of the Lower Orinoco river.

The legend of El Dorado is not a myth, Shankar.

The tribes of Amazonia believe so.

And it is this belief that has driven my father mad.

And you have come so far to tell me all of this!

But why?

Why are you sharing all this with me?

Help me out!

I need you to save him from this painful mental agony.

Me?

You are a real explorer, Shankar.

I have read about you.

You can do it.

With you by his side, I am sure my father's dream will come true.

Don't you wish to see the City of Gold?

When are you planning for the expedition?

It was towards the beginning of World War I

When the whole of Europe was fighting the war of...

...nationalism and expansion of empires.

A Bengali man, in colonised India had been overcome...

...by a calling from beyond the seas.

The Northern terrain of South America was calling out to him.

The violent cosmos had created another extensive battlefield for him.

Shankar set out to become one of the few men to have explored Amazonia.

May God be with you...

Ana and Shankar travelled the seas for a long time.

Bombay Port, Piraeus Port in Greece,

the Seville harbour in Italy, and the city of Lisbon had to be passed...

in order to cross the Atalntic and arrive at the port of Santos in South America.

The excitement of seeing the unseen helped Shankar overcome his tiredness.

Shankar's wanderlust finally took flight.

My friend!

Anna, welcome to Santos. - Thank you very much, Carlito.

My friend from India, Shankar Chowdhury.

India? The subcontinent of various cultures.

I love India.

Glad to meet you, Carlito.

Let's go home Shankar. Papa is waiting for us.

Marco is not home. He hasn't got back last night.

Oh!

He must have been to the Opera House then.

Who is it?

It's your daughter, Marco! She has come from India.

I missed you so much!

Anna!

Papa! - Anna!

Papa! I missed you a lot too.

Look at you! You are all skin and bones.

Stop worrying about me Pa- - No, no...

Tonight we celebrate your return home.

Tonight we drink the whole night.

Papa! No alcohol, please.

Look who has come to help us out in our voyage.

Who is he?

The Bengali gentleman Fitzgerald used to talk about.

Shankar, the explorer of Africa.

This man from the Orient will help us out in our mission in the Amazon.

Namaste. Shankar Chowdhury.

You're crazy! Stupid girl!

You bring a Bengali gentleman to help us in a rainforest?

No! No!

He will be a wasteful expenditure!

Useless! - Papa wait!

He can do wonders.

That boy is an ignorant fellow.

Useless!...

I have dragged this gentleman all the way from Asia...

...and now you cannot dishonour him. He is our guest in Sao Paulo.

Have I denied him residence in my villa?

He is going to have to pay and prove his worth.

You and your mother suffer from the same disease.

You always fail to find quality men in life!

And that includes you too, Papa.

Excuse me, my friend.

Wise man from the East!

What do you know about the Amazon?

Amazon is the lungs of the planet.

The Carbon Sink. Which we are gradually destroying.

In the same way that the cigar is destroying your lungs.

The cigar is my good old friend.

Francisco de Orellana named the river The Amazon.

Do you know why?

Women warriors in the forest reminded him of Amazon women.

The fighters from the Helenic myth.

In Greece.

It's a common knowledge. Everybody knows that.

The Virgins of the Sun.

Have you ever even read about them?

Because I, Marco Florian...

...I have witnessed them.

This is your room. The guest room of our Villa Rufolo.

Rest for the day.

Grazie.(Thank you)