Mostafa Sarwar Farooki is one of the rising big shots and a veteran in Bangladesh TV and film media. I don’t doubt his genius and eccentric creativity for which he is specially acclaimed. But again, being a popular television drama director and a film director are totally two different things. His television dramas are fantastically unique and sometimes weirdly funny. When every other television dramas are full of monotonous cliché and disgusting imitation of Indian soap operas, Sarwar Farooki always comes with a promise of completely different sets of entertainment. When he first came up with his first film “Bachelor”, it was an unbelievably successful film in Bangladesh considering the response from the youngsters. And this film was made for youngsters. I would say, the film has done revolution in contemporary Bangladeshi films. But when he came up with the second film (“Made in Bangladesh”) it was unrealistically and unexpectedly an out of class film. Actually, there is nothing to talk about this one. This time, Sarwar Farooki came up with his third film which was long awaited “3rd Person Singular Number”. I had a chance to watch the film a few days ago. I don't care what others have to say…but I put my hat off to Mr. Farooki. He is indeed a master and a potential hope in our hopeless film industry.
The story circles about a lone girl who has been misfortunate, exhausted and manipulated by the male dominated society of ours where every woman searches for physical and mental security. The protagonist is completely homeless and deserted her family as her husband remains in the jail for murdering someone and her mother stays with her second husband. The film starts with a real kick from the very beginning with dark and tensed sequences and keeps it intact. I am not a feminist but I shared the pain, misery and irony of the central character. There are fun and also disturbance in a good ratio. Some of the sequences are absolute cliché and average. In the character of the “husband”, Mosharraf Karim provides another very “into the character” performance. Topu also delivered an enjoyable and amusing role which was humorous and interesting. Cinematography was good as expected.
Some of the very bitter truths are exposed in the films as good films always do. The psychological and moral dilemma of the central character which Tisha played was gripping and sometimes suffocating. According to our society, ‘living together is not supported at all. Some viewers complained about it but I think there was nothing to complain about this issue because the film also does not support living together without marriage and it shows the evil outcomes of doing it in a conservative society like ours. But I didn't like the ending part that much. It reminded me of watching “Jules and Jim” and other European films which does not match with our socio-cultural and psychological structure. But a director should always have the right to escape to his imagination where reality ends. The most engaging factor is, the film has nothing sinister or shocking plot-line but simple yet meaningful way of showing things. That's the fact I liked most.
To me, it was a film for matured viewers. You will not like the film if you are always looking for funny sequences like Farooki’s previous works. This is unlike his other works…with more depth, messages and reality. In a nutshell, it is a sensible and worth watching film.
