Emotional collateral of rape

Illustration/Uday Mohite

Globally, people are generally mesmerised by Bollywood, and a few smart film lovers have realised that there are some great films in Malayalam, Tamil, Marathi and other regional languages. Even smarter ones have realised that there are also great films in South Asia - from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan. Ladies and Gentlemen, a superb Bangladeshi web series directed by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, internationally acclaimed Bangladeshi director, just dropped on the streamer Zee5 Global on July 9. An emotionally strong, eight-episode (half-hour ) series on the #MeToo issue and the fight for justice, it has Mahmudul Islam as co-director. This Zee5 Original is available in 190 countries, including India, Bangladesh, USA, UK, Canada and Australia - and is free in Bangladesh. Zee 5 has been pioneering programming from South Asia, including Bangladesh and Pakistan, notably Churails, the kickass Pakistani feminist web series.

Farooki is Bangladesh's most feted filmmaker globally. His body of about 22 works includes the delightful ‘dramedy' film Television, which closed the Busan Film Festival and won the Jury Grand Prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, Australia; Doob - No Bed of Roses starring Irrfan Khan; Saturday Afternoon that won two jury awards at the Moscow Film Festival; and No Land's Man, a forthcoming international co-production in English, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, and co-produced by Oscar winner AR Rahman.

It is hardly a coincidence that at least three top directors from Bangladesh have recent works dealing with #MeToo and the vexing issue of rape and consent - Abdullah Mohammad Saad's brilliant Rehana Maryam Noor, starring Azmeri Haque Badhan that got a standing ovation at its world premiere in the Cannes Film Festival's Un Certain Regard this week, Farooki's web series Ladies and Gentleman, and Rubaiyat Hossain's Made in Bangladesh that addresses this issue as well.

In Ladies and Gentlemen, Sabila Hossain (Tasnia Farin) is sexually assaulted by one of the bosses in the company where she works. She lives with her husband Arif (Mostafa Monwar, also superb protagonist of Saad's Live from Dhaka) and father Baba (Mamunur Rashid), who has dementia. Bollywood's films on rape tend to be explosive courtroom dramas like Pink, or revenge dramas like Mom, starring Sridevi. Farooki is more sophisticated: he's interested in the delicate kantha work, rather than the bold block print. He casts a fine eye on the ‘emotional collateral' and the grand trail of destruction that the fight for justice brings both to the perpetrator and the victim, as well as their families. Yet, this debut web series steadily racks up the dramatic tension with a kahani mein twist climax for each episode, as it turns into a feminist thriller. There's a murder, red herrings galore, police investigations, media kangaroo courts, and more.

We know that the fight for justice in a sexual assault case is a nightmarish one, with the standard demand for evidence slapped on to easily dismiss any accusation, and how swiftly cunning cowards somehow make the victim, a perpetrator. Financial incentives and threats are used to suppress the truth and mandatory investigating committees are a lot of hot air, while simmering male egos cause havoc. Apart from Hossain and one of the bosses, Khairul Alom played by Afzal Hossain, Farooki is deeply interested in the feelings of the husband of a woman who has been raped; and the wife and daughter of the rapist. He saves his ace for the end: justice may not come in the way we wish, but there can be unexpected redemption.

Farooki is in full control of his craft and delivers a superb, engrossing series. Tasnia Farin does well to underplay her role; and Afzal Hossain and Mostofa Monwar are competent. But the actors playing minor characters, including Mamunur Rashid, and Hasan Masood as Mizu, the marvellously oily assistant, are stand-outs. Farooki's screenplay is strong and well-paced, even though it has some bumps, including the timing of a financial incentive offered to the victim, from someone other than the accused. Also the performance arts centre sits uneasily in the script, as if more to allow for song and dance. Russian cinematographer Alexey Kosorukov, who shot No Land's Man, is good, as is editor Momin Biswas and music composer Pavel Areen. A Chabial production, in association with Good Company, the series producers include actress Nusrat Imrose Tisha, Iresh Zaker and Sarder Saniat Hossain.

Meenakshi Shedde is India and South Asia Delegate to the Berlin International Film Festival, National Award-winning critic, curator to festivals worldwide and journalist.

Reach her at meenakshi.shedde@mid-day.com