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| Surongo Movie Review |
For a long time I kept meaning to watch Surongo at a cineplex, but I never got around to it because of one busy schedule after another! Finally, today on my day off, I watched this much-talked-about film at Lion Cinemas in Keraniganj. To be honest, I'm a die-hard fan of Nisho. But when it comes to reviewing, I won't take anyone's side.
The first half didn't feel quite right to me; it took a long time to get into the main story. It was a bit boring, and Nisho's overacting in the early part was clearly noticeable. It felt as if he was in the frame of a TV drama.
Anyway, I haven't seen any of Raihan Rafi's earlier work (mainly because I don't watch much Bangla cinema/series), but after watching this film, I have to praise his filmmaking. As a local film, his style of making movies is great. For example, he takes the main theme from a true incident, which is admirable. And for the needs of the story, he even builds a set in Sunamganj. Wow! Slowly, our industry is moving forward like the Malayalam industry.
Mainly because of budget issues, our film industry can't show something really good. And among the big-budget, large-scale films being made, either the actors aren't good, or the director isn't good, or even when everything else is good, the film doesn't feel complete because of a weak story. In these respects, Raihan Rafi is completely different.
The camera work in this film is outstanding. The cinematography is fairly good. The story build-up, as I said, took quite a while to get to the main story! I wouldn't say Tama's acting was that good, but it was passable. And what can I say about Nisho bhai! He carried this film almost single-handedly (except for a few scenes in the beginning). Just when the film started to feel dull, the presence of Shahidujjaman Selim brought it back to life.
Those who said this film isn't for family audiences are right too. Because of a few scenes, the film lost the family audience. But for those of us who are used to watching films/series from home and abroad regularly, these scenes are nothing but child's play. Still, Rafi should keep in mind that this isn't the Hollywood industry; this is Dhallywood. In our country, a sense of decency still matters, and a big share of the Bangladeshi film industry's revenue comes from family audiences. Because of these few adult scenes, the film lost a large part of its audience.
Finally, let me give a little idea about the story..
Masud is an ordinary village electrician. One day he sees a girl named Moyna and falls in love with her, literally falling down from the electric pole. Then, by chance, the two get married. After marriage, while fulfilling his new wife's various demands, Masud runs up a lot of debt. In the end, with no other way out, Masud goes abroad to earn money and leaves a friend in charge of looking after his wife. In the end, his friend runs away with Masud's beloved wife.
The poor man is nearly driven mad by the loss of his wife. From then on, Masud gets into the main story. I won't say more...
Mainly, the film shows the final fate of a greedy woman. The ending is satisfying too. For his first film, Nisho bhai gave a great performance, and I hope to see even better from him in the future.