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Co-Produced By India, Irrfan Khan-Starrer 'Doob' Is Bangladesh's Official Entry To The Oscars

At a time when politics has vilified the idea of Bangladesh, culture shows the way.
Irrfan Khan in the trailer of 'Doob'.
Screenshot from YouTube
Irrfan Khan in the trailer of 'Doob'.

Doob (No Bed Of Roses in English)—a film by Bangladeshi director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki—has been selected as the country's official entry to the Oscars 2019. The film will be competing with India's official entry, Rima Das' Village Rockstars, to be shortlisted in the category of 'Best Foreign Language Film'.

Bangladesh's Jazz Media got together with Eksay Films from West Bengal and Irrfan Khan's IK Company to produce the film which stars both Bangladeshi and Indian actors, reports Variety Magazine.

At a time, when the word 'Bangladesh' has complicated implications in India's political narrative, the success of Doob is indeed heartening. According to various articles, Doob revolves around the life of a writer and filmmaker who falls in love with someone much younger than himself.

The film ran into trouble with Bangladesh's censors as it was alleged that the plot of the film and the character played by Khan had too many similarities with the life and work of celebrated Bangladeshi writer and director Humayun Ahmed.

On his film being selected as the official entry to the Oscars 2017, Farooki wrote on Facebook, "Thank you all who supported our humble effort. I don't want to mention everyone's name as the list would be too long. This is a film which is very close to my heart and you all, who supported me starting from my producers, wonderful casts, my team, festival programmers, critics, friends, well wishers, are also very close to my heart. I love you all!"

Farooki had told Variety magazine, after his film's 'no objection' certificate was cancelled, "As the order does not explain any reason, I don't know why they thought screening of the film would be inappropriate. Yes, my film handles a so-called taboo subject but it doesn't show anything explicit and hence doesn't violate any censor code. This goes against the freedom of expression."

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.