Bangladesh, since its independence, has produced an enormous number of films, among which many are still remembered by the audience. They explored the themes of poverty, war, family drama, and so on. Few showcased a feminist theme. No Dorai is a 2019 film that explores the life of Ayesha, a youthful Bangladeshi girl, hailing from a village in Cox’s Bazar, on her quest to fulfill her ambition of becoming a surfer, facing enormous challenges. Even though the writers of the film tried to glorify the dreams of the girl intending to uplift her character, it fails to do so, as it does not show her dreams being achieved, implicating the inherent sexism in Bangladeshi societies.

The film starts off showing a number of foreign nationals recruiting local surfers from Cox’s Bazaar in order to attend a prestigious competition to be held in Bali, Indonesia. Among the few predominantly male surfers who demonstrated their talent in front of the recruiters, only the girl, Ayesha, got selected for her impeccable surfing skills. This infuriates Liakot, the elder brother of Ayesha, who feels his masculinity is tarnished because he was overpowered by a girl in terms of surfing skills. The fact that Ayesha, being a girl, gets selected and Liakot, being a man, does not, denotes the lack of the phallus, implying the lack of power on the man, which is synonymous with Lacan’s concept of the “fear of castration.” Lack of power in a man makes him vulnerable and fragile, as depicted in the scene where her brother beats her up, from using his sandals to using a large stick to express his anguish.

The film is produced by Star Cineplex, and it is their first venture into film production. The cinematography of the film by Sumon Sarker is breathtaking, perfectly showing the beauty of Cox’s Bazar. However, the spectacular visuals of the movie could not sideline its obvious banal and male-centric writing by Shyamal Sengupta and Mahboob Rahman. 

Despite marketing the film in a way that shows the female protagonist in the centre of the story, No Dorai indefinitely shifts its narrative to the male protagonist, Sohel, who is shown to possess fondness for Ayesha, is selected for the surfing competition as she could not attend the selection process because she was locked down inside her house by her family. Sohel goes to Bali and wins the surfing competition, which makes him get attracted by one of the foreign female recruiters of the competition. The lady’s attraction towards the man is based on his success, which glorifies the man in the film.

Later, Sohel and the foreigner engage in a fling and take part in a seductive song along the seashore, where the lady is in a swimsuit and the man is bare bodied, both enticing each other. They engage in a mouth-to-mouth kissing scene, which is entirely unnecessary in the context of the film. For the sake of art, kissing scenes can be accepted. However, this particular kissing scene is entirely irrelevant and does not add any layer to the film, intending to cause  voyeuristic pleasure among the audience and nothing else.

Ayesha is played by Sunerah Kamal, who, in her first film role, does a decent job. Sariful Razz as Sohel and Sayed Babu as the surfing trainer give fantastic performances. The acting of the foreign actors seems gimmicky. The supporting actors are praiseworthy.

 

“Jontrona” is a fantastic song, sung by Mohon Shorif, that goes well with the scenes it features, describing the agony of Ayesha perfectly. However, when the entire film is in Chittagonian dialect, why does the song feature in standard Bangla? Does Ayesha think in standard Bangla and talk in the local dialect? I kept on wondering.

It can be seen that the parents of Ayesha are not fond of their daughter’s passion for surfing. They tell Ayesha multiple times that her mingling with foreigners will tarnish their family’s reputation in the Cox’s Bazaar community, and men will not show interest in engaging with her in matrimony. According to Ayesha’s family, becoming a surfer will break their family norms as she will be mixing with men from Bangladesh and other countries, and will not remain an ideal woman, a “ghorer meye,” and will be a “bajarer meye, a girl with low morals. But what does she do to give them a fitting reply? Nothing. 

Although the movie is titled No Dorai in the Chittaganonian dialect, which means “not afraid,” seeing the protagonist Ayesha on the posters holding a surfing board, one might expect her to do things fearlessly throughout the film. However, the only fearless thing she does, according to the writers, is show her affection towards Sohel at the end of the movie. Surfing does not seem as important to her.

Times are changing, and women are taking charge of their lives and their dreams. Still, a large section of men frown upon the independent nature of women, which can be seen in several portrayals on screen. No Dorai is no exception. The film that was marketed to show women’s empowerment to the audience lacks in its intent, disappointingly ending with the angle of a love story. Ayesha does not become a surfer to give a fitting reply to all the beatings she has received. If this is women’s empowerment, I wonder what patriarchy is.

 

Writer:

Risalat Rahman Hridoy

Intern, Content Writing Department 

YSSE