Click to see comments

This blog is intended to generate dialogue about the issues that Deshantori raises. Please feel free to share your opinion on the film and the issues it raises directly and indirectly.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I watched Deshantori and had to write a note to urge everyone to watch it, screen it and tell others about it.

First, it touches one emotionally and leads one to a deeper understanding of our selves and culture and gives us hope. Perhaps that will lead to action. Second, it's concisely informative, disturbingly sad but just like real life, peppered with light moments. And third, it's very well crafted and told with three layers of depth from the abstract to the concrete.

Folks, I have no doubt that this docudrama will be remembered as a milestone because it's so timely. It acts as a mirror to our current culture while giving us hope for a better future and urging us to play a role.

Being in Dhaka, one borrows a copy from someone instead of buying it. But after watching it, I want to support such an effort with my meager contribution. Please let me know how I can do so. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much for the movie. It is not a movie only of Bangladesh but also about Ethiopian and other poverty stricken countries. I was very much touched by fate of those young Bangladeshi who lost their lives in the Sahara Desert. I also want to say that I can easily relate to the stories that people on the street were saying. Hence, the setting of your movie is just beyond Bangladesh, it also an African Story.

Anonymous said...

There are some hard realities that we all know but never spell out. Deshantori, I must say, brought out the hard realities to the world which is previously untouched. In my eyes, Deshantori is NOT a movie. It is indeed a Life savings tool.

Hossan
PhD Students
La Trobe University
Melbourne, Australia

Anonymous said...

It is shot through with sharp (and frequently funny) commentary, where young people from all strata of society give their frank views on the state of the nation and what it is that is driving increasing numbers of Bangladeshis to leave their homeland for foreign shores. The frustrated bekar jubok from a humble background, the affluent private university student, the returning expat who has bucked the trend to give something back to Bangladesh – they all have their say. It is also enlivened by interviews with Dr Zafar Iqbal, a returnee himself, and the writer Anisul Huq, of Goddyo-cartoon fame, who picked up the story of the Spain migrants and turned it into a book. There is also a hilarious puppet drama! Technically too, Deshantori is an impressive piece of work for a debutant filmmaker. The script grips the audience for the entire duration, the editing is top-notch, and the subtitles are flawless. But at its core, it is the human story that matters - a story of unbelievable courage and survival – and it left not a few of the audience members in tears.

We would urge all of you – Bangladeshis at home and abroad – to get hold of a copy of Deshantori and to hold screenings in your own home for friends and family. Ask over a few of your buddies, break out the jhalmuri or popcorn, and settle down for an amazing ride.

Anonymous said...

Deshantori is a brilliant work by Mridul and Sujan bhai. Thanks to them and all others who were directly and indirectly involved (and are still involve) in making and screening this docudrama around the globe and make us proud to be born as a BANGLADESHI :)

Anonymous said...

Deshantori is an amazing unique creation by Mridul and Sujan bhai. What thrilled me the most after watching the documentary for the first time was the unique way of telling a story through people's interviews and I didn't even realized that I just finished watching a 75 mins documentary.

The story line is excellent, the way the filmmakers put different thoughts of the people of Bangladesh is excellent. Music of this film is amazing.

Thanks to all who made this possible :)

Proud to be born as a Bangladeshi.

nads said...

I sincerly hope that anyone who can relate to 'Deshantori' will be asking this one question: What can I do for my country?

jalal said...

This is a great piece of interdisciplinary filmmaking. It is both a documentary and a drama, both serious and funny, it is both modern and postmodern, both traditional and iconoclastic, and its underlying commentary touches the desire to migrate by both those in bangladesh and those in the diaspora. The way all of these potentially divergent elements were brought together in the context of the pressures of modernity is brilliant. The narrative is absorbing, the musical interludes are perfect. The interviews are heart-warming and heart-breaking. It even weaves in a wonderful puppet-show segment, some animation, and the process of film-making itself.

I've watched it three times already, and probably will watch it more. Kudos to Mridul and Sujan for creating this wonderfully artistic and thought-provoking film.

Tania A said...

My friend had been raving about Deshantori since last year. I finally got a chance to see it a few weeks ago and I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone- Bangladeshi or non Bangladeshi. It captures the human spirit and the struggles that people sometimes have to go through to try and achieve their dreams. Truly will leave you speechless. Please watch it and tell everyone about it!!

Name: Gabrielle said...

How can I get a hold of a copy of Deshantori? I am living in Dhaka, would love to watch it.

/Gabrielle

Anonymous said...

I havent seen the film yet but I think we need to tell this potential young men ready to plunge into this quest for better world that europe has closed all its border and countries especially in europe only allows controlled migration people with skills and education. So better die while trying to change your society and surroundings than becoming the fodder for vulturesd in the desert of for aquatic life in the mediterranean sea.

TAMAL, Europe

Anonymous said...

Scene which will forever stay in my mind: A young guy in a small rubber boat. Around him his friends dying one after the other. Harrowing journey behind him where he has been reduced to drink his own urine and possibly bits of rotting flesh off his friends’ dead bodies. Feeling his time is up. His head in someone’s lap, his body covered in a white shroud-like cloth, shivering of cold, starved of water and food, crying for his mother and in between heart-breaking sobs telling us how he has pawned his father’s small patch of land, has given up his job as a school teacher, the security of home, and all for what? To buy this one-way ticket to death, this ticket to hell, this ticket to a boat which has become his coffin.. crying out before dying: forgive me Ma, forgive me Baba, will you ever forgive me??

Hadn’t cried in a long time - my heart, today three days after having watched Deshantori, still freezes when that scene resurfaces on my mind..

Anonymous said...

I watched the movie last night. It is 4 o’clock in the morning and I still have not been able to go to sleep. This movie has not only rekindled my love for our Bangladesh, but also have affirmed my plans for doing something constructive for Bangladesh. I am a ‘Probashi’ who lives in America for last 16 years but who has Bangladesh in her heart every single day.

I urge everyone to watch this movie. I urge all the new generation like me to watch this movie and promise ourselves that we have to do something for Bangladesh today. Not in the future - but Today. Our country needs us NOW. The geographic distance does not matter if we have the spirit. We desparately needed something like this to energize ourselves. Thanks for making such a fascinating film for us.

Ifte said...

Awesome!

Iftekhar
SUNY-Buffalo,NY

haha said...

I completely lost my speech. I have no words! I always have intention to go back to Bangladesh after I am done with my studies, now; the movie "Deshantori" made me more confident about what I want to do.

At the same time I am so proud to be a Bangadeshi and also glad to think that, this movie will make a difference in people's mind. I hope this cruel reality will improve people's thinking and be more positive about our own homeland.

This is a real life experience. Human being tend to believe when they see it as an example.

No matter how bad Bangladesh is, how corrupted we are by living in BD, but still we shouldn't be so much derived with those colorful dreams which will lead us to death!

Thank you for doing a wonderful job Mridul Vaia. It touched me so much. Since, I lived all my life out of BD, I never thought people would be so obsessed for leaving BD and try to live on fake dreams.

Shazeda Chowdhury
RIT, Rochester, NY.

Anonymous said...

The film undoubtedly was amazing and even that is an understatement. The message was well put out and perfectly portrayed. And as a Bangladeshi living abroad, this film has made me realize what people are willing to do to get out of the country when i had done so very easily. I hope someday we as Bangladeshis realize that there's no place like home.

~shillo (London, Ontario, Canada).

Unknown said...

im a student of film
so after watching this docu.. the only thaink i can say thai is


it is really a great docu for us that we can learn that what documettary means
most of the times documentary is boring but this is totaly different
it is really a good movie

Anonymous said...

I saw "Deshantori".it touched me seriously.People of BD r really poor.They always try to earn money.But there is no proper way to earn money in BD.Besides,the corrupted people looted money of poor people of BD.Deshantori people earn but this money goes to few person of BD.So this the time to make consciousness in the society.I hope this film be awarded very soon.


tofail
HSBC-Dhaka Office

xia said...

"Deshantori" nice work. but is this nice documentary really have any impact on us. still we try to go abroad and every single say dreamed to go abroad and have a work and earned money.
so if we cant change our mind our thinking style, it dose not mean anything if we watched it more then 10 times

Anonymous said...

Excellent work. Great summary of the current state of affairs in Bangladesh. Wake up call for the youth (and everyone else) to tap into the limitless potential and bring about the correct change. It is definitely moving at times. I liked how it ends with a message of hope.
Looking forward to Mridul's next documentary.

Arno Wagener said...

Request for Help :

Dear Human . . .

1st : You know someone who knows German Language ?!
2nd : We need a translation of a text in Bengali [ was it right ?! ]
3rd : This Text : http://www.globalwe.de/coop/mail.2009.10.28.htm

Mr. Muhammad Yunus is next Month [ we meet him in Wiesbaden at 5th and some days later we are together at the Vision Summit in Berlin ] . . .

http://grameencreativelab.com/news/yunus-news-highlights.html

But - I guess you agree - to read it in his own language would be more comfortable for Mr. Yunus.

So - to translate in English - it would be no Problem.
This is the first step . . .
For example a real propper British English. + !
Second Step of course : Your own language . . .

It would be in the own interest of Mr. Yunus !
And - of course - we would be thankful to you.

So. You can help ! + ?
Or. You know people who can help . . .

Your faithfully

Arno Wagener
RegioWIR - GlobalWE
http://www.globalwe.de/legal.htm