Under Construction: A tale of complex struggles

Rubaiyat Hossain came under a storm of criticism after her debut film “Meherjan” touched a very sensitive nerve of patriotism that saw her almost equally condemned in Bangladesh as internationally attention-drawing. Five years almost to the day, her second film “Under Construction” hit theatres in Dhaka on January 22, after making a half-year tour of 18 film festivals, from Seattle to Haifa (Israel) to Dhaka. The 88-minute feature revolves around Indian actress Shahana Goswami (as Roya), with Kolkata’s powerhouse actor Rahul Bose, Bangladesh’s theatre veterans Shahadat Hossain and Toufiqul Islam Emon, Rikita Shimu (who was last seen in Tareque Masud’s “Runway”), Mita Rahman, Sohel Mondal Shobuj and familiar TV faces Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed and Orchita Sporshia.

“Under Construction” is the story of Roya, a Bangalee woman in her 30s, in search of her own identity in a society that puts her in boxes of their own. Drawing parallels with Tagore’s “Rokto Korobi” (quite directly, as Roya plays a theatre actress portraying Nandini for 12 years) into the ‘Jokkho Puri’ that women garment workers work in, Roya’s introspection and complexities of relationships-- with her husband, mother, maid, theatre director, a friend and a high-profile art curator -- are brought out, along with contemporary issues of Bangladesh like religious fanatics and the tragedies of Rana Plaza and Tazreen Garments.

In terms of acting, Shahana Goswami does a commendable job, particularly with her mannerisms and diction of a Dhaka resident. The other standout actress is Mita Rahman in the role of Roya’s mother – as a strong, blunt middle-aged woman living on her own. The pair of Shimu and Shobuj as the maid her lift-man love interest also fare quite well, while Emon and Nawshaba -- playing the theatre director and Roya’s friend respectively, are solid in their characters. The rest of the character portrayals are unconvincing, for different reasons. Rahul Bose, playing a former Dhaka’ite settled abroad, cannot get out of his Kolkata accent; Sporshia is inconsequential as an actress -- with her character development beginning and ending in backless blouses and posh sitting posture, and even then she looks like an utter misfit as a young theatre actress; and Shahadat Hossain’s (who plays Roya’s husband -- a rich, jet-setting architect) brilliance as an actor is largely negated by his one weakness; dialogues in English. However, most characters get more convincing as the film goes on (possibly because they grasp the character better in the course of filming).

Good things about the film: the complexity of the story deserves two thumbs up; the symbolism in some of the sequences (the most memorable of them separately involving an anaconda, a catfish in a bowl, and a goldfish and a pet turtle in a bathtub) are striking, and some of the dialogues are pure gold. Rabindra Sangeet “Tomaye Gaan Shonabo” that united Arnob and Sahana Bajpaie for a song after a decade -- hits all the right cinematic notes as well. The art direction (some of it inspired by and collaborated with renowned artist Monirul Islam) is also a great aesthetic touch.

The negatives: Some of the acting, and lack of coherence in the characters and screenplay ruins the storytelling for the general audience, at least of Dhaka. And in Rubaiyat’s quest for bold filmmaking, at least one cringe-worthy dialogue makes its way into the film (which is surprising, considering the snipping of some of the ‘mature’ scenes in the trailer that weren’t seen at the theatres, presumably by the censor board.)

To the foreign film critic, issues like women’s social and internal struggles in a developing country, religious fanaticism and the deplorable lives of lower-class working women are the perfect film fodder; to Bangladesh’s socially-conscious, creative minds of the cultural arena, the film’s introspection and imagery are inspiring; but to the general audience, a film can still draw in audiences without the typical entertainment value if it’s a gripping story, but this film somehow falls short of that either. In essence, “Under Construction” is a story that needed to be told, but deserved to be told better.